The Mayor of St Ives resigned from the Conservative Party at a meeting of the town council on Thursday, September 7. Johnnie Wells, who has been a Tory councillor since 2020, says being a Conservative “was becoming an issue”.

Lee Trewhela www.cornwalllive.com

Mr Wells – who is a town councillor in the same ward as Cornwall Council’s Tory leader Linda Taylor – said: “I just feel that for me, in St Ives and for Cornwall, an independent role is better. Being a Conservative was becoming an issue. It was putting up more barriers than it was taking down. People would kind of shut off to you pretty quickly, so it was becoming more of a hindrance than a help.”

Mr Wells, who is a web designer by trade and represents the Lelant ward as a councillor, said that he had always voted Conservative and has been a member of the party since becoming a councillor three years ago. He said Cllr Taylor had tried to talk him out of resigning “a little bit”. The mayor was unsure if he’d vote for the party again.

Of his resignation, he added: “I’ve been thinking about it for ages really. You look at both main parties and you don’t really have any good direction. The Conservatives seem to feel like ‘we’re out of here anyway whatever we do’ and Labour are like ‘we’re going to get in whatever we do’ so I’ve become really disillusioned by party politics.

“Then you look around Cornwall and I feel like Cornwall Council aren’t pulling their weight like perhaps they should do. The general spiral is getting worse and worse in many areas and I don’t see how we’re going to break it doing the same as we’ve always done.

“I’m looking for change really. There’s that saying ‘if a change doesn’t feel like a catastrophe it’s probably not a big enough change’. That’s where we’re at and certainly in St Ives we’re really making changes.”

Mr Wells, who has been mayor of the town since May, said: “I don’t know what I’ll vote at the next election – you’re in the position of voting for the least worst person. It’s a horrible place to be and that’s what I want to change. I want people to vote for people they feel are going to achieve things.

“I think we have a problem, especially in local politics, that people are very afraid of upsetting other people to the extent that they don’t do anything because no change is easier than upsetting some people. We’ve got to have change, we’ve got to be moving forward.”

He cites the short-term lets of Airbnbs being a particular problem in St Ives, which he feels the government should have addressed ten years ago and hasn’t. He believes the housing problem in Cornwall isn’t down to second homes but people buying a house and letting it as a business “35 weeks of the year”.

Mr Wells added: “The Digey in St Ives [one of the town’s most iconic historic streets] is a case in point – 80 per cent of the houses along the Digey don’t pay anything into either the council tax or the business rates pot; it’s a nightmare.

“Another thing that concerned me with the Conservatives was the fact they come up with all these great green policies and then they just wind them back to get them through the system. The problem with the environment is you can’t wind it back – it’s a pressing issue which we all need to take some kind of ownership of.”

He said Cornwall Council’s Conservative leader Linda Taylor tried to talk him out of resigning from the party “a little bit”. “She understood the reasons,” he said. “She was one of the first people I went to to tell as she was helpful in getting me on board in the beginning, so I felt the right thing was to speak to her about it first.”

When Mr Wells became a councillor in 2020, the Tory group was the main political group on the town council – now it’s down to one councillor. He will remain in the civic role of town mayor and continue representing Lelant as an independent councillor.

MPs return to Westminster after the weekend in a state of shock at news of an alleged spy in their midst. A ministerial statement or urgent question is all but certain following the Sunday Times’ revelation that a parliamentary researcher with links to senior Conservatives had been arrested on suspicion of spying for China. The news overshadowed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s return from India, where he attended the G20 — the PM will make a statement on the outcome of the summit this afternoon.

The alleged spy has links to hawkish Conservative MPs who are privy to classified information including Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat.

Only the start: Could there be more to come? The Telegraph reckons intelligence services will “unmask” more Chinese spies in coming months, raising the prospect that a “network” of spooks is operating out of Westminster.

Source London Politico Playbook

Campaigners have sounded the alarm about a potential increase in pensioner poverty in Britain over the coming decades after it emerged that the share of wealth held by people under 40 has fallen sharply amid a growing intergenerational divide.

Hilary Osborne www.theguardian.com 

Data from the International Longevity Centre (ILC) thinktank shows that in 2010-11, under-40s made up just over half of the population and between them held £7.53 of every £100 in wealth.

While that figure was low, a decade later it had plummeted to £3.98. Over the same period, the proportion of under-40s fell from 50.6% to 49.5%.

Those under-40s have already been identified as facing the biggest hit from rising mortgage rates, and last week a study by the financial advice firm Hargreaves Lansdown found that almost a third of 18- to 34-year-olds had stopped or cut back on their pension contributions in order to save money.

The ILC data is based on analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics, and the wealth being measured includes the value of property, private pensions, savings and investments, and any other valuables.

During the period the figures cover, all age groups had to contend with a squeeze on wages and financial strains caused by the Covid pandemic, but older generations have seen their wealth grow.

Property ownership is the key driver for the gap, with under-40s more likely to be renting for longer than previously or owning homes that have not gone up in value as much as larger properties.

The mean net property wealth in this group fell from £13,967 in 2010 to £11,450 in 2019 (although the median was £0 in both years), while in the 40-64 and 65-plus groups there were large rises.

The older groups also recorded sizeable increases in pension wealth. The figures suggest a growing threat of pensioner poverty if current trends continue.

David Sinclair, the chief executive of the International Longevity Centre UK, said: “Younger people are already not saving enough to enjoy a decent lifestyle as they age, and our latest analysis shows that younger generations will have even fewer assets available.

“Pensioner poverty is already a significant issue, and it will grow if we don’t act now. We know that future retirees won’t be able to rely on housing wealth and many will need to spend money on rent into retirement.

“It is crucial that we address these challenges head-on and develop comprehensive strategies to ensure that every generation has the support they need to be financially secure right across their lives.”

The research also looked at the strains on finances that people older than 40 could face in the future. The ILC said the number of private renters aged 65 and over was projected to double by 2046, to reach 12% of households in that demographic.

Renting a property will mean a strain on incomes that those who own a home outright will not face.

