Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton & Honiton 

Everyone living near our beautiful coastline knows just how important a subject is the water quality. This is not only because many of us enjoy our local rivers and beaches recreationally, but because our blue vista is also a key driver of tourism, bringing people many miles to spend time here.

That is why the inaction of water companies like South West Water is particularly galling. Over recent years, they’ve made substantial sums of money from environmental vandalism – spilling hundreds of thousands of hours of raw sewage directly into our rivers and seas.

Thanks to the pressure of local communities and activists, a spotlight has been shone on the situation. I have affection for the creative genius that comes to the fore in a good English protest. Placards seen in Exmouth recently included: “Women Swimmin”; “No River Exe Crement”; “Species not Faeces” and my personal favourite “End Sewage Poollution”.

We see ever more reports of sewage spills at our beaches, all while Conservative ministers and MPs line up to pass the buck to water companies. We have to ask the question: where are the regulators amidst this mess? And behind them, where is the Government?

Hundreds of permits that allow water companies to dump sewage into Britain’s rivers have not been updated since the 1950s. Monitoring and reporting on sewage discharges is done ‘in-house’ by the water firms – with them holding sole responsibility to collect the data on the number and duration of spills, and for reporting too. This is a perverse situation that allows them to mark their own homework.

That’s why in January I tabled a Bill in Parliament to hand over this responsibility to the environmental regulator. I was pleased when the Environment Secretary announced he would be making this change not long afterwards, but just a few days ago it emerged that despite the announcement, there was no timeline for the change.

Next Monday I will be hosting an event in the fringes of the House of Commons on this very subject. My guests are the End Sewage Pollution Coalition, which includes the Rivers Trust, British Canoeing, the Angling Trust, River Action, Swim England, Surfers Against Sewage and the Women’s Institute.

I am also looking forward to hosting Jo Bateman, the Devon-based swimmer who is taking legal action against South West Water for dumping sewage into the sea near her home. We’ve invited the Conservative Government’s Minister for Water. Let’s hope he attends!

No it’s not Simon Jupp but Ian Liddell-Grainger – Owl

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger has criticised Mid Devon for sending letters to three former councillors accusing them of alleged data breaches.

The Conservative politician, who is to contest the new Tiverton and Minehead seat at the next election, asked for a debate on “rogue councils” during a debate in Westminster.

He said that Mid Devon District Council had now “threatened its former leaders with legal action for disputing what has gone on with 3 Rivers.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger  continued: “There has been a lack of scrutiny and a lack of accountability,” he said. This is millions of pounds, and not thousands.”

The comments come as Barry Warren, Bob Deed and Christine Daw all received letters from Mid Devon District Council about a “serious matter concerning your handling of confidential data.”

The letters said the individuals “may have committed a data breach” and asked them to delete any confidential information and show the council proof of this.

The letters later state that failure to comply “may result in legal actions,” including fines or other penalties.

Mr Warren, formerly an independent councillor, led the authority for three months in 2023, taking over from Mr Deed who resigned in February last year after holding the position for four years.

Ms Daw quit as a Conservative party member the same month, but retained her cabinet position as an independent until the election last May when she didn’t stand for re-election.

The trio have all been critical of 3 Rivers Developments, the council-owned property company which is now in the process of being closed down, and the alleged data breaches include documents linked to the failed housebuilder.

Mr Liddell-Grainger added: “Can we please have a debate in government time about councils’ responsibility for dealing with situations that have gone wrong, and not suing their former colleagues who are trying to do their job?”

Mid Devon District Council recently conducted a ‘lessons learned’ review of 3 Rivers, highlighting 10 aspects it would do differently if it launched another wholly owned business again.

Some members of the public criticised this, claiming that the councillors undertaking the review didn’t have long enough to carry out their work and that the group’s terms of reference should have been free of constraint.

The authority has in the past also paid external consultants, including Devon Audit Partnership, to assess the operation and viability of the firm.

Two reports in 2020 outlined 33 recommendations to improve it, and these were approved by the full council.

In relation to the letter the council sent to the three former councillors, the authority said it takes its legal responsibilities as a data controller “extremely seriously”.

A spokesperson added: “It is a matter of some regret that the council has had to write to a small number of former councillors reminding them of the need to comply with data management practices.

“However, it is important that the council takes appropriate action to ensure the effective management of data in accordance with our policies.”

Extravagant baubles and flummery or regalia signifying the dignity of an historic office?

Seaton council would have had much more power as a self governing “urban district council” prior to the incorporation of “East Devon District” in 1974, with nothing standing between it and County. It was these councils that oversaw the council house building programmes of the 50’s and 60’s.

