The drawing room had a very special listing as the Treaty of Exeter marking the end of the English Civil war in Devon was signed there in 1646.

Readers of the “Watch” with really local connections might even have been born there when it was used as a hospital 1945-1975. Brief history can be found here.

Eleanor writes:

So, yet another landmark historic building catches fire and burns to a cinder- most people now barely seem to bat an eyelid when these conflagrations hit the press. With the ashes of the house still smouldering, the cause of the fire as yet it is unknown. So far so routine, you might think.

Except Poltimore House is and was very different. It has been widely described in the last couple of days by national reporters who’ve never visited as “derelict”. It is anything but derelict- it is in the process of being painstakingly restored.

When I moved to the area in 2003, The Friends of Poltimore had an open day. My family and I went to visit the mansion, at the time open to skies in places, with magnificent yet mouldering plasterwork, floorboards and walls. The drawing room had a very special listing as the Treaty of Exeter marking the end of the English Civil war in Devon was signed there in 1646.

At the time of my visit, the task of restoring the house seemed so huge, that I came away feeling that it was too Herculean to be even possible. But the Friends of Poltimore doggedly, persistently, proactively proved me wrong. They begged, borrowed, applied for grants, protected, restored, found new sources of funding, publicised. Every time a Friends of Poltimore Chair stepped back for a breather, another stepped forward to drive it forwards. I’ve never been more happy to be wrong about something. Poltimore House is the very embodiment of community spirit and the power of working together- and it continues to be despite still smouldering from the huge fire that engulfed it on the 9^th of April.

This house has a past that touched many people’s souls. Everyone here knows someone who had been born or been nursed there during its time as a hospital. It had been part of local people’s landscape for their entire lives. The Friends of Poltimore wanted to preserve it for the people. Over the years it has hosted a huge range of events of all kinds- artistic, musical, camps. 

Just last week, I picked up my Easter lamb from the farm shop at the back of the hugely successful Branches café there. The place was becoming a true community hub, an oasis of calm on the edge of a city now reaching out to scratch the house’s parkland, and all run, restored and managed by volunteers -most of them living close to the house.

That’s why this house is so different. It is loved, not abandoned or derelict. Past and present are painstakingly being brought together to give it a good future and a central place within our communities. It is a vast, ambitious community project, one that has brought hundreds of people together for a quarter of a century.

The House has been here before. It has burned before. The volunteers have dusted themselves off after every setback, and kept on going.  I hope the spirit of the Friends of Poltimore can endure in the face of this latest event- more than ever, they and the house need us. This house is a testament to human endurance, ingenuity and resilience. For that reason alone the project must persist.

The Drawing Room and details of the plasterwork.

Dear Reader – No such parliamentary constituency exists or is planned, though there is a Lib Dem controlled “Mid Devon” District Council and Mel Stride (Con) is the MP for “Central Devon”.

Looks like the Tories are spending the Hester millions on leaflets – though Owl’s contacts in what will be the new Exmouth & Exeter East haven’t reported receiving this one.

Is Simon being deliberately misleading or is he so stressed by the thought of losing his seat he has become “confused”?

Perhaps some kind soul could refer him to Sidmouth’s memory clinic. – Owl

An alarming 83% increase in sewage discharge into Devon’s rivers has sparked outrage and demands for government action

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

New figures released by the Environment Agency show that sewage was discharged into local rivers and waterways for 530,737 hours last year, an 83% increase from 2022. 

Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord has called the revelation ‘deeply shameful’ and called for the Government to finally act on the sewage scandal gripping local communities by strengthening the powers available to regulators such as the Environment Agency.

[Note Simon Jupp’s is a signatory to a request to the government to strip power from Natural England] – Owl.

Across East Devon, there are several prolific discharge sites covered by South West Water. The worst local outlet was the storm overflow at Dulford, which discharged sewage into the River Weaver 258 times for a total of more than 5,212 hours. Several other notable sites include the overflow at Salcombe Regis, which saw 223 spills lasting 4,827 hours, the sewage treatment works in Honiton, which experienced 148 spills into the River Otter for more than 1,061 hours, and the overflow in Kilmington, which discharged into the River Axe for 1,391 hours over 171 individual spills.