The ILC’s research into longevity is being backed by the insurer Aviva. Doug Brown, the chief executive of Aviva UK & Ireland Life, said: “Financial pressures are growing and affecting all generations; however, the youngest workers are in a particularly vulnerable position when it comes to saving for their retirement. With lower overall wealth today than the equivalent generation had a decade ago, this is concerning.”

The government has quietly signed a contract targeting 20% cuts to the number of new education plans for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) to bring down costs, the Observer can reveal.

Chaminda Jayanetti www.theguardian.com

Then junior education minister Claire Coutinho – recently promoted to the cabinet as energy secretary – subsequently told MPs that no targets were in place.

The cuts target has emerged as councils across England grapple with huge financial deficits on Send budgets caused by a combination of rising demand and longstanding underfunding. Part of the government’s response has been the launch of the Delivering Better Value in Send programme (DBV), which supports 55 councils to bring down their large Send budget deficits through measures such as early intervention and teaching children with special needs in mainstream schools.

In June 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) signed a £19.5m contract with consultancy firm Newton Europe to design and develop the DBV programme. The deliverables section of the contract states that “it is the intention” of the signatories that the 55 councils’ budget management plans, implemented under the DBV programme, will help achieve “impacts” including “reduced cost pressure … as a result of reduced growth in number of EHCPs [education, health and care plans], targeting at least a 20% reduction in new EHCPs issued”.

The contract states that the “impacts” would be measured by monitoring “EHCP growth rates” and the state of councils’ education budgets.

EHCPs set out the education provision that children with significant needs must receive by law, although cash-strapped councils often fail to meet these requirements.

Recent years have seen rising numbers of new EHCPs being issued for reasons including failings in the children’s mental health system, non-inclusive approaches adopted by results-driven mainstream schools and improved identification of special needs such as autism.

Because EHCPs often require specialist education provision for children, some of which is only available from expensive private special schools, rising EHCP caseloads have meant higher costs for councils, with government funding not keeping pace. As a result, ministers and council bosses have looked for ways to reduce the growth in EHCPs, sparking fears among parents that Send children might be denied the support they need.

Gillian Doherty of campaign group Send Action said: “Aside from potential legal implications, this action will simply push the funding problem down on to mainstream schools, which are already in a state of acute financial and recruitment crisis.

“This is irresponsible behaviour that will seriously undermine inclusion. It will also result in a two-tier system that severely disadvantages disabled children in local authorities with financial difficulties.”

In May, nearly a year after the contract with Newton Europe was signed, Coutinho appeared before MPs on the education select committee to answer questions about the government’s Send and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan, which includes the DBV programme.

She told the committee she felt the planned reforms would reduce demand for EHCPs but denied there were any targets. “This is not about targeting a particular reduction; it is just about improving the system so you can get better outcomes for Send people,” she said.

DfE civil servant Alison Ismail told the session that while improved mainstream and specialist education provision should lead to decreasing need for EHCPs, “we were not projecting to a particular target as such”.

Tania Tirraoro, co-director of information site Special Needs Jungle, said: “A senior DfE Send official repeated the assertion to me just this week that it wasn’t about cutting EHCPs. Either the DfE’s left hand doesn’t know what its right hand is doing, or families are being lied to. It’s right there in black and white. The DfE’s Send and AP improvement plan really is about significantly reducing EHCPs. But the law is intact, and I urge families to fight any effort to reduce statutory provision at the Send tribunal.”

Helen Hayes, Labour’s shadow children and early years minister, said: “Ministers need to be honest – they cannot be saying one thing to parents and another behind their backs.

“Labour will identify children’s needs earlier so that intervention supports child development from a young age, which is better for individuals, their families and wider society.”

The Newton Europe contract also aims to reduce permanent exclusions and teach more Send children via mainstream schools, “targeting at least a 20% reduction in placements into independent schools and 2% reduction in placements in special schools”. This would be measured by monitoring attendance rates and the “rate of pupils with EHCP in mainstream settings”.

The DfE said the targets were indicative rather than legally binding on Newton Europe and had not been communicated to councils. However, the targets were nevertheless included in the contract Newton Europe signed that underpins its work to design and develop the DBV programme.

A DfE spokesperson said: “The DBV programme aims to help local authorities provide more effective Send services by meeting the needs of children and young people at an early stage and with the right level of support. Naturally, we’d expect to see a reduction in the number of EHCPs issued as children’s needs are met earlier.”

Newton Europe did not respond to a request for comment.

Six more local councils are at risk of going bust before the next general election, leading local government sources have told i.

Bradford, Devon, Guildford, Hastings, Kent and Southampton have been named as being in danger.

[Article also includes Claire Wright comments on Simon Jupp’s “laughingstock” social media comment.]

David Parsley inews.co.uk

Birmingham City Council – the largest local authority in Europe – declared itself effectively bankrupt last week after being hit by a £760m bill to settle historic equal pay claims.

So squeezed are local authority finances that several more face the prospect of following it, and i has been told that there are at least six that could do so within a year.

“We haven’t seen the end of councils going under,” said a leading local government figure. “There’s at least half a dozen that could be issuing section 114 notices in the next year, with some doing so within months unless they can turn things around.”

Section 114 notices are issued by councils, as Birmingham did last week, when they are effectively bankrupt. It means no new expenditure is permitted, with the exception of statutory services including safeguarding vulnerable people.

The six councils most likely to be next in issuing a section 114 notice, according to the local government source, are Bradford, Devon, Guildford, Hastings, Kent and Southampton.

A recent report from Devon County Council’s legal and finance directors described the Tory-run council’s position as “very challenging” and identified “a number of fundamental issues” prompting an “urgent need” for a high-priority review.

The report warned that the council faced a “material threat of a section 114 notice” because of its growing cumulative overspend on special educational needs and disability services, which has risen to nearly £130m and is projected to increase to £153m by March next year – more than the county council has in its financial reserves.

Following the collapse of Labour-run Birmingham, East Devon Tory MP Simon Jupp said: “If Labour can’t run a council, they can’t be trusted with our country.”

Claire Wright, his independent rival for the constituency at the December 2019, responded: “Imagine our MP’s shock when he realises Conservative-run Devon County Council is on the verge of bankruptcy.”