[Owl believes that many Urban District Councils were run by elected “Chairs” rather than “Mayors” and chains of office.]

The decision to spend more than £8,000 on a mayoral chain in a Devon town has left some residents “disgusted”.

By Miles Davis www.bbc.co.uk

Seaton Town Council considered various options but voted for a new replacement chain at a cost of £8,257.

Some people living in Seaton on the south coast said it was wrong to spend the money on a mayoral chain during a cost of living crisis.

The council said the decision had been taken “very carefully” with a cost to residents of 5p per household per year.

Anthea Parkin, a Seaton resident, said: “I’m absolutely disgusted. It’s a total waste of our money and it’s wrong in this economic climate.”

The mayoral chain in Seaton is engraved with the name of the mayor and there is no room for more links on the current chain.

The town has a population of just over 7,000 and is known for its tramway and Jurassic coastline.

Seaton resident Bob Chapman said: “I think it’s disgusting when there’s lots of other things that could benefit from that sort of money being spent on it in the town.

“It’s just a little piece of chain. Why don’t they go to Pandora and buy one for about £200?”

Another resident who did not want to give their name said £8,000 would be better spent maintaining the town’s public toilets.

Two of the councillors on Seaton Town Council said they voted against spending more than £8,000 on the chain at the meeting in November.

Councillor Cheryl Wood said she had called for the existing chain to continue to be used with future mayor’s names added to a plaque in the council chamber.

Neil Dyke, also a councillor, said he had suggested keeping the chain as it is and arranging a public consultation.

The current mayor, Amrik Singh, was not available for interview and Seaton Town Council sent a statement.

It said: “The current chain of office is now full and the cost of preserving it and replacing it with a new chain of office that will last for a minimum of 48 years was considered by the nine councillors present.

“The cost worked out at 5p per household per year, which was considered reasonable in the circumstances and the longevity the replacement chain would provide.”

Ken Newland used to serve as a parish councillor in Berkshire before moving to Seaton about 20 years ago.

He sympathised with the town council and said a lot of the unpaid work they did went unrecognised.

He said: “They have to stand out in a crowd. You’re not going to want somebody turning up in a tracksuit and not looking like they have some gravitas about them

“The regalia is part of the role and the role is important to civic society.”

Kicking the can down the road – Owl

So-called capitalisation directions are risky and regarded as poor accounting practice, experts say

[Somerset Council to get access to £77 million and Plymouth City Council to £72 million.]

“It’s a huge relief to see 19 councils not going immediately bust. But it’s a very temporary solution that stands normal accountancy practice on its head to get us to the other side of a general election. But that’s all it does.”

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com 

A record 19 councils in England have been handed multimillion-pound government bailout agreements totalling £2.5bn to prevent them collapsing into bankruptcy in the next few months, in a move likely to trigger a new round of public asset sales.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has agreed that the councils can take the highly unusual step of using funds raised by loans, or the sale of assets such as land and buildings, to plug holes in day-to-day revenue accounts.

The move, which follows an emergency £600m cash injection for all councils in January, is seen as a way of ministers minimising the prospect of further town hall insolvencies before the general election, rather than a solution to the wider crisis.

Rob Whiteman, chief executive of Cipfa, the public sector accountancy body, said: “It’s a huge relief to see 19 councils not going immediately bust. But it’s a very temporary solution that stands normal accountancy practice on its head to get us to the other side of a general election. But that’s all it does.”

The announcement comes after the latest dire predictions about English council finances. A survey report issued by the Local Government Information Unit on Wednesday estimated that 14 of England’s 372 councils would go bust in the next 12 months, as they collectively struggle with an estimated £4bn shortfall.

The agreements, known as capitalisation directions, are not grants or bailouts in the conventional sense of a cash injection but an arrangement that allows councils to bypass normal accounting rules to convert capital sums obtained by loans or selling assets into revenue.

Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, said the move was welcome but “we should not mistake this for generosity on the part of the government. They are simply allowing councils to borrow, and to sell their own assets.”

Birmingham council has already signalled that it intends to sell off up to £500m of as yet unidentified land, businesses and buildings from its £2.4bn asset portfolio, which includes the city’s central library, museum and art gallery, Aston Hall and the council’s stake in Birmingham airport.

Experts said capitalisation support is normally frowned upon as risky and short term, will not prevent cuts in council services, and is regarded as poor accounting practice. One told the Guardian: “It’s like you saying: ‘I’m selling my house to pay off my credit card bill.’ I’d say: ‘Are you sure you really want to do that?’”

Councils given exceptional financial support include Birmingham, Nottingham, Thurrock, Croydon, Slough, and Woking, all of which are in special measures after issuing formal section 114 declarations of bankruptcy in recent years.