South West Water says it is serious about tackling storm overflows and ‘change of this scale takes time, ambition, and increased investment’ – and that is why it is investing £850m in the region over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton & Honiton, has demanded that the Government follow through on their promise to stop water firms “marking their own homework” and monitoring sewage spills in-house. He has demanded a deadline by when the Government will mandate this data to be gathered by the Environment Agency.

Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton & Honiton, said: “Conservative MPs have consistently voted against measures which would have helped to tackle this scourge much sooner.

“It is a complete scandal that untreated raw sewage is being spilled into Devon’s rivers and onto our premier beaches on an almost industrial scale. This is harming our natural environment and risks making our waterways unsafe for people to enjoy. But it’s not just water companies who are at fault; Conservative MPs have voted time and time again to allow these polluting firms to get away with this environmental vandalism. Local people are rightly angry that the Conservatives have blocked tougher action to tackle this crisis.

“Our towns and villages are fed-up with pollution warnings at our beaches; fed-up of not knowing whether their local river is safe for their children or pets to swim in. We need to see real action, not more warm words and far-off promises. The situation we now face is a result of years of neglect, not just by water companies but also from Government ministers – who have repeatedly hollowed out our environmental regulators, leaving them unable to properly police the sector and hold failing firms to account.

In a statement, South West Water said: “We care about our 860m of coastline, our regions 100% bathing water quality, which we have successfully maintained for 3 consecutive years and protecting the environment now and in the future.

“We were one of the first water companies to have all our storm overflows monitored meaning we know exactly what is happening, when and where, allowing us to target investment and make changes where it matters most. We are serious about tackling storm overflows and change of this scale takes time, ambition, and increased investment – and that is why we are investing £850m in our region over two years.

“The increase in the storm overflow spills this year can be accounted for by the amount of named storms and weather warnings in 2023. It’s clear we need to redesign our systems, which we are already doing. We will also be the first water company to meet the Government target of less than 10 spills per overflow, per year – a decade ahead of target.”

and again posts the text of his letter on social media “X”.

Nicholas Pegg

I have today written to my MP, @simonjamesjupp, to urge him to withdraw his support for an environmentally disastrous proposal to remove @NaturalEngland’s power to designate Sites of Special Scientific Interest: a flagrant #AttackOnNature which must not be allowed to succeed.

To Simon Jupp, MP

House of Commons

London SW1A OAA

Tuesday, 9th April, 2024

Dear Mr Jupp,

While I await your reply on the matter of the bogus web links which misappropriated the name of Richard Foord MP to divert traffic to your own campaign website, I find that I must once again write as your constituent to raise a separate and most pressing matter.

I am extremely disappointed to learn that you are among the signatories to a letter which was sent to the Environment Secretary on 15 March 2024, urging him to support or ‘otherwise enact’ the provisions of a private member’s bill introduced on 13 March by Derek Thomas MP

This bill proposes that the power to designate Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) should be removed from Natural England (a non-departmental public body which is independent of government) and instead be granted directly to the Secretary of State.

I can only assume that you were temporarily confused, or perhaps distracted by your urgent casework, when you agreed to sign a letter supporting such a damaging proposal – a letter which, unsurprisingly, all eighteen signatories kept very quiet about until its existence emerged yesterday.

The SSSI status is the foundation stone of nature conservation in England. Its strength lies in its designation being based purely on independent scientific evidence. If that power were to be transferred to the Secretary of State, it is all too clear that protected site designation would in future become compromised by political, economic and commercial considerations. In other words, this bill represents yet another ‘attack on nature’ of the kind advocated in September 2022 by the discredited former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, when he proposed measures to remove environmental protections – measures which were roundly condemned at the time by conservation charities including the Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB and the National Trust, and which contributed to Mr Kwarteng’s swift political downfall.

Mr Jupp, as your constituent I am calling on you to withdraw your signature from that ill-judged letter of support, and instead to speak and vote against this bill when it comes before the House for its second reading on Friday 26 April.

As an MP who professes to champion environmental issues, you must surely be aware that the only intellectually and morally justifiable choice open to you is to champion Natural England’s independence, and strive to ensure that the agency is adequately supported and funded to carry out its legal duties: specifically, to designate new SSSIs, to advise on their management, and, where appropriate, to use its legal powers to ensure their protection.

I look forward to your reply on this very serious matter, as well as on the very serious matter of the still unexplained website deception.

Yours sincerely,

Nicholas Pegg