Devon County Council did not respond to i’s request for comment.

In Kent, where 61 of the 81 county councillors are Conservatives, the authority’s external auditor has warned that it faces a potential 114 notice unless it makes savings of £86m by the end of its current financial year next March.

The report from Grant Thornton said Kent County Council was in a “perilous financial position” due to inflation and a growing demand for its services.

Kent council did not respond to i’s request for comment.

In Guildford, the borough council’s chief finance officer has warned that it could face a section 114 notice because of rising interest rates which are having an impact on the authority’s payments on its £300m debt. The council was controlled by the Conservatives until 2019. The Liberal Democrats won a majority in May.

In a joint statement, finance director Peter Vickers and Guildford’s chief executive Tom Horwood said that due to the council’s debt financing concerns, “a section 114 notice will be reconsidered in time for the October council meeting”.

A spokeswoman for Guildford Borough Council said: “We are working at pace and have already identified significant savings. Our Financial Recovery Plan has been supported by councillors and will be going for formal approval soon. We’re working hard to avoid the need for a Section 114 notice.”

Of the remaining three councils, Bradford and Southampton are controlled by Labour, while no party in Hastings has overall control but Labour has just under half of the borough’s councillors.

Bradford Council has warned its reserves are “close to exhaustion” after £30m was required to balance the budget in current financial year.

The council is also forecast to overspend its £453m net revenue budget for 2023-24 by £13.8m, according to early estimates.

In a report to councillors, Bradford’s director of finance Christopher Kinsella said: “Many councils are experiencing similar pressures across the country as a result of systemic funding issues, and there are numerous councils that are nearing s114 notices. This is something that is without historic precedent and is reflective of a sector in dire need of support.”

Bradford Council did not respond to i’s request for comment.

In Hastings, the rise in a requirement for temporary accommodation has pushed the council into an “incredibly precarious” financial position.

The authority is experiencing “spiralling costs” in homelessness and reported an overspend of £2.4m in this area for financial year 2022/23.

Simon Jones, deputy chief finance officer, warned that if the position “is not immediately addressed” and the costs continue to grow at the current rate for temporary accommodation, the council “will have no option other than to issue a section 114 notice”.

Paul Barnett, leader of Hastings Borough Council, told i: “The ever-increasing costs of temporary accommodation means that to provide housing for everyone we have a duty to house has increased from £730,000 in 2019 to £4.5m for 2022/23 – a rise of more than 400 per cent – and it is predicted to rise to £5.6m for 2023/24.

“Without the cost of temporary accommodation and housing, the council’s budget for 2022/23 shows an underspend of £1m.

“Because of the huge increases in housing costs, there are going to be difficult decisions that have to be made across the whole council as we continue to try to balance our budget.”

In Southampton, the city council has commenced “informal discussions” with the government over its challenging financial situation.

The council was forced to draw down £11.38m from reserves to balance the authority’s year-end deficit the year to the end of last March.

A report presented to councillors warned that a failure to take actions during the current financial year “would lead to a large forecast overspend, which would mean the council being financially unsustainable and the issuing of a S114 notice”.

Southampton council did not respond to i’s request for comment.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has estimated that local authorities have been hit by a £15bn, or 60 per cent, real-terms reduction to core government funding between 2010 and 2020.

Shaun Davies, chairman of the LGA, said: “Councils in England face a funding gap of almost £3bn over the next two years just to keep services standing still.

“Councils’ ability to mitigate these stark pressures are being continuously hampered by one-year funding settlements, one-off funding pots and uncertainty due to repeated delays to funding reforms.

“The Government needs to come up with a long-term plan to sufficiently fund local services. This must include greater funding certainty for councils through multi-year settlements and more clarity on financial reform so they can plan effectively.”

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities did not respond to a request for comment.

Remember: Most schools are unaffected by RAAC

In addition the Environment Agency has an advisory for Budleigh Salterton

Paul Greaves www.devonlive.com

Pollution and sewage warnings have been issued for six of Devon’s beaches after heavy rain and thunderstorms hit the region overnight. Beachgoers are being warned to stay out of the water today (Sunday, September 10) due to the alerts.

An interactive map by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has highlighted the beaches currently affected. It shows where sewage was discharged in the past 48 hours.

The beaches impacted are Teignmouth Holcombe, Torre Abbey and Meadfoot in Torquay where storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow.)

There are also warnings on two beaches in the South Hams. These are Thurlestone South and Hope’s Cove where, according to SAS, “there are two sewer overflows which discharge into the sea which can lead to a temporary drop in bathing water quality especially after heavy rainfall.”

There is a further warning in place for Plymouth Hoe East.

When sea water is polluted with raw sewage discharges, which water companies are legally allowed to do after storms to avoid sewage backing up into people’s homes and businesses, there is a risk of becoming sick with potentially harmful bugs like e-coli.

The warning service alerts potential swimmers and surfers to instances when sewage overflow mechanisms have been opened to avoid being overwhelmed. This leads to surface run-off and household sewage being sent directly into the sea and waterways.

The six alerts are confirmed on South West Water’s interactive map.

It will cost more to be buried, sail a model boat or keep a dangerous animal in Teignbridge as the local council puts up dozens of its fees.

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

The council says it needs to bump up some of its charges as a way of coping with financial pressures and high inflation. It last put up its fees in February, and normally only puts them up once a year.

But members of the council’s executive committee will hear at their next meeting on Tuesday, 12 September that an extra round of mid-year increases is necessary.

Many of the council’s hundreds of fees for its services will stay the same, but there will be increases in areas such as parking charges.

The cost of being buried in Teignbridge will rise from £882 to £961, while the price of sailing a model boat on Newton Abbot’s Decoy Lake – or fishing in it – will rise by a pound to £10.88 a day.

A licence to keep a dangerous animal goes up from £125 to £135 and there will also be increases in the costs of collecting commercial waste and supplying extra bins.

Parking charges will increase to different fees in different places across the district, but an all-day ticket for a spot in the centre of Newton Abbot will rise from £5.70 to £6.20. Half an hour’s parking will go up from 90p to £1.

