The Liberal Democrats will need to rely on tactical voting from constituents who want to defeat the Tories in Thursday’s by-election in Somerton and Frome, party insiders have told i.

David Parsley inews.co.uk 

The party, which is hoping for its fourth by-election victory against the Conservative Party in just over two years, needs to overturn a Tory majority of 19,213 to take the seat.

While Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey insists the poll is heading for a “photo finish”, campaign sources within his party suggest internal polling is showing both Green and Labour voters are shifting over to their candidate, Sarah Dyke.

One Lib Dem source said: “In the last 48 hours we’ve noticed a lot of traditional Green and Labour voters in Frome are coming over to us as they realise this will come down to tactical voting.

“Many who want to kick the Tories out of Somerton and Frome are coming over to us this time.”

However, the source added that the Somerset town of Frome makes up only 25 per cent of the total vote, and that the party in this largely rural constituency still had “some way to go” before the Lib Dems could be assured of victory.

“Over the past week we have seen voters in the villages moving towards us as well,” added the source. “So, we’re optimistic but not at all complacent.”

Davey, who was campaigning alongside Ms Dyke at a local equine charity, said the result was a “two-horse race”.

As he toured the Glenda Spooner Farm near Somerton, he told i: “It’s a huge majority to overturn and there’s no doubt the Conservatives have been campaigning hard in this by-election.

“But, we’re not going to pretend we’re not optimistic and hopeful.”

The Lib Dem leader added: “Given our successes in three by-elections that no one thought we could win, we’re getting used to winning.”

But Davey did seek to manage expectations, warning that a shorter campaign, compared with last year’s overturning of a 26,000 Tory majority in Tiverton and Honiton, did mean Ms Dyke was facing a tougher challenge to persuade voters to eject the Conservatives, who have held the seat since 2015.

“We have to keep going until 10pm on polling day,” he said. “We’re not taking anything for granted. This is my sixth visit and I think that’s a sign we’re taking it very seriously.

“If you compare it to that other three campaigns that we won, it’s a lot shorter and that has created challenges for us.

“I think if we had another month or so then we’d probably feel even more optimistic than we do.”

The Conservative candidate Faye Purbrick was campaigning in Castle Cary on Tuesday, but refused several requests to answer questions from the media.

This latest opportunity for the Lib Dems to inflict a defeat on the Tories was been caused by the resignation of David Warburton, who was suspended from the Conservative Party over allegations of sexual misconduct.

Warburton denied the allegations.

In June 2021 the Lib Dems overcame a Tory majority of more than 16,000 to take the Chesham and Amersham seat, while in December of the same year the party reversed a near 23,000 Conservative majority in North Shropshire.

Then last June the party celebrated a 29.9 per cent swing in its favour to take Devon’s Tiverton and Honiton seat in what was the eleventh largest swing in by-election history, and the largest since 1985.

East Devon District Council are looking for people to take over the running of a derelict seafront building which has glorious views. The council is looking to lease out the Seaton Moridunum – which has been plagued with controversy for years.

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

Planning permission for the redevelopment of Seaton seafront was granted in 2017. It would have included pedestrianisation of sections of the seafront, demolition of the existing public toilets and Moridunum.

The plans would also have seen alterations to the highway layout and a new pedestrian crossing, as well as new public space with raised seating and siting of seasonal huts for commercial use. But the plans never came to anything, and three years on, were scrapped, despite more than £50,000 having been spent on the scheme – and a second hope that the plans could have got the go-ahead were dashed when the Axe Valley missed out on Levelling-up funding.

Now though East Devon District Council are hoping to find a use for the dilapidated moridunum on Seaton seafront. It is currently being marketed as a commercial premises – with the chance it can be transformed into a café or other leisure related facility.

What the Seaton Moridunum could look like

The moridunum on The Esplanade – a former toilet block with ramps either side and a viewing platform above – is currently being marketed for lease by Lambert Smith Hampton. The seafront property is in a prominent tourist location, has impressive sea views, the opportunity for development, and the location offers high footfall, the listing says.

The property would suit a food and beverage operation development or refurbishment, the council says. Although development would be subject to the necessary consents being obtained.

You can view the full listing here: https://www.lsh.co.uk/find/properties/devon/seaton/2050090

They are separated by choppy waters – and different political ideologies.

But the leaders of Wales and Cornwall have come together to sign an agreement vowing to work together on shared issues, ranging from the crisis of holiday homes to the prospect of cooperating on offshore wind power projects in the Celtic Sea.

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com

Mark Drakeford, the Labour first minister of Wales, and the Conservative leader of Cornwall council, Linda Taylor, put aside their party political differences to meet at Cathays Park in Cardiff to seal the five-year collaboration agreement.

Drakeford said Wales and Cornwall had much – challenges and opportunities – in common. “We share many historical, cultural and linguistic ties with Cornwall, and our economies, landscape and our people have many shared characteristics,” he said. “These commonalities enable us to learn from each other.”

On the opportunities side, Drakeford said they had “the shared resource” of the Celtic Sea. “We both have an interest in making sure we get the most we can from the fact that our geography is suddenly on our side. Here we both are on the western fringe of Europe, where our geography has been against us in many ways for economic development; now suddenly being on the edge is an advantage in terms of wind and marine energy.”

