The decision by the Royal Borough of Greenwich to say enough is enough and order the demolition of 204 homes at the Mast Quay development in south-east London casts a spotlight on one of the most unequal battles in the public realm – between major developers and town hall planners.

Robert Booth www.theguardian.com 

And it is one that often enrages the public. Greenwich’s gambit has cheered community groups who say they are feeling increasingly powerless to challenge, even with the help of the planning system, the might of developers.

And it comes after the unauthorised demolition of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire – another dramatic example of a property owner allegedly ignoring planning officers’ wishes.

Pulling down the Mast Quay buildings in Woolwich would be “pretty extreme”, said Sebastian Charles, the chair of the Law Society’s planning and environmental law committee. The government’s planning inspectorate now appears likely to be asked to consider whether the apartments, as built, warrant planning permission. It could be a high-stakes ruling.

For more than 75 years, since the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 came into effect, development in this country has relied on both sides playing by the rules. After permission for a building is granted, most significant design changes must be checked with the planners. It is a negotiation and it relies not only on trust, but on there being enough planners to respond.

And if developers err from the plans, there are currently very few officials to stop them – which partially explains why Greenwich only very belatedly appears to have spotted the problems at Mast Quay II.

The plans that were granted permission (left), and what was built (right) Composite: royalgreenwich.gov

To a large degree, developers are self-policing. Often they borrow large sums of money to build. Lenders need to know they are not throwing money into investments that risk being pulverised over a planning row. So checks are normally made within a project team.

But even large councils only have a handful of planning enforcement officers – six would be a large number, according to the Royal Town Planning Institute. Most of their work is reacting to complaints about a neighbour’s domestic extension breaching planning consent, or a hedge or a tree being pulled down, said Richard Blyth, the head of policy practice and research at RTPI.

That leaves little time for “proactive enforcement” – like checking if the 23-storey building going up by the Thames looks like the visualisations. Last year, an RTPI survey of 103 councils found that 90% had an enforcement backlog and 80% said they didn’t have enough enforcement officers for the workload.

And in an era when major councils like Birmingham are going bust, planning enforcement is a low priority. Unlike granting permissions, there are no fees attached. Every pound spent policing the developers has to come from central council funding, Blyth said.

Official figures on enforcement suggest either developers are increasingly conforming to planning law or the reach of planners is declining. In 2015-16 more than 5,000 enforcement notices were issued, but by 2022-23 that had fallen to less than 3,600, according to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

The battle at Mast Quay II now has months to run. In the meantime, the renters who live there face unwelcome uncertainty.

Two months ago the Swedish energy giant, Vattenfall, stopped work on its giant North Sea windfarm. Subsequently no company bid for the next tranche of offshore windfarm licences because the government hasn’t done its market setting sums properly. Development of offshore (and onshore) wind is key to meeting net zero.

Today, it’s “drill baby drill” for oil and gas in the Rosebank field off Shetland. Where the company can offset costs against energy windfall tax already levied, gaining a massive subsidy from the tax payer. 

Lifetime emissions from the site will take a huge chunk out of the UK’s climate plans with oil produced over its lifetime equivalent to more than half of the UK’s remaining carbon budget for total fuel supply.

As a consequence, everything else we do will have to “decarbonise” even more quickly if we are to meet our legally binding net zero targets.

Make any sense to you?

In his latest weekly column Simon Jupp says we need to forge a credible path to Net Zero and good progress has been made. – Owl

Matthew Taylor owww.theguardian.com

Just 24 hours before the UK gave the go-ahead to develop the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland, the world’s leading energy analysts reiterated that no no new oil and gas exploration should take place if the world was to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures.

That stark warning seems to have been ignored by ministers who, after a week in which they have rowed back on the UK’s net zero commitments and scrapped their own home energy efficiency taskforce, are accused of leaving the UK’s climate plans in tatters.

The range of opposition to the proposed Rosebank field has been building for the past 18 months.

Alongside the International Energy Association, the government’s own climate advisers at the Climate Change Committee said pushing ahead with the new fossil fuel development in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence was “utterly unacceptable”. And the UN secretary general, António Guterres, added his voice calling on governments to halt new licences for oil and gas exploration and development.

On the ground, climate scientists and academics have joined MPs and religious leaders as well as 200 charities and civil society groups to raise their opposition.

But the UK government seems intent on pushing ahead, with ministers repeatedly saying the new oilfield is needed for energy security adding that it will help people struggling with the cost of living crisis.

However, experts point out that last year 75% of the UK’s oil production was exported. They say the same is likely to happen with fossil fuels from any new development.

No oil is expected to be produced from Rosebank until 2027 and, wherever the oil ends up, experts say it will be sold on the international market at the going rate, meaning it will have no little or no impact on the cost of living crisis or energy security.

Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift and a climate lawyer, said: “Rosebank is a rip-off. It’s another case of the government allowing foreign companies to profit, while the costs are put on British people who worry about the world we are handing on to our children.”