Chief finance officer Martin Flitcroft will tell the meeting that the mid-year increase in fees and charges will provide the council with £145,470 in extra income this financial year, and an ongoing increase of £346,050 a year.

The figure represents an increase in income of just over three per cent a year.

A report to the meeting outlines some of the financial pressures on the council.

It says that a likely pay rise for council employees is going to be significantly higher than anticipated, and income from recycling sales has reduced as prices have dropped.

Inflation has been higher than anticipated and there are more costs coming from other areas including leasing a new refuse vehicle fleet.

However, many fees including beach huts, boat storage, taxi licensing and a game of golf on the Shaldon pitch and putt course are remaining the same.

Did “Spreadsheet” Sunak miscalculate or does he really not care about green investment and reaching “net zero”? – Owl

Jillian Ambrose www.theguardian.com 

Britain’s climate ambitions have suffered a blow after no new offshore windfarms were secured in the government’s latest clean energy auction despite there being the potential for 5 gigawatts of projects – enough to power 8m homes a year.

While it did result in contracts for a total of 3.7GW of solar power, onshore wind and tidal power projects, industry sources said the “catastrophic outcome” for the offshore wind sector put Britain’s green energy targets at risk and failed to deliver new jobs and lower energy bills.

So how did things go so far wrong for Britain’s most successful clean energy sector?

Why did no offshore wind developers bid?

None of the UK’s biggest offshore wind developers took part in the auction after many complained to government ministers and officials that the maximum price had been set too low.

The auction awards a 15-year contract to the clean energy projects that bid the lowest price for the clean electricity they go on to generate. This has helped to drive down the price of renewable energy, but in recent months high inflation has caused costs across the industry to rise.

Offshore wind developers warned that the auction’s maximum price, which was similar to previous auction rounds, was now too low for their projects to make any money.

They had called on the government to raise the auction’s starting price, arguing that even at higher costs their electricity would be cheap enough to help lower household energy bills. However, industry sources said ministers and mandarins “ignored” the warnings.

Why is offshore more expensive now?

Until recently, offshore wind was considered Britain’s cheapest source of electricity. In the government’s previous clean energy auction, developers bid £37.35 per megawatt hour (MWh) to generate offshore wind power.

But since then the industry has faced a double economic blow that has compounded costs. First, the cost of building and installing wind turbines has rocketed because the price of materials has risen sharply owing to the energy crisis. Then, the cost of borrowing money to finance the multibillion-pound projects has climbed in line with global interest rates.

The Swedish energy company Vattenfall estimates that in total its costs have increased by about 40%. It said earlier this year that it would cease working on the multibillion-pound Norfolk Boreas windfarm because rising costs meant it was no longer profitable.

So what might a fair price look like?

The cost of offshore wind has tumbled since the government’s first contract auction in 2015, when offshore windfarms secured a guaranteed price of £155 per MWh in 2012 money – the benchmark for these contract auctions. By last year’s auction that had fallen to the equivalent of £37.50 per MWh.

This year’s starting price for the auction was slightly higher at £44 per MWh in 2012 money, narrowly above the previous winning bids but too low for an offshore project built under today’s cost pressures.

That rate works out at about £60 per MWh in 2023 prices. Given the current wholesale market price for electricity is higher than £80 per MWh, the government had significant leeway to offer a more generous level and still get electricity cheaper than today’s wholesale cost.

What is at stake?

The auction’s outcome risks creating a domino effect of failed climate targets, billions in missed investment and higher energy bills.

First, it poses a significant risk to the UK’s plan to triple Britain’s offshore wind capacity to reach 50GW by 2030, or enough to power the equivalent of every home in the UK. This in turn risks derailing Britain’s plan to establish a “net zero” electricity system by 2035. Finally, the UK’s legally binding pledge to be “net zero” across the economy could also become impossible to reach by 2050.

In the shorter term there is likely to be a blow to the UK’s green economy by upending the offshore wind supply chain, which was expected to create more than 100,000 new jobs by the end of the decade.

Finally, UK consumers are likely to have higher home energy bills. The industry trade group, Renewable UK, said the lost windfarms could have saved consumers £2bn a year compared with the cost of using electricity from gas power plans – equivalent to £24 on the average annual household bill.

Why did the government fail to act?

One senior industry source claimed that government officials had not fully grasped the scale of the cost increases faced by offshore wind developers and had suspected that companies were “crying wolf” in order to extract higher prices from the auction.

“The problem with that, if you remember the fairytale, is that there really was a wolf in the end. The government officials now have their wolf,” the source added.

Ministers are also likely to have been wary about increasing the size of the subsidy contracts, which are paid for through energy bills, while the energy crisis continues to pile pressure on struggling households.

What can the government do next?

The industry has called on ministers to adjust the auction rules in time for next year’s round of bidding so that offshore windfarms are able to compete.

RenewableUK said it would need “urgent action” to fix the investment framework, including a reform of the contracts and more support for the supply chains affected by the failure of this year’s auction.

It has also suggested other “fiscal measures” to attract clean energy investment into the UK in the face of global competition.

Mismanaged finances are bad news, but worse is the bankruptcy of ideas of how to reform local government finance.

Paul Waugh inews.co.uk 

In Prime Minister’s Question Time, an embattled Rishi Sunak couldn’t resist seizing on Birmingham City Council’s declaration of effective bankruptcy.

Accusing the Labour-run borough of “losing control of taxpayers’ money and driving their finances into the ground”, the PM had a pre-planned line that Keir Starmer’s party “have bankrupted Birmingham – we cannot let them bankrupt Britain”.

Yet given that Tory-run councils have got into similar trouble in recent years, the risk for Sunak is that what he sees as an open goal is actually an own goal.

When asked whether bankruptcies of Conservative-led Woking and Thurrock were a similar metaphor for their party nationally, the PM’s press secretary suddenly looked more uncomfortable. “It’s important for council leaders to take responsibility for their budgets,” is all she would say.

Of course, it’s in the interests of both Labour and the Tories to play the blame game over these financial implosions. Labour often boils it down to years of Whitehall cuts, while their opponents say it’s really due to local mismanagement of funds.

