Charles Sinclair, River Sid Catchment Group 

Looking down from a bridge over the River Sid into the fast flowing waters below, I am delighted if I see the glimmer of a fish swimming against the stream.

Our river is a historical home for trout and salmon. Fish like these in our river are natural treasures and people are working towards restoring the natural populations.

Trout and salmon hatch in the headwaters of rivers, leaving the river to spend most of their adult life at sea, then returning to rivers to complete their life cycle. Salmon will travel vast distances; some UK salmon cross the Atlantic to feed in Greenland waters before returning to the UK to spawn. Sea trout spend much of their adult life at sea within a few miles of the mouth of their spawning river.

Brown trout are the same species as sea trout but do not leave the river system in their lifetimes. Due to the years spent at sea, sea trout are larger, stronger and many times more fertile than a brown trout. They make a more significant contribution to the wild population in a river.

Young trout feed on the invertebrates, enjoying the small bugs like mayfly and caddis fly larvae in particular. Young fish are next up in the food chain; an abundant population of fish will mean many more of the top predators, kingfishers, herons and otters. Bringing back migratory fish to the Sid will help restore the abundance of wildlife that is so important in the valley.

The Sid Valley’s upstream geology feeds different sized stones and gravels into our river producing high-quality spawning grounds for trout and, once upon a time, salmon. An Environment Agency expert describes the River Sid as having a ‘wonderful fish habitat’.

A volunteer group is monitoring river fly species throughout this year and the populations are quite good, but the trout population is low, and there are no salmon. We have severely damaged the access for fish within our river, access they need to spawn, feed, shelter from predators and find safe places in flood conditions.

The River Sid has many weirs and rock ramps, many more per mile than the average UK river. These are important to slow the river down and help prevent flooding, but they are also an impediment to fish migration.

At least six are impassable for fish, with many more lesser obstacles. Between Fortescue and the end of the Byes there are sixteen, mainly boulder weirs. The Wild Trout Trust estimates there is a ten percent restriction on fish passage at each obstacle. The cumulative impact means that only two fish in ten will be able get to the best spawning grounds above Fortescue.

The biggest impediment to fish passage is School Weir in the Byes. Built in the 1970s and nearly three metres in height, it is one of the highest weirs in the South West of England. It is a completely impenetrable barrier to sea trout and salmon that wish to return to their spawning ground.

A fish rescue at School Weir used to be carried out by the SVA, fish were netted and carried above the weir. This had to be discontinued but fish have been seen trying to jump School Weir as recently as 2022. Sea trout are spawning in the very short section of river below School Weir instead but this is a wholly unsuitable habitat for young trout.

The River Sid Catchment Group, with the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group, is hoping to get a fish passage reinstated at School Weir and modify other obstructions to allow easy fish passage up and down the river. This builds on work already undertaken by other agencies in the town over the years. The Environment Agency is also keen to see improvements on the Sid.

We will be presenting our plans for consultation in the forthcoming Sidmouth Biodiversity Festival in June. We look towards a future where the river is rich in wildlife and clean water is a given.

Three quarters of the 100 constituencies worst hit by sewage spills last year are held by Conservative MPs.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk

Environment Agency data showed that discharges of raw sewage into seas and rivers doubled in duration last year to a record 3.6 million hours.

Among the top 100 constituencies in England worst affected by the dumping, which typically happens when sewers are overwhelmed by heavy rainfall, 75 were held by Tory MPs. Three of the seats were held by the Liberal Democrats, and the rest by Labour.

Rishi Sunak’s seat in Richmond, North Yorkshire, was the tenth worst on the list. Yorkshire Water spilt sewage for almost 42,000 hours from storm overflows in the constituency. The water company was the second worst nationally last year for sewage discharges, with almost 78,000 across its region. Water companies have blamed the high spills on wet weather.

Torridge & West Devon, held by the Tory MP and former attorney-general Sir Geoffrey Cox, was the worst-affected seat in England. South West Water, which last year reported a half-year profit of £85.9 million, was responsible for almost 100,000 hours of spills in the constituency, a 65 per cent increase on 2022.

The Liberal Democrats, who conducted the analysis, said Tory MPs would face a “reckoning at the ballot box” from Conservative voters angry over sewage pollution. The party has made the state of rivers and seas a top campaigning priority before the general election. Sir Ed Davey, the leader, seized on the issue after crediting it with helping the Liberal Democrat Sarah Green win the by-election in Chesham & Amersham, Buckinghamshire.

Almost all of the seats in England saw an increase in the duration of sewage spills last year. With the ground saturated after persistent rainfall, sewage treatment plants regularly reached capacity and sewer networks suffered from “infiltration” as groundwater seeped into pipes.

Several of the badly affected constituencies are held by ministers, including Central Devon where the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, is MP and where South West Water released sewage for more than 60,000 hours. North East Cambridgeshire, held by the environment secretary, Steve Barclay, had a smaller duration of spills, about 8,000 hours, but a 182 per cent increase in how long each lasted.

Other cabinet ministers with constituencies in the top fifth of those worst affected include Richard Holden, Gillian Keegan, Chris Heaton-Harris, Mark Harper, Michