A plan is afoot for opposition parties to work together.

This will cause “a flutter in the dovecote” – Owl

Devon Live www.devonlive.com

With a General Election looking likely in 2024, political parties in South Devon are planning to work together to unseat Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall. The South Devon Primary group aims to choose one candidate between them at the next general election.

The group includes key members from the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Green Parties. They expect to stage sessions in town halls across the constituency for the public to ask questions of the three progressive candidates and vote for whomever they think is best placed to win the seat.

They will be asking voters to unite behind this single candidate when the general election is called and for the losing opposition parties to refrain from campaigning. They say it is the best way to unite any ‘anti-Conservative’ vote.

But it raises questions. In a leader column in our sister print title the Herald Express, the editor asks what would happen if a minority party candidate, such as a Green, were to be voted the people’s champion.

Read the full column below

A campaign group which seemingly has a dual purpose – one to unify opposition voters, the other to boot the Conservatives out of Totnes – is forging ahead in its quest by organising a series of town hall meetings across South Devon.

The group, South Devon Primary, says after these seven town halls, where members of the public will be able to quiz selected opposition candidates and then vote at each location on who they think fared best, a combined tally of all the votes cast will produce a ‘people’s champion’.

It then asks all opposition voters to unite behind this single candidate when the General Election is called and for the losing opposition parties to refrain from campaigning, although their candidates will remain on the ballot paper.

It says only by uniting the fragmented opposition vote can the Conservatives, who have held the new South Devon (formerly Totnes) seat for nearly a century, be ousted.

It says recent Lib Dem and Labour by-election victories were a result of this approach.

But it does raise questions.

What if a minority party candidate, a Green, is voted the people’s champion?

Would the Lib Dems or Labour be prepared to give up on South Devon, the former particularly could have a realistic chance of winning without any help, to support a fringe party candidate?

And would enough voters be willing to cross political tribal lines to support a candidate representing a party they might not have any faith in on the national stage?

This challenge to the political status quo asks a lot of voters – and political parties, too.

It is also worrying that only the Lib Dems, Labour and Green candidates will be invited to pitch to the public as South Devon Primary says it is ideologically opposed to the Reform Party’s principles.

That’s as may be but surely that’s a matter for voters to decide? After all, democracy is principally about unfettered choice, not stacking the decks.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how well-subscribed the town hall meetings are as we monitor this experiment to engage voters and force political change.

Zoom meeting between South West Water and the residents of Exmouth reported nationally.

Alex Ross www.independent.co.uk

The chief executive of an embattled water company has apologised to customers after it transported millions of litres of raw sewage through a coastal town in tankers before disposing of it at an overflowing pumping station.

Up to 250 journeys were made every day by tanks moving sewage through Exmouth (Escape)

South West Water (SWW) is facing the anger of residents of Exmouth, east Devon, who say the company’s “deplorable” actions led to the overspilling of more raw sewage into the sea just a short distance from the town’s popular sandy beach.

The situation in the seaside resort triggered an investigation by the Environment Agency, which also warned swimmers not to go into the sea until 8 January.

Geoff Crawford, the founder of End Sewage Convoys and Pollution Exmouth (Escape), said the water company had put its financial interests ahead of the environment, and had left the town “on edge” over sewage pollution.

He added: “People weren’t aware of the problem, but then the convoy of tankers moving raw sewage through the town really brought it home, then there was the notification of overspilling into the sea and the closure of the beach.

“There is a general anxiety across the town. It’s clear sewage was sent to an overflowing pumping station and dumped into the sea.”

Susan Davy, chief executive of the company, told a special meeting with councillors and other angry locals on Thursday evening: “It’s my job to ensure we walk in the shoes of our customers, and for the residents in and around Exmouth we haven’t done that, and I’m sorry.

“That’s not to say that my team and I don’t care – we do. But it’s right that I take responsibility and accountability for South West Water’s actions. For disturbing the community and having an impact on the environment I’m truly sorry.”

Mains Burst what happened?

A South West Water map of the local area and tanker routes (South West Water)

One resident claimed there had been an unprecedented number of reports of people and dogs falling ill since the spills.

Dan Wilson, a town and district councillor, said after years of failure by South West Water, if he had been in charge, he would resign.

Asked whether she would stand down, Ms Davy said she was confident the company had the right team in place, after managers outlined plans for £38m of investment in infrastructure over the coming years.

SWW has already faced criticism for pollution during a drive by the government to cut the number of illegal spills. It was fined £2.15 million last year for issues across Devon and Cornwall.

Last week, John Halsall, chief operating officer of the firm, issued a “heartfelt apology” to residents in a video posted on the company’s website, but denied the company had “caused environmental impact” by sending sewage to an overflowing pumping station.

The issue began when flooding on 30 December forced the transportation of waste in tankers from a Phear Park Pumping Station to Maer Road Pumping Station.

The lorries had previously been taking the waste to Maer Lane Sewage Treatment Works due to a burst in a pipe linking the sites.

But the flooding, plus a promise not to send tankers through a village, led to the decision to use Maer Road Pumping Station as the destination for up to 240 sewage-filled vehicle journeys a day.

Only after a “brief period of time”, according to Mr Halsall, said to be four days, did the company redirect the lorries back to the treatment works.

Mr Halsall said: “In the end we had to say, and apologise to local [village] residents and say we’ve got no choice, we just need to tanker through the village and that’s what happened.”