Sometimes, a council gets into trouble because of ideology. In 2018, Conservative-run Northamptonshire County Council was the first in years to go bust, partly because it kept its council tax so ruthlessly low that it failed to raise enough money for basic services.

Yet in some cases, it’s hard to tell the difference between local authorities that issue Section 114 notices, the formal confirmation that they cannot balance their books. Labour-run Croydon and Tory-run Thurrock both made risky bets on commercial property that backfired disastrously, leaving big holes in their budgets.

Part of the problem is David Cameron’s scrapping of the Audit Commission that oversaw financial and administrative competence, something that Michael Gove is belatedly trying to fix with a new Office for Local Government. Other factors are central government failures to grip housing, asylum and social care crises, leaving councils out of pocket with extra pressures.

Birmingham Council’s current woes stem largely from a massive bill for settling equal pay claims. It has already shelled out £1bn, and now has further liabilities of over £700m, after the GMB union successfully sued the council for years of women-dominated jobs (like caterers, carers and teaching assistants) being paid less than male ones.

Glasgow has also had to pay out huge sums after similar court cases and the GMB says it is gathering evidence in 20 more councils, with Cumbria, Coventry and Dundee all under pressure. These aren’t issues of party allegiance but systemic discriminatory pay rates.

Another factor is that some unions see court action as valuable a weapon as industrial action in getting better pay for their members. The GMB has had victories in the courts to force Uber to treat drivers better, Unison won a landmark ruling against industrial tribunal fees, and the TUC scored a victory over ministers on unlawful use of “strike breaking” regulations.

Of course, there’s always a fine balance for unions when it comes to suing councils. The cost of hiring lawyers has to be weighed against just how many new members are recruited as a result. And in Birmingham’s case, it’s union members who will ultimately suffer if bankruptcy leads to deep cuts and redundancies.

In the end, it’s for local voters to work out whether their council or the government is to blame, and it’s no surprise that Woking fell to the Lib Dems and Thurrock to Labour in recent years. The problem is that too often, not enough people know what is going on.

Few people realise that Margaret Thatcher’s very first act as a new MP in 1960 was to introduce a Private Members’ Bill to guarantee press access to council meetings, so at least the public could see what was being spent in their name. “Publicity is the greatest and most effective check against any arbitrary action,” she said.

Unfortunately, as prime minister, Thatcher later waged an 11-year war on councils, both slashing their funding and centralising power. Her fixation with neutering town halls led to the poll tax that ultimately led to her own demise.

But the past decade has seen an even more lethal combination of both reduced local scrutiny and reduced central support.

The quiet death of local newspapers has slashed the scrutiny needed to keep councillors and officials on their toes. At the same time, George Osborne’s austerity cuts seemed deliberately designed to load most of the pain onto councils precisely because fragmented local stories were less visible than national cuts.

The council tax that replaced the poll tax has remained untouched ever since Thatcher’s downfall, with all governments terrified of updating 1990s valuations of properties or reforming the broken system that leaves councils with little real power.

Until both Labour and the Tories fix that system, financial bankruptcies will continue to be matched by a bankruptcy of ideas for reform.

The latest Covid-19 variant, BA.2.86, appears to be spreading in the UK, health surveillance data suggests.

Hannah Devlin www.theguardian.com 

The variant, nicknamed Pirola, has prompted concern among scientists because of the high number of mutations it carries, which raises the possibility that it could evade the immune system more easily or be more transmissible.

In a briefing note on Friday, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that an outbreak at a care home in Norfolk and other cases across the UK indicated there was likely to be community transmission of the strain, but said it was too early to judge the full extent of its spread.

In an outbreak of Covid-19 in a care home in Norfolk at the end of August, 33 out of 38 residents tested positive for the virus, along with 12 members of staff, the UKHSA said. One resident needed hospital treatment but no deaths were reported. Laboratory tests later showed that 22 residents had the BA.2.86 variant, along with six staff.

The outbreak was “an early indicator” that the variant may be sufficiently transmissible to have an effect in close-contact settings, the UKHSA said, though it was too early to draw any conclusions about how BA.2.86 would behave in the wider UK population.

Twenty-nine of the 33 residents at the care home who tested positive for Covid-19 have recovered, along with all members of staff, the UKHSA added.

Dr Renu Bindra, the UKHSA incident director, said that while BA.2.86 had a “significant number of mutations” compared with other variants circulating, the data so far was “too limited to draw firm conclusions” about the impact this would have on the transmissibility or severity of the virus.

“It is clear that there is some degree of widespread community transmission, both in the UK and globally, and we are working to ascertain the full extent of this,” she said. “In the meantime, it remains vital that all those eligible come forward to receive their autumn vaccine as soon as it is offered to them.”

Some early lab-based evidence has eased initial concerns about the potential of BA.2.86 to cause a new global wave of infection, as happened with the emergence of Omicron. A pre-print study, from researchers in China, found that BA.2.86 is not as efficient at infecting cells in the lab compared with other circulating Omicron subvariants. Another pre-print study from researchers in Sweden found only modest drops in how well serum from blood donors could neutralise BA.2.86 compared with other variants.

The latest Covid-19 vaccine booster programme has been brought forward from October to September as a precaution against BA.2.86. The booster programme will begin in England on 11 September, with jabs offered first to residents of adult care homes and clinically vulnerable people, before it is extended to everyone in the UK aged 65 and above.

https://health-study.zoe.com/data#levels-over-time

New testing of water samples on the Bibby Stockholm has confirmed the presence of a potentially deadly strain of legionella onboard, the Guardian has learned.

Diane Taylor www.theguardian.com 

The presence of legionella bacteria on the barge, which the Home Office has said can accommodate more than 500 asylum seekers, was initially detected in tests returned on the first day people boarded, on 7 August. It was publicly confirmed by the Home Office on 11 August and officials evacuated all 39 people onboard that day.

After the evacuation of the barge, its water system was flushed in the hope of eliminating the bacteria. New tests were carried out on 15 August and the Home Office hoped the results would show there was no longer legionella onboard so that asylum seekers could return.

