Daily Archives: 8 Jan 2024

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8 Jan 2024

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Law of unintended consequences bites in Exmouth

Two different parking schemes from two different councils are clashing in Exmouth and “were brought in without full consideration of the effects on each other,” according to an East Devon councillor.

Parking in Exmouth just became a problem

Guy Henderson www.devonlive.com 

Cllr Ben Ingham (Conservative, Woodbury and Lympstone) told East Devon District Council’s cabinet this week that EDDC’s all-day £2 winter car park deal and a new Devon County Council resident permit holders’ scheme “are laudable but together are causing a problem.”

The county council’s new permit parking zones in parts of Exmouth came into effect in August. The district council’s all-day £2 winter car park offer, which has also been available in previous years, began in November and will run until the end of March.

Cllr Ingham said: “Whilst the Exmouth residential parking scheme is working for residents within the town, the introduction of the £2 per day parking charge in EDDC car parks has raised an unexpected issue for shoppers and those wishing to use the sports facility at the Exmouth LED.

“As soon as residents’ parking came in, commuters filled the long-stay car park behind the station and therefore residents wanting to go to Exeter for leisure could not park.

“The £2 fee has now meant the short-term car park by the leisure centre is now jammed for all day but not by shoppers.

“The repercussions of this are shoppers cannot park so go elsewhere, gym users cannot park, and annual permit holders cannot park which negates the purpose of having a permit, meanwhile the coach and lorry park remains a largely empty space.”

In response, leader of EDDC Cllr Paul Arnott (Lib Dem, Coly Valley) said the matter will be raised at the next cabinet meeting.

He replied: “I think a difficulty has been created with Devon County Council pushing ahead with their own changes and that was done with very little consultation with us as a council.

“However, we’ve been very aware throughout December, I’ve been personally aware of this as well, that we need to look at what the law of unintended consequences is around the £2 offer.

“Now obviously it’s been welcomed hugely by businesses across the district, but we don’t want it to have any negative effects.

“So therefore, I’m able to advise that our parking officer will be bringing a report to the next cabinet [meeting] in February.”

EDDC also apologised for the situation last month.

A spokesperson for Devon County Council said: “Residents’ parking in the Colonies area and parts of St Andrews Road was introduced following a consultation and concerns raised by local residents who were experiencing difficulties with the current on-street parking arrangements.

“The scheme aims to remove all-day commuter parking in residential areas and ensures that residents have priority to park within their own area.”

Exmouth residents and visiting tourists are at risk of penalty notices if they buy parking tickets on the wrong side of the road along the seafront on Queen’s Drive. The road closest to the beach is operated by Devon County Council; the opposite side is run by East Devon. Charges are different on each side of the road, and anyone crossing over to pay their fee on the other side is at risk of a traffic warden’s wrath.

Some years ago, a whole line of vehicles was ticketed when some parking meters on one side of the road were out of order.

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 11 December

Owl always posts planning applications with at  least a two week lag. Experience has shown that these lists can, occasionally, be amended within such a time.

Over Christmas and New Year Owl has a bit of catching up to do but will keep each week separate.

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 18 December

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National Press updated on Exmouth “catastrophic” sewage pipe failure, Jupp calls for action.

“I have written to Ofwat’s chief executive to call on the regulator to open enforcement action and consider criminal actions and fines against South West Water for this failure.” Simon Jupp.

Pollution alert after ‘catastrophic’ sewage pipe failure as MP calls for probe

A Devon MP has called on the water regulator to open a criminal investigation into South West Water after i revealed the water company had discharged millions of litres of untreated sewage into the sea.

David Parsley inews.co.uk

The demand from Simon Jupp, the Conservative MP for East Devon, came as the Environment Agency (EA) urged bathers not to enter the sea in Exmouth after it was alerted to a failed pumping station just 200 metres from the two-mile stretch of sandy beach.

Since 11 December, the water firm has been dealing with two major pipe bursts in the town, which has led to untreated sewage being taken by a convoy of trucks to the Maer Road Sewage Pumping Station, just 200 metres from Exmouth’s two miles of sandy beach.

Despite initially denying its Maer Road Pumping Station had failed, a spokesman for South West Water subsequently confirmed one pump at the site had failed only after being presented with photo evidence by i. However, it denied untreated sewage was being discharged into the sea.

On Friday i revealed that South West Water had been accused of dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into the popular Devon beach resort.

A spokesman for the water firm said: “At Maer Road, we have a duty pump with sufficient capacity to pump storm flows. We also have a permanently installed second standby pump should the duty pump fail.

“Because this is a critical site, we have a third pump (a standby for the standby) which we keep on site for emergencies.

“The operational pump was running normally but there was an issue with the standby and it was this standby that was being replaced. At no time was the pumping station unable to pump to full capacity.”

Despite South West Water’s insistence that the pumping station was working at “full capacity” the Environment Agency later confirmed that the site had failed.

A spokeswoman for the EA told i: “We are aware of this issue and currently investigating what has happened.

“Officers have attended the site in question and are closely monitoring activity, as well as working with South West Water to ensure their failed pumping station is back in operation as quickly as possible.”

