Rishi Sunak visits Cullompton to talk railway stations with Transport Secretary Harper’s PPS Simon Jupp tagging along for the ride.

Did the PM have the courtesy to follow the Speaker’s guidelines and inform Cullompton’s MP, Richard Foord of his visit? Doesn’t look like it – are the Tories running “frit”. – Owl

Rishi Sunak’s secret visit sparks railway row

Cullompton’s MP Richard Foord has challenged the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on plans for a new railway station and a school when Mr Sunak visited the town.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

Mr Sunak was reportedly visiting Cullompton off the back of a tour of Cornwall and Plymouth on Friday, February 9. The visit to Cullompton was shrouded in secrecy as no press was invited to attend.

It is believed he met with Mr Foord’s Conservative opponent Simon Jupp, who is hoping to win Cullompton back from the Lib Dems following the by-election defeat in 2022 in which Neil Parish quit after looking pornography in the House of Commons.

Mr Jupp is currently the MP for East Devon, but will be fighting for Cullompton in the newly formed Honiton and Sidmouth seat in the 2024 General Election.

Lib Dem MP for Tiverton and Honiton Richard Foord, the day before the visit, posted on X, wrote: “I’ve heard that a senior Govt minister might visit Cullompton tomorrow. No doubt they will repeat the usual election promises of opening a railway station, as they do in Cullompton ahead of every election. People in the town want action, not more warm words. Show us the money.

Richard Foord MP for Tiverton & Honiton

“I will welcome funding to re-open the station when we see it. It will be a response to a campaign that’s been running for years, and one I’ve been proud to support through my work as Devon’s Chair of the Metro Board, whose members have put together a strong business case.

“It’s a real community effort; it is the tenacity of people in the town that has got us this far. We wouldn’t want to see a current Conservative Devon MP credited, though Neil Parish pushed this agenda as my predecessor.

“Let’s hope that the senior Cabinet member puts in a visit to Tiverton High School while they are in Devon. That’s another promise that gets wheeled out ahead of each election. Deeds, not words please.”

As no press were able to attend, Mr Foord’s questions could not be put to the Prime Minister.

Mr Sunak had visited Cornwall earlier in the week, in a visit where photographers were banned, and each outlet was only allowed to ask one question in a twelve-minute press huddle described by Cornwall Live as ‘A party political broadcast, basically, with interruptions ignored or replied to with a “I respectfully disagree with your characterisation of what we’ve been doing’.

NHS Devon rectifies procedural error, confirms intention to hand back whole wing of Hospital

Martin Shaw 7 February

When NHS Devon’s Integrated Care Board (ICB) decided last autumn to hand back part of Seaton Hospital to NHS Property Services for disposal, the report it approved referred only to the former ward accommodation on the ground floor of the 1991 wing, although verbally they claimed to be handing back the wing as a whole, i.e. also including first floor offices being used by the Community Team (who visit patients in their homes) and the League of Friends Hospice at Home team. Thus although they claimed to only handing back unused space, they were in fact disposing of space that is still in use.

When we finally saw the report in late December, I wrote to the ICB pointing out that they did not have the authority to hand back the whole wing. This week, they put forward a new paper rectifying their error, and indicating that the Community Team offices would be moved to other rooms on the ground floor, including the area recently used as a vaccination suite.

The Seaton Hospital Steering Committee objected to this on the grounds that the suite in the Hospital had been very successful and it is important for vaccinations to be available locally. My question about this was read out by the chair, Dr Sarah Wollaston, at their Board meeting today, but they rejected our request to restrict the handback to the former ward area. She said that emptying the wing ‘facilitates the handback’, and that while they understand the concerns about the vaccination suite, they have an excellent track record of using all relevant spaces for vaccinations (thus she ignored our point that we need this facility locally). You can watch at NHS Devon board meetings – YouTube – it’s right at the end of today’s meeting.

The Steering Committee continues its discussions about uses of spaces in the Hospital and will meet representatives of the ICB and Property Services in the Hospital a week today.

A sea swimmer is set for a showdown with South West Water (SWW) bosses after taking the company to court over sewage spills on the Devon coast.

David Parsley inews.co.uk

Jo Bateman, who is claiming compensation for sewage spills that prevented her taking her daily sea swims, has been invited by an SWW director to meet with her and an “operational colleague” ahead of the court case.

In her invitation to meet with Ms Bateman, an executive from the water company, Laura Flowerdew wrote: “I wanted to reach out to you to see if you would be willing to meet with myself and possibly one of my operational colleagues, to discuss the issues you were highlighting and for us to share more information about the water quality at Exmouth in particular, as well as share the work we’re doing to reduce the need for storm overflows to operate.”