Campaigners say that if the government were serious about improving energy security and tackling the cost of living crisis they would press ahead with domestic renewable energy and home insulation.

The Rosebank project is three times bigger than the controversial Cambo field that was put on hold in 2021 and has the potential to produce 500m barrels of oil, which when burned would emit as much carbon dioxide as running 56 coal-fired power stations for a year.

Analysis from GlobalData reveals lifetime emissions from the site would take a huge chunk out of the UK’s climate plans with oil produced over its lifetime equivalent to more than half of the UK’s remaining carbon budget for total fuel supply.

Khan said: “As we’ve heard repeatedly, our world can no longer sustain new oil and gas drilling. And when we’re witnessing scorching temperatures, wildfires, devastating flooding and heatwaves in our seas, it could not be clearer that this is a decision by the prime minister to add more fuel to the fire.”

The Labour party had said it would ban any new oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. However, to the dismay of campaigners, it says it would not revoke any North Sea oil and gas licences granted by this government.

Hannah Martin, co executive director of Green New Deal Rising, said if Labour took a strong stand now it could still put a stop to the Rosebank development: “This position does not make sense, and there is still time for Keir Starmer to put himself on the right side of history and show leadership by committing to revoking Rosebank’s licence.”

Despite today’s announcement opponents of the Rosebank scheme are not giving up.

“There are strong grounds to believe that the way this government has come to this decision is unlawful and we will see them in court if so,” said Khan. “We shouldn’t have to fight this government for cheap, clean energy and a livable climate, but we will.”

The Lib Dems election battle plan will focus their finite effort on a limited number of “winnable” target seats.

These are likely to include Tory seats in the South West like Honiton & Sidmouth and Exmouth & Exeter East, but the list is secret and still evolving! 

Stand by and watch this space! – Owl

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Asked to sum up voters’ general impression of the Liberal Democrats, one pollster at their conference ventured “cuddly”. Well, yes and no. For all their comforting woolliness, England’s perennial third party is arguably building the UK’s most ruthless and focused election-fighting machine.

To an extent, this is not news: of the 20 biggest byelection swings since 1945, four have been Lib Dem wins under Ed Davey since 2021, a product of ultra-disciplined messaging and a more-is-more attitude to leaflets and canvassing.

What is new, and could potentially play a big role in the next general election, is the way the party has extended this infrastructure nationally, and how it is choosing to prioritise finite resources.

The Lib Dems’ approach is, at its heart, to worry much less about winning votes and focus entirely on winning seats. If you are a Lib Dem candidate and your constituency is not on the target list? Basically, you’re on your own.

The trigger was the 2019 election, written off even by the Lib Dems as a “car crash”, but one which has provided them with insight and an almost paradoxical sense of opportunity.

Giddy pre-election forecasts of 100-plus MPs crashed to a final tally of 11. But at the same time, then leader Jo Swinson, who lost her own seat, added more than 1.4m votes to the party’s 2017 total, a 55% increase. Lib Dem candidates came second in 91 constituencies, 80 of these to a Conservative, a springboard for the current fight in blue wall seats.

After Davey replaced Swinson, he and his team set about rebuilding a fragmented party machinery, making it streamlined and aimed entirely at the goal of more seats.

Helmed by Dave McCobb, a Hull councillor who is the party’s much-respected election coordinator, a strategy emerged from the byelections in which a group of senior officials, McCobb among them, would begin by simply knocking on lots of doors and asking people what concerned them.

This generated clear local messages, which could also be used nationally: sewage from the Chesham and Amersham byelection; ambulance waiting times in North Shropshire.

Every three months, the 50 Lib Dem activists members who have recorded the most voter interactions over that period join a call with McCobb, Lib Dem president, Mark Pack, and others to update them on how the messages are landing.

While the Lib Dems are targeting a handful of Labour-held seats, the preponderance of contests with Tory candidates means policies and priorities are heavily based on tempting over former Conservative voters who have grown weary of the party’s dramas.

This means a relentless national focus on issues such as sewage, the NHS and the cost of living, with more traditional Lib Dem fare such as electoral reform still in the draft manifesto but relegated to a lower “tier” and barely discussed.

All of this is then directed at identifying seats where enough disillusioned Tories and tactically-voting Labour supporters can be tempted to the Lib Dem side.

As a candidate in a target constituency you get money, resources, and floods of volunteers from other areas. If you are not; well, you get asked to send volunteers elsewhere and wished the best.

The list is not fixed. It is determined by a mix of polling and a metric based largely on legwork. The overall aim is, as one official put it, to give voters the impression of “winning momentum”.

There is, however, one thing no one will talk about, even privately: how many seats it could secure. The broad view seems to be that fewer than 30 would be regarded as a huge disappointment; more than 40 a triumph.

Thirty would double the party’s current tally. More than 40 would be approaching the glory days of 2005 and 2010. Will it happen? No one really knows. But if it does not, it will not be for want of effort.