As late as Friday evening South West Water continued to insist its emergency works were not causing a pollution incident.

In video posted on social media, John Halsall, South West Water’s chief operating officer, told residents that the firm was not pumping raw sewage into the sea.

He said: “So there’s been a lot of suggestion in social media that we are polluting, you’re on a sort of an ongoing basis. The tanking operation is making the situation worse. That is incorrect.

“On no occasion have we have we created additional environmental impact as a result of the tankering.”

However, on Saturday morning the EA urged people not to enter the waters in Exmouth due to sewage pollution the following morning.

Mr Jupp said: “South West Water have failed the people of Exmouth with more potentially illegal sewage discharges into our beautiful East Devon coastline.

“South West Water’s infrastructure suffered a catastrophic failure this week due to their lack of proper investment into the town.

“I have written to Ofwat’s chief executive to call on the regulator to open enforcement action and consider criminal actions and fines against South West Water for this failure.”

Geoff Crawford, the founder of Escape – End Sewage Convoys And Pollution Exmouth – claims that South West Water should have taken the sewage to a treatment works less than a mile away and its decision not to “indicates that they knew the sewage would go almost straight into the sea and didn’t care”.

Mr Crawford said: “They appear to have willfully polluted the sea with millions of litres of untreated sewage.”

Also on Saturday, South West Water delivered more bad news to local residents as it posted a letter through their doors.

The letter said that that while repairs to the pipes in a local park had been successfully completed there had been another failure around 600 metres away from the original burst. Local campaigners attributed this failure to South West Water’s decision to increase the pressure in the pipe that the old network could not withstand.

The letter, which apologised for the inconvenience to locals, added: “Yesterday, we successfully fitted the overland pipe which would take flows around the bursts, and allow the removal of tankers and clearing of the site ready for repair.

“Unfortunately, after setting it up, when we put flows back into the sewer, the build-up of pressure caused another burst further up the sewer.

“Our teams worked through the night yesterday and repaired this related burst. We have laid concrete around it today which will help further secure it.

“This concrete needs 2-3 days to dry fully. Once the concrete is dry, we will be able to introduce flows back into the sewer. Unfortunately, we will have to continue tankering until this is complete.”

A spokesman for South West Water said: “If an investigation is opened, we will work collaboratively with Ofwat and provide necessary information as requested by the regulator.”

Regarding the pollution highlighted by the EA the water company claimed this was due to “permitted storm overflow activation because of extensive rainfall”.

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New sewer burst delays repairs at Exmouth

Work to fix a burst sewer in a Devon town has been delayed again, South West Water (SWW) has said.

Jonathan Morris BBC News South West

The utility company had been expected to fix the problem in Exmouth by Saturday, but said work was continuing after another burst.

The sewer burst on 30 December and sewage tankers have been passing through the town to a pumping station while repairs continue.

The Environment Agency has advised swimmers against going in the sea at Exmouth due to sewage pollution since the incident started.

A SWW spokesperson thanked local people for their patience.

“We successfully fitted the overland pipe which would take flows around the bursts, and allow the removal of tankers and clearing of the site ready for repair,” they said.

“Unfortunately, after setting it up, when we put flows back into the sewer, the build-up of pressure caused another burst further up the sewer.”

The repair had been fixed but would take two to three days for the concrete to dry.

“Once the concrete is dry, we will be able to introduce flows back into the sewer,” they said.

“Unfortunately, we will have to continue tankering until this is complete.”

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Grant Thornton axed from top flight of audit supervision after removing high-profile clients

Accountancy firm Grant Thornton has been cut from the industry watchdog’s top tier of audit supervision after removing a number of high-profile clients.

Lars Mucklejohn www.cityam.com 

The Financial Reporting Council demoted the firm from “tier one” to “tier two” status last year, according to regulatory filings from July, which were first reported by the Financial Times today.

Firms in the lower tier are subject to inspections of their “public interest entity” (PIE) audits every three years, rather than annually.

Grant Thornton, the UK’s sixth-largest accountancy firm, removed more than 70 per cent of “public interest” clients between 2016 and 2022, including listed companies and insurers.

It audited 20 PIEs in 2022, while rival BDO had 217 PIE clients in the same period.

Grant Thornton has received several regulatory fines for audit failings in recent years, including £2.34m over collapsed café chain Patisserie Valerie.

Sarah Rapson, the FRC’s executive director for supervision, told the Financial Times that the firm’s demotion did not reflect audit quality but rather a “smaller share of the PIE market”. The regulator’s most recent audit quality report for Grant Thornton noted improvements.

Grant Thornton told the paper: “We are extremely proud of our quality results over the last three years and respect the regulator’s decision to include our firm in its ‘Tier 2’ category of supervision.

“The decision by the FRC has no impact on our audit strategy and our continual investment in audit quality.”

Big Four firms Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC, as well as plus BDO and Mazars remain the only “tier one” firms after Grant Thornton’s demotion.

Raising challenger firms’ share of PIEs is a major part of the government’s long-delayed promises to boost competition in the industry.

City A.M. contacted Grant Thornton for comment.