While Ms Flowerdew, who is chief customer and digital officer at the water firm’s parent company Pennon Group, added that the Small Claims Court action was being “dealt with separately by our legal team”, Ms Bateman is concerned that the company may be preparing to make her an offer to settle her case in return for withdrawing her legal action.

“Even if she does make me an offer to settle, I’m not accepting it,” Ms Bateman told i.

“It’s really not about the money. It’s about the principal of South West Water illegally dumping sewage into the sea in Exmouth and all around the cost of Devon and Cornwall.

“I’m only seeking compensation of £379.50, so it’s not about the money either. It’s about holding the company to account.”

Ms Bateman, 62, is also refusing to pay the sewage element of her South West Water and is prepared to go to prison if the company takes enforcement action (Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith)

Ms Bateman, who tries to swim at Exmouth beach every day throughout the year, is also withholding payment of the sewage part of her water bill in protest at SWW’s ongoing spills.

On Thursday morning, SWW issued alerts for sewage spills in Exmouth and more than 30 other beaches in Devon and Cornwall, despite only a small amount of rainfall on Wednesday evening following a prolonged period of dry weather.

Water companies are permitted to pump sewage into seas and rivers during periods of heavy rainfall to avoid inland flooding and sewage backing up into people’s homes.

However, Ms Bateman added: “It’s been dry here in Exmouth and around the south west for a couple of weeks. Why has a little bit of rain cause yet more sewage being pumped into the sea today. It should not be happening and SWW has failed to invest in preventing it from happening for years. In the meantime, it has paid its shareholders dividends worth hundreds of millions of pounds.”

SWW’s Ms Flowerdew told i her invitation to Ms Bateman was “the right thing to do” and that she hoped she could “help Ms Bateman understand more about the work we have done and are continuing to do in Exmouth”.

Ms Flowerdew added: “We genuinely take these claims seriously and we want to show Ms Bateman and all our customers that we are a team made up of local residents who also care deeply about the beautiful region we live in and bathing waters that surround us.”

SWW is investing £38m into Exmouth’s sewage network by 2030.

The water company is about to launch a roadshow in Exmouth over the coming weeks to let local residents know its investment plans to improve the sewage infrastructure in.

The company is pledging to invest £38m in its pipe and pumping station network in the popular tourist town by 2030.

“That’s still six years away,” said Ms Bateman. “Why have they not invested this money in the network before instead of paying out all those millions to investors. Last year alone they paid out £122m to shareholders while continuing to dump sewage into the sea.”

Last year, the water company was fined £2.15m for illegally dumping sewage into rivers and the sea in Devon and Cornwall.

“That’s peanuts to them,” added Ms Bateman. “Sometimes you have to wonder if South West Water just doesn’t mind paying the fines as they’re a lot less that the money they need to spend fixing the problems.”

In her claim, Ms Bateman details 54 instances when she believes the company illegally dumped sewage into the sea during 2023.

The retired NHS physiotherapist is claiming SWW’s pollution of the Exmouth sea has led to what is legally known as a loss of amenity, which mean she must prove she has been injured.

She previously told i: “I make no secret of the fact that I am on anti-depressants. But since I have been swimming in the sea every day, my doctor has reduced my dose by half.

“The swimming helps me in all sorts of ways, and I believe the sea is an amenity to anyone that wants to enjoy it.”

Earlier this month, i revealed that millions of litres of sewage had been transported to what the Environment Agency called a “failed pumping station” just 200m from Exmouth’s sandy beach.

One campaigner described it as “willful pollution” by SWW. The company confirmed one pump at the site had failed but denied untreated sewage was being discharged into the sea.

Commenting  on the Thursday morning’s sewage spill in Exmouth, a spokeswoman for SWW said: “Rainfall over the past 48 hours has caused our storm overflow at Maer Road to activate in line with its permit.

“Our storm overflows in Exmouth and across the region are operating as intended, to protect homes and businesses from flooding.

“We are continuing to deliver improvements in Exmouth by September 2024, to help reduce spills to an average of 10 per year in 2025.”

See also Owl’s post on EDDC councillors’ frustration at SWW stonewalling at last week’s scrutiny meeting.

This 13 min interview reveals how well briefed and determined Jo Bateman is.

Formidable! – Owl

See also Owl’s post on EDDC councillors’ frustration at SWW stonewalling at last week’s scrutiny meeting.