The Home Office has not yet announced the results. However, freedom of information data from Dorset council shared with the Guardian has confirmed that the most deadly strain – Legionella pneumophila Serogroup 1 – was found in a galley pot-wash hose outlet in tests conducted at 3.28pm on 15 August. According to the FoI response, this result was “unsatisfactory”.

An inspection of the barge’s pipework by Wessex Water identified problems that required repair. The Home Office said these repairs could be carried out while people were onboard.

The discovery of legionella on the Bibby Stockholm was an embarrassment to the government as the barge was a key part of its policy to end the use of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers. The Home Office had provided assurances that all relevant health and safety checks had been carried out prior to moving people onboard.

Peter English, a retired public health consultant, said the results of the 15 August tests did not come as a surprise, and the strain of legionella identified was the most serious type.

“Remedial action needs to be taken. The system needs to be hyper-chlorinated,” he said. “That needs to be done for quite a long period. We wouldn’t expect the plumbing in a barge of the sort of age the Bibby Stockholm is to be very wonderful, particularly because it had been empty for some time.”

It is understood that two of the 39 asylum seekers who were briefly onboard have found accommodation with relatives, but the remaining 37 said they do not want to return to the barge due to what they have said are inhumane conditions.

The 39 sent a letter to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, documenting the poor conditions onboard and saying one person had attempted suicide.

One of the 39, now at a hotel, told the Guardian: “Nobody can really bear to return to the ship. In addition to the water, the risk of fire and the spread of disease in this small space is very high. In my opinion, the Home Office has not done its research on this ship.”

A petition has been launched calling for the barge plan to be abandoned and for people to instead be accommodated in communities.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “These are old test results. We have followed advice from UKHSA at all times and people will return to the barge in due course.”

It is understood further water samples from the barge were taken on 24 August and the results are expected to be announced shortly.

A minister has issued an “unreserved apology” to headteachers for the chaotic way the crumbling concrete crisis has been handled, the body overseeing school trusts said on Thursday.

Evening Standard

More than 400 members of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) attended an online meeting to lay out their “grave” concerns over how the government had responded to the scandal and to question “whether they can rely on” its guidance.

Education minister Baroness Barran apologised after hundreds of headteachers received a letter from her office instructing them to urgently return a questionnaire on whether RAAC concrete was present in their buildings when they had already sent back the forms.

CST chief executive Leora Cruddas said “a significant number of CST members reported concerns about the RAAC portal”.

“What has emerged is that many or most of you had already [completed the survey] – for a number of you, multiple times,” Ms Cruddas said in a letter to headteachers on Thursday morning.

“The minister offered an unreserved apology for the tone of the letter and the fact that it appears to have been sent in error to many CST members.”

She added that the “most pressing issue” now was to establish “the reasons that a very large number of CST Members received letters”.

She told the Standard: “I’ve asked the department to reset its tone in external communications, because I don’t believe that some of the comments made in the media recently by politicians have been helpful or constructive.

“But equally I would stay that Baroness Barran’s response to our concerns has been incredibly rapid and she’s taking our concerns incredibly seriously.”

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete is a lightweight building material used from the 1950s up to the mid-1990s, but is now assessed to be at risk of collapse.

Thousands of students have been disrupted on the first week of term by the scandal.

Schools leaders also said they were anxious that DfE guidance over RAAC and are questioning whether they can rely on to identify the concrete in their buildings.

“Many CST members have expressed grave concern about the reliability of the DfE guidance and are questioning whether they can rely on it,” Ms Cruddas said in her letter.

“Although I have been told by officials that there is a ‘triage’ and that visual inspection is not the only indicator of RAAC, we heard yesterday morning from members that they do not believe that this is sufficient in relation to concealed RAAC, which requires an invasive survey.

“The Minister offered to take this issue away and seek expert advice. I have asked for the DfE’s assessment or risk and reassurance on this matter as soon as possible.”

Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “Yet more evidence of incompetence from this shambolic Department and an Education Secretary who is incapable of gripping a crisis of her own making.

“The Minister has now rightly apologised for at least some of the bungling by the department throughout the RAAC crisis.

“The Education Secretary should now apologise for telling schools to get off their backsides and for blaming schools for the mess the Tories created’.”

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson said: “Headteachers and governors have been working round the clock to reassure parents and secure surveyors. It’s totally tin-eared for ministers to accuse them of not doing their job, when in fact the Department lost their forms.

“This chaos is yet another example of the Conservatives’ failure to get a grip on the crumbling concrete crisis.”

The DfE was contacted for comment.

A school in disrepair is concerned there is not the government funding available for a rebuild.

Please form an orderly queue for a school rebuild which doesn’t involve crumbly concrete. – Owl

Tiverton High School was previously promised a rebuild as part of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) in 2009 – but the £55bn scheme was scrapped in 2010.

By Ewan Murrie www.bbc.co.uk

In December, Tiverton High, in Devon, was listed for rebuilding works as part of the Schools Rebuilding Programme.

It learnt in July there was a feasibility process, which may not begin until April 2027, before any money is awarded.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it was committed to the project but its “scope” will be decided by the process.

‘Leaking roof’

The building has not been directly affected by the Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) crisis, however, the school is worried that work now needed in other schools and public buildings may mean the money is not available for its rebuild.

Jon Sowden, Tiverton High School estate manager told BBC Radio Devon, the premises were “very poor, very dated and not fit for 21st century teaching and learning”.

He said the building sits on a flood plain, requires rewiring and suffers with deteriorating pipes and a windowed corridor that has had condensation inside the panes of glass since 1998.

The DfE said the school is on a list for improvement works in coming years but it was too early to say if this would be a full rebuild, heavy refurbishment, or a mixture of the two across different buildings.

One pupil said: “Winters can be quite damp and rainy and sometimes there can be leaks through the roof.”

Tiverton High School was previously promised a rebuild as part of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) in 2009 – but the £55bn scheme was scrapped in 2010.

In December 2022 the school was added to the School Rebuilding Programme (SRP) as one of 500 schools which the Department for Education committed to rebuilding by 2030.