But for the campaigners in Exmouth, that decision came too late after, they say, more sewage was added to the overflow coming from Maer Road Pumping Station into the sea.

Mr Halsall told the meeting he offered a sincere apology for the disruption. “I know exactly what it feels like – I’ve seen the tankers and the mess.

“When the rising main burst, it was pouring with rain and we were up against it. I’m genuinely sorry for the tankering and the first burst.”

He said pollution from the first burst did affect beaches but it was less clear whether the second one caused material pollution, saying the company had chosen “the least worst” option.

Asked whether in hindsight the decision was wrong, he said he was not sure they would do anything differently.

There were no visible indicators the main was vulnerable to bursting or required replacement, he said.

At the start of January, the Environment Agency told the BBC that SWW informed it “that for operational reasons they were having to tanker waste to another pumping station that was already overflowing”.

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson said: “South West Water has now resolved the issue and their pumping station is back in operation. We take all pollution incidents extremely seriously and are currently investigating this case.”

Mr Crawford, who swims in the sea of Exmouth to help with anxiety, said data published online by SWW showed waste overflowed from Maer Road Pumping Station for several days during the tanker deliveries. The current reading shows the last overflow was for 10 minutes on 5 January.

He said: “We are trying to capitalise on this to push SWW to make the necessary improvements to its network to ensure this never happens again.”

In the video message, Mr Halsall said the use of tankers was to reduce the environmental impact caused by the burst pipe.

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

“Now, in the spirit of transparency, have the bursts caused environmental impact? Unfortunately, yes they have… as soon as we started tanking the environmental impact stopped.”

An SWW spokesperson told The Independent that an installed temporary pipe meant tankers were no longer needed to move sewage across the town.

They added: “We would like to again thank local residents for their continued patience whilst the works are taking place and we are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.”

Just under a year ago, in February 2023, Simon Jupp announced he was abandoning 78% of his current constituents as he jumped ship to become the Tory candidate for the new seat of Honiton and Sidmouth.

By June he was “on manoeuvres” on Richard Foord’s turf, trying to gain “face recognition”.  

As Claire Wright wrote on “X” : After months of claiming credit for @RichardFoordLD work, Simon Jupp lodges actual formal complaint against Richard for raising in Parliament, the tragic case of #Ottery victim of the #HorizonScandal . 

This prompted a number of comments including: “The absolute shameless politicising here is by @simonjamesjupp who has done sod all for Ottery or East Devon whilst openly campaigning in his new target seat. How many times did he raise Horizon before the TV programme made it an issue? #ToriesBrokeBritain”

Row after accused Devon subpostmaster’s death raised in Parliament

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com 

Two rival MPs clashed over the case of a former Ottery St Mary resident who died before being cleared of false accusations in the Horizon scandal.

The Horizon scandal refers to the faulty IT system used by the Post Office, which wrongly showed shortfalls in the accounts of thousands of subpostmasters, leading to some being prosecuted, sacked, or bankrupted.

Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton & Honiton, who has announced he will be standing as the candidate for the newly formed Honiton & Sidmouth seat in the next general election, raised the issue during a question session to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kevin Hollinrake.

Mr Foord said: “Russell Ward-Best from Ottery St Mary was accused of stealing £17,000. He avoided prosecution by resigning, and another sub-postmaster I represent paid the alleged shortfall to avoid prosecution. Russell Ward-Best was declared bankrupt and died before he was found innocent and cleared. Will the Minister comment on financial redress for all sub-postmasters and their families, including those who were not prosecuted?”

Mr Hollinrake expressed his sympathy for Mr Ward-Best and his family, and said they should be able to get compensation through the historic shortfall scheme, which is designed to reimburse subpostmasters who suffered losses due to the Horizon system.

He said: “That scheme is there to put Mr Ward-Best, if he were still with us, back to where he would have been had this detriment not occurred, and that can take into account things such as bankruptcy. That money would then be paid to his estate, which would then flow through to his family. The same compensation is available, despite Mr Ward-Best very sadly no longer being with us.”

However, the exchange sparked a furious reaction from Simon Jupp, the Conservative MP for East Devon, who is also vying for the Honiton & Sidmouth seat. He accused Mr Foord of politicising the death of Mr Ward-Best, and said he hoped he had informed the family beforehand to avoid further hurt.

He took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to write: “Earlier in Parliament, Richard Foord shamefully tried to politicise the death of a former Ottery resident in a question regarding the Horizon scandal. I hope he had the courtesy to inform the family beforehand to avoid further hurt. I’m making a formal complaint to the Speaker.

“Richard is not the MP for Ottery St Mary, but is launching his campaign there. I understand you may not know this, given you are quite far away, but nothing excuses this shameless politicising from a sitting MP from your party.”

This is not the first time the two sitting MPs have exchanged fiery words. In December, Mr Foord referred to Mr Jupp as ‘member for Exmouth ’ in a debate, to which Mr Jupp demanded an apology, saying: “He referred to me as the MP for Exmouth, but my constituency also includes Sidmouth and I should be referred to as the MP for East Devon. He has done this politically in local newspapers and leaflets.

“I seek an apology for my constituency being named incorrectly, and a promise from the hon. Gentleman that he will not do so again.”

Mr Foord did not respond to Mr Jupp’s request.