The challenges the two territories share include the second homes crisis, which pushes families and young people out from places favoured by holidaymakers. The Welsh government will share learning from its “radical” campaign to tackle the problem such as changing planning laws and allowing councils to increase taxes on second homes.

Cornwall may also be able to learn much about increasing the number of people who speak Cornish from Wales, which is aiming to have 1 million people speaking Welsh by 2050. On language, Drakeford said: “The three Celtic languages closest together are Welsh, Breton and Cornish. We want to support other branches of the Celtic language.”

Wales already has strong links with Brittany and Drakeford travelled to Paris earlier this year to mark the start of a year-long celebration of connections between Wales and France.

He said the move was not about bypassing Westminster. “It’s not antagonistic to the UK government – it’s much more a positive wish to engage directly with places beyond Wales.”

Taylor said Cornwall was proud of its language but its school programme did not have the reach of Wales’s. While Drakeford is a fluent Welsh speaker, Taylor admitted her Cornish amounted to little more than thank you – meur ras.

The Cornish council leader said she was keen to learn more about Wales’s new planning laws designed to make it harder for houses to be turned into holiday homes. “To me, it would be incredibly important to have those powers,” she said.

Garry Tregidga, a co-director of the institute of Cornish studies at the University of Exeter, said there were many common features between Cornwall and Wales. He cited the visit of the Welsh former prime minister David Lloyd George to Falmouth at the start of the 20th century, when he declared he was visiting “his fellow countrymen” since Cornwall and Wales had the “same Celtic passion for liberty”.

Joanie Willett, the institute’s other co-director, said: “As Cornwall pursues its goal of meaningful devolution to local government, building strong relationships with other governments is going to be incredibly important.”

Dennis Sorondo Salazar, an expert on sub-state diplomacy at Cardiff University’s Wales governance centre, said: “These kinds of agreements can sometimes be a way of bypassing the central government. Wales is increasingly active in this paradiplomatic sphere, in establishing both international and regional links.”

The Government’s promised bus “revolution” is failing to address a steep decline in rural services as journeys hit a historic low, councils have warned.

The Newsroom www.newschainonline.com

The Conservative-led County Councils Network (CCN), which represents 37 authorities serving nearly half the population in England, said problems with the delivery of the Government’s national bus strategy is threatening to undermine a key aim of the levelling up agenda.

Research commissioned by CCN found the bulk of the £1.1 billion in funding made available as part of the flagship national bus strategy went to urban authorities following a bidding process.

This was despite these areas experiencing smaller percentage falls in passenger numbers since 2010.

Analysis of Department for Transport data found passenger numbers in rural areas declined by 14% between 2010 and 2019, compared with a fall of 8.5% in metropolitan areas outside London over the period.

Lockdown restrictions during 2020-21 caused passenger numbers to fall by a further 35% in both rural and metropolitan communities.

However, the study showed urban areas received £739 million (67%) of the available Government funding, while rural areas received £336 million – just 10% of the value of their submitted bids.

Buses have long been a lifeline for many people in rural areas, particularly the elderly and the disadvantaged. But outside of London and the cities, far too many services are at best patchy, and at worst non-existent

The report said more than one in four bus services in county areas have “vanished” over the last decade, with total bus miles travelled falling faster than in cities and adjacent places.

This limited availability has led to a historic low of 344 million fewer passenger journeys now being taken in rural areas compared with 2020, the report said.

CCN transport spokesperson Stephen Giles-Medhurst said despite high hopes, county councils felt let down by the Government’s funding allocations as the money has been “directed to places that arguably needed the least help”.

He added: “Buses have long been a lifeline for many people in rural areas, particularly the elderly and the disadvantaged. But outside of London and the cities, far too many services are at best patchy, and at worst non-existent.

“As their bids for the funding showed, councils have serious ambitions when it comes to improving and modernising their bus services. But it is increasingly likely that reversing the decline in passengers is a challenge to be picked up by a future government.

“Today’s report sets out a number of recommendations to transform local services. Failure to act will keep buses in county areas in a state of managed decline, with consequences for our residents.”

Announcing the plans in 2020, former transport secretary Grant Shapps said the Government was taking the lead by “launching a revolution in bus services”.

The national bus strategy was published in 2021 with the aim of increasing bus use above 2019 levels in the medium term.

Then-prime minister Boris Johnson said “better buses will be one of our major acts of levelling up” while the strategy added “buses are vital to ensuring the economy meets net zero carbon emissions and driving the green transformation”.

Under the strategy, transport authorities were required to produce a bus service improvement plan and the first of two rounds of allocations were confirmed in April 2021.

CCN called on the Government to provide a further round of funding as councils in rural areas have received only a fraction of the money needed to deliver their plans.

The organisation also called for greater transparency over how bids are evaluated and the amount of funding that can be expected.

CCN also called for the Government to move away from competitive bidding and allocate funding based on need and increasing passenger numbers.

Labour has proposed allowing local authorities to introduce bus franchising without Government approval and an end to the ban on creating council-owned bus companies.

But the report said the proposals are likely to have a limited take-up in county areas due to the limited viability of rural services.

A DfT spokesperson said: “This report only focuses on just one part of the £3.5 billion we’ve put into buses since March 2020.

“Our new bus service improvement plan funding will be focused on areas that didn’t receive support under the original scheme.”