“There is no clearer illustration of Rishi Sunak’s weakness than the fact that the Prime Minister is flailing around making policy shifts after putting Parliament into recess. He’s running scared of his divided Party with piecemeal plans that don’t stand up to scrutiny.” Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell

Jane Merrick inews.co.uk

Ministers could be prevented from making major policy announcements when the House of Commons is not sitting after Rishi Sunak’s U-turn on net zero and possible scrapping of the northern leg of HS2.

The Prime Minister sparked fury from the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle last week when he revealed during recess that he was pushing back the date of the ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035.

Sir Lindsay is also expected to issue a similar rebuke if, as expected, Mr Sunak scraps or delays the HS2 Birmingham to Manchester leg after growing concerns about spiralling costs.

The Speaker has no powers to recall Parliament under these circumstances, and can only do so on instruction from the Government.

But a spokeswoman for Sir Lindsay said any change in the rules on recall could be made by Parliament, following consideration by the Commons Procedure Committee.

If Mr Sunak makes a second major policy announcement while the House is in recess, it is likely to fuel calls for the Procedure Committee to look at changing the rules on recall.

The Labour Party has said it would always put Parliament first when significant decisions were being announced if they were in government, but a source said a possible rule change to protect future parliaments could be looked at.

Sir Lindsay wrote to Mr Sunak expressing dismay that MPs had not had the opportunity to debate the net zero U-turn.

A spokeswoman for the Speaker’s Office said: “If the Government doesn’t proactively explain its policy on HS2, Mr Speaker will do what he can to ensure the House gets to consider it at the earliest opportunity.”

This could involve the granting of an Urgent Question when the Commons returns after the current conference break on 16 October.

Asked about the issue of recall, the spokeswoman added: “It is a matter for the House to determine any change in the recall rules, probably after consideration by the Procedure Committee.”

Shadow Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell said: “There is no clearer illustration of Rishi Sunak’s weakness than the fact that the Prime Minister is flailing around making policy shifts after putting Parliament into recess. He’s running scared of his divided Party with piecemeal plans that don’t stand up to scrutiny.

“Whilst the Conservatives trash our democracy and damage the standing of Parliament, Labour respects the role of MPs in holding the Government to account on behalf of the public.”

Paul Arnott

I’d like to begin this article with a declaration of my fondness for Exmouth. The reason why may become clear in a few paragraphs time.

I first came as a small boy on holiday in the late 60s. When I was a student in Exeter in the early ‘80s I’d jump on the train at St James’ Station just behind the football ground and head for the sands. I used to love running along the beach in those long-lost days when I was a competitive sprinter. It was bliss.

Cut forward 40 years and I find myself working with a terrific bunch of East Devon District Officers, Councillors and members of the public trying to secure a genuine vision for an improved town centre and seafront. It’s going to be hard work, but the single difference I hope I have made is to make sure that all decision-making committees are held in public, and that the District Council runs open and fair consultation events to capture the wishes of the local people.

We get a few moans, and that’s fine, but at the end of the day I can look at the work we are currently doing and say that it is open, transparent and engaging. Well-informed Exmouthians know this was not always the case.

However, like every community on Earth, Exmouth has also been afflicted by what, when I was young, we might call wickedness. Not in general of course. The community is wonderful. But in the area of child sex abuse there have been a number of cases in recent years leading to criminal convictions.

Last week the Newsquest titles reported that “a sex offender has been jailed after he joined a notorious Exmouth paedophile in a plan to abuse a 14-year-old boy.”

The report went on to say that Benjamin Holt had become embroiled with a former theatre manager Gareth Weeks. Holt attempted to set up meetings with a 14-year-old boy to have sex. Holt asked the boy to commit sexual acts on him and was in the process of setting up a meeting at which they were to have sex but the intended victim realised that he was in danger and backed out.

Police had discovered evidence of this after arresting 55-year-old Weeks in Exmouth for having sex with another 14-year-old. In 2020, Weeks was jailed for 15 years. Holt has just been jailed for 3 years.

In the earlier case, Weeks, of Bassetts Gardens, Exmouth, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following grooming, inciting a child to sexual activity, arranging or facilitating a child sex offence, breach of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, and making, taking and distributing indecent images of children.

He was jailed for 15 years and certified as a dangerous offender by Judge Timothy Rose. Notably, he had already been jailed for child sex offences in 1993 and 2012 but was still able to join an amateur theatre in Devon as a volunteer. He was still helping to organise shows until his arrest.

Sadly, Judge Timothy Rose has since passed away. I noted his name in the Weeks case from 2020 because he had also presided over the trial of Exmouth councillor, John Humphreys, on even graver charges, resulting in an historic sentence of 21 years.

At East Devon, I and a number of other councillors have laboured against much obstruction since Humphreys’ sentence in August 2021 to understand the truth about his case – who knew what and when? That work will continue until we know the full story.