Other councils in the list include Havering in east London, which had said that failure to get financial support would trigger immediate bankruptcy; and Somerset, which declared a “state of financial emergency” in autumn.

Strikingly, both North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire councils, created as supposedly more sustainable successors to Northamptonshire county council, which went bust in 2018, have been allowed to capitalise £10m between them to stave off effective bankruptcy.

The other councils are: Bradford, Cheshire East, Cumberland, Eastbourne, Medway, Middlesbrough, Plymouth, Southampton, and Stoke-on-Trent. It is unclear if any councils had been refused financial support by ministers.

Sir Stephen Houghton, chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities, said: “This exceptional financial support will be welcome as a stopgap for those councils that have applied, but will not provide a long-term solution.”

(Anywhere but Exmouth – Owl)

A Devon MP is calling for the immediate halt of a controversial trial of a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) scheme in Exeter that has sparked a huge divide in the local community and is said to be impacting residents from far and wide. Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, says that increased congestion is severely impacting those who use buses to get into the city and says it is ‘detrimental to sustainable public transport’.

Anita Merritt www.devonlive.com

The scheme – which has seen bollards and two bus gates introduced in Heavitree and Whipton – has been in place for six months. The public consultation is ongoing.

Mr Jupp has written to councillor Danny Barnes, chairman of the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC), demanding that the trial be immediately scrapped. The scheme was originally agreed by that committee and implemented on its request by Devon County Council in August 2023. It aims to remove through-traffic from Heavitree and Whipton’s key residential areas to create a safer and more attractive environment for people walking, wheeling and cycling.

The current intention is for the consultation to run until May 8. Supporters of the scheme claim it has already achieved its aims, but opponents say it is having a huge negative impact on car journeys, traffic on already heavily congested roads, the environment, businesses and people’s lives.

Stagecoach has confirmed ‘highways capacity and congestion’ in Exeter have recently been impacting the punctuality and reliability of its services and it is ‘actively’ working to address them.

The letter, which has been shared on Mr Jupp’s Facebook page, states: “I write to you with deep concern and frustration shared by local residents over the impact the Heavitree and Whipton Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) project is having on the Route 57 bus between Exmouth and Exeter.

“Many of my constituents in East Devon live and work along the Route 57 between Exmouth and Exeter. It is an incredibly popular service between two of the largest settlements in the county.

“That’s why I worked hard with Stagecoach South Wesy to get its 15-minute frequency reinstated last year. I am very worried about the detrimental impact the LTN is having on the reliability of this popular service which is harming passenger confidence and the sustainability of the frequency of the route.

“I have received numerous reports from constituents over an extended period of time that serious congestion on and around Heavitree Road caused by the LTN is leading to nearly 15-minute delays for Route 57 buses. This is totally unacceptable and must be put right.

“As chair of the Exeter Highways and Traffic Orders Committee (HATOC), the group responsible for how highway responsibilities are delivered in the city. I am urging you to take immediate action and scrap the LTN experiment in Heavitree and Whipton.

“The impact of the LTN is detrimental to sustainable public transport serving the city and surrounding areas, including my constituency. It is time to put the public first, not political ideology. I look forward to hearing from you on the steps you will take to address my concerns.”

Among those who commented on his post was a bus user who said: “All LTNs have done is cause chaos on the major roads into Exeter, especially Heavitree Road. It’s having a huge impact on all bus journeys, not just the 57.

“I’m a frequent user of the 4/44 and the service is so unreliable that often I can walk most of Heavitree faster than the traffic and without a bus even passing me but, unfortunately, I can’t walk all the way from the city centre to Cranbrook. The LTNs have done nothing but cause commuters stressful journeys and it’s time they were scrapped.”

Another added: “The boundary roads around the LTN are now regularly gridlocked with all the extra pollution and fuel costs to drivers. The other day, a bus journey through Heavitree that would normally take 10 minutes took nearly 40 minutes so you are quite right in pointing out the negative impact on public transport.”

The trial scheme has seen the installation of four physical modal filters – planters or bollards – to prevent access by all vehicles, and also four bus gates that can only be used by buses, emergency vehicles and certain other exempt classes of vehicle. Changes have been introduced in roads including Ladysmith Road, St Marks Avenue, Hamlin Lane, Whipton Lane and Vaughan Road.

A spokesperson for Stagecoach said: “We acknowledge and share the concerns around highways capacity and congestion in Exeter. Recent issues in the city particularly at peak travel times has regrettably impacted the punctuality and reliability of our services.

“We understand the frustration and inconvenience caused by these challenges and are actively working to address them. Our primary focus remains to serve the community getting residents and commuters where they need to go.”

Cllr Barnes and Devon County Council have been approached for a comment.