Mr Sowden claimed this gave a false impression that the £40m required for a rebuild had been allocated which he argued was “not quite the case”.

He said: “We’ve been told we can enter a scheme and we don’t know what the result of that feasibility study is going to be.

“There is no guarantee in anything that we’ve seen that this school will be rebuilt.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “We have committed to rebuilding 500 schools under the School Rebuilding Programme between 2020 and 2030 and are on track to deliver that commitment.

“Awarding contracts and establishing projects takes time but we have made rapid progress and are exceeding delivery timescales compared to the previous Priority School Building Programme, while delivering schools that will be net zero in operation.

“The Infrastructure and Project Authority has also highlighted the strength of the SRP’s progress.”

‘Degrade and crumble’

Lib Dem Tiverton and Honiton MP Richard Foord has urged the government to set out a clear timeframe for rebuilding.

He said: “The government has been talking about rebuilding Tiverton High School for more than a decade, in which time the buildings have continued to degrade and crumble around pupils.

“We were given a glimmer of hope last year when a rebuild was provisionally approved, yet it was later confirmed that work is not set to start any time soon.

“This is totally unacceptable.”

by the prospective Tory candidate for the new Tiverton & Minehead constituency, as he asks for an urgent debate in the commons, Mr Liddell-Grainger MP.

He is currently member for Bridgwater and West Somerset.

In a post on March 1, Owl reported the Westminster Hall debate on South West Water, led by Simon Jupp a few days previously, under the heading: “Jupp sets disappointing tone with political point scoring.“

Mr Liddell-Grainger MP, the Chair of Simon’s debate, believes another is needed, vindicating Owl’s judgement.

If only Simon could become a serious politician, he might be more effective in representing his constituents.

Mr Liddell-Grainger MP also alleges that South West Water ‘s Chief Executive “has hired City lawyers to threaten the press and parliamentarians if we speak out against the company.”

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

A South West MP claimed he has been threatened by South West Water in an explosive attack on the company and its chairman in the House of Commons. Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, September 7, Mr Liddell-Grainger, who represents Bridgwater and West Somerset but is also the prospective candidate for Tiverton and Minehead for the Conservatives, slammed the Pennon-owned company, which later said it was “open and transparent” but had a duty to protect its employees.

Addressing Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, he said: “This House, as the Leader of the House is aware, takes a dim view of bullying—unless it is by me.

“She will be shocked to learn that Britain’s worst water company has now resorted to thuggery and strong-arm tactics to silence parliamentarians and the press.

“I refer, of course, to the Pennon Group, which includes the nation’s filthiest and leakiest supplier, South West Water. Its chairman, Gill Rider—who worked for the Cabinet Office and so is used to leaks, I suppose—has hired City lawyers to threaten the press and parliamentarians if we speak out against the company.

“She is running a mob that has convictions for polluting rivers, pays its top gun criminal bonuses and, despite the wettest July on record, still has a hosepipe ban. It is operating like a mafia.

“This is absolutely appalling. May we have an urgent debate in Government time on these ruddy water companies, who are blackmailing their customers and parliamentarians to stop the truth coming out?”

Ms Mordaunt responded saying: “My hon. Friend has raised issues related to that particular company many times in business questions, and the whole House can sense his frustration and anger with what is happening.

“I suggest that he may wish to raise the matter with the relevant Secretary of State on 19 October. He is an experienced parliamentarian and will know how he can achieve a debate.”

In response, South West Water issued the following: “South West Water is an open and transparent business that welcomes scrutiny from all stakeholders, including parliamentarians, media and of course our customers.

“However, we have a responsibility to protect any member of our 3000-strong team who are working hard to deliver for customers, the region and our environment.

“We work in collaboration with all our parliamentarians as we deliver on our investment commitments.”

A correspondent witnessed the first section of the footbridge being lifted into place on Thursday morning and sent these images to Owl.

“If Conservatives can’t run a council, they can’t be trusted to run the country”

[to coin a phrase from Simon Jupp]

Woking council has laid out a drastic package of cuts to local services after it in effect declared itself bankrupt this summer, revealing a £1.2bn deficit racked up from a risky investment spree overseen by its former Conservative administration.

Richard Partington www.theguardian.com 

Plans include scrapping funding for dozens of the town’s sports pavilions and toilets, the closure of a swimming pool, cutting resources for parks, the arts, and ending council backing for some community centres, annual concerts, and involvement in youth sporting events.

The troubled Surrey local authority also proposed scrapping millions of pounds in support for playgrounds and community care schemes for young, old and vulnerable residents in an attempt to balance the books. It will launch a consultation on the proposals next month.

In a document setting out a wide-ranging austerity programme, it also revealed plans to remove funding for choir and dance classes for residents with Parkinson’s disease, as well as grants for community transport for elderly and disabled people, and for a local charity helping domestic abuse survivors.

John Bond, a former independent councillor in the authority, said: “It’s horrendous. I think residents were unaware really quite how bad it would be. Who will want to come and live in Woking now?

“It’s going to affect everything, with the vulnerable suffering most. There is so much money owing, it’s going to go on for 10 or 20 years. The amounts are mind-boggling.”

The council also said it could not afford to complete a 1,200-home development at the Sheerwater estate, a regeneration scheme it was part way through building, and would seek “alternative options” to finish the project.

Council coordination and support for a summer concert series, annual celebrations for Diwali and Chinese new year, and the town’s involvement in the Surrey Youth Games will also cease.

As one of a growing number of English local authorities in financial distress, Woking issued a section 114 notice in June, signalling that it lacked the resources to balance its budget.

Birmingham city council, the largest local authority in the UK, became the latest to issue such a notice this week, blaming a £760m bill for equal pay claims, problems installing a new IT system and £1bn in government cuts over the past decade.

Rishi Sunak sought this week to capitalise on the Labour-run authority’s meltdown, telling the Commons: “They’ve bankrupted Birmingham, we can’t let them bankrupt Britain.”

However, councils from across the political divide are increasingly sounding the alarm over mounting financial pressures, after years of cuts to central government funding, soaring inflation, and rising demand amid the cost of living crisis.

Others to issue section 114 notices in the past couple of years include Conservative-run Northamptonshire and Thurrock, alongside Labour-run Slough and Nottingham. At least 26 English local authorities are thought to be at risk of issuing a section 114 notice within the next two years.

Woking’s troubles stem from a programme of commercial investments and regeneration schemes involving hotels and skyscrapers overseen by its former Tory administration, after piling up debts of £1.8bn – more than 100 times its annual £16m of core funding from council tax, government grants and other income.

The council’s Liberal Democrat leadership has blamed the party, which they ousted last year, for borrowing billions of pounds to fund risky schemes, including a complex of towers in the town centre – standing as the tallest buildings outside a big city in England – with a four-star Hilton hotel, public plazas, parking facilities and shops.

Ann-Marie Barker, the council leader, said: “These are dreadful proposals we don’t want to put forward. However, it’s important to note that it is historic debt levels we’re dealing with, on an unprecedented scale.”

Although acknowledging that Woking residents would “rightly be unhappy with what we’re going to do”, Barker said the Conservatives were responsible for running up its £1.2bn deficit. “We need to put our house in order to live within our means.”

Despite the efforts to find savings, the council documents, published before a key meeting next week setting out its medium-term financial plan, predicted Woking would still face an £11m shortfall in its budget for 2024-25. The council said it was also in talks with central government to explore a potential package of financial support.

Owl’s correspondent reports that two out of three sections of the new footbridge were lowered into place successfully yesterday, watched by many.

These will ultimately span a 70m breach which will be made in the 200 year old embankments gradually over the next couple of months to reconnect the estuary with its floodplain.

The last section is likely to be hoisted today.

A spectacle, apparently, not to be missed!

[Boris Johnson first made the promise of 40 new hospitals during the campaign to be elected in 2019.]

Some hospitals are so dilapidated that they regularly have to shut wards and operating theatres to safeguard patients’ safety, a senior NHS boss has admitted.

Denis Campbell www.theguardian.com 

Julian Kelly, NHS England’s deputy chief executive, made the statement when giving evidence to the House of Commons public accounts committee on Thursday.

He was being questioned about the progress of the government’s pledge to build 40 new hospitals by 2030. Kelly told MPs that some NHS facilities were in such disrepair that the health service had “examples all the time where hospitals are having to shut units, decant patients into other spaces, where we are losing theatres … which limits our capacity to treat patients”.

Kelly was referring to problems caused by hospitals being left structurally unsound either because they are made of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) or because their environment has deteriorated over recent years as the NHS’s capital budget has been squeezed.

“We have hospital teams which are managing these sort of issues day in and day out,” Kelly said. “And so we have examples of managing fire risk, flooding … a lot of this is because we know we’ve seen a big increase in backlog maintenance and we know there was a pause in investment in new hospital infrastructure.”

The cost of addressing the backlog of maintenance across the NHS estate in England has risen to a record £10.2bn, of which £1.8bn is needed for repairs of “high-risk” problems.

For example, the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, had to mothball four of its operating theatres between September 2022 and May this year to allow “failsafing work” to take place across the site, to stop ceilings and walls from collapsing due to Raac.

Under the hospital’s ongoing “decant programme” some of its clinical services and wards are being moved into a temporary area while steel supports are inserted to reduce the risk of its roof falling down because of Raac, a hospital spokesperson said. The programme is 40% completed, she added.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief executive, told the MPs that hospital staff found it “really quite burdensome” to monitor Raac. Even enhanced monitoring of the concrete “does not, and can’t completely, eliminate the risk from Raac,” she said. The NHS is implementing a plan to eradicate all Raac from its estate by 2035.

Doncaster Royal infirmary is at risk of “enforced closure” because it is experiencing so many problems related to the fact that it is so old, the Health Service Journal reported this week. In May it was removed without explanation from the list of 40 new hospitals that are due to be rebuilt.

At the PAC hearing, Kelly and Shona Dunn, the Department of Health and Social Care’s second permanent secretary, confirmed that the promised 40 new hospitals would not be built by 2030.

Meanwhile, new research by the House of Commons library shows that the seven hospitals worst-affected by Raac have 1.9 million people in the populations they serve and employ 43,000 staff.

“It is frankly a national scandal that so many people live in areas with hospital buildings at risk of collapse”, said Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, which requested the analysis.

“Hard-working doctors and nurses were the heroes of the pandemic and deserve better than to work in unsafe conditions under roofs at risk of collapse.

“This feels like a disaster waiting to happen with the NHS”, he added.

“This is government money, and the government is asking us to do this. We have a duty to support Afghan people who supported our forces in the conflict.” Paul Arnott

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

Homes will be provided in East Devon for refugees arriving in the county from Afghanistan, writes local democracy reporter Guy Henderson.

More arrivals, whose work to support British forces in Afghanistan means their lives are in peril, are expected to reach Devon in the coming months.

East Devon District Council has agreed to provide five homes at a cost of almost a million pounds. A further £750,000 will come from the Government.

Four of the homes will be specifically for refugee families.

Members of the council’s cabinet heard this week that once the homes are no longer needed by Afghan refugees, they will be available for people on local housing lists.

The Government’s department for levelling up, homes and communities has issued funds to help councils provide temporary accommodation for Afghan refugees who are currently living in hotels such as one in Exmouth.

A report to the committee said the government money is designed to help Afghan citizens who helped Britain during the conflict in their country. All local authorities have been encouraged to take part.

The report said that while there is currently no local refugee need for the new properties, more Afghan refugees are expected to arrive from other countries in the next few months. They would have priority for the four properties.

The report added: “It is not possible to say with certainty for how long the accommodation will be needed for its primary purpose. However, based on our experience of the bridging hotel, most families have looked to move to other areas, usually larger cities such as London or Birmingham.

“This would suggest that the length of time for any placement would likely be more temporary, perhaps less than a year.”

Liberal Democrat council leader Paul Arnott (Coly Valley) said: “Hopefully if the world calms down in the next five to 10 years and there aren’t refugees, this will be housing stock that can be used for other people.

“This is government money, and the government is asking us to do this. We have a duty to support Afghan people who supported our forces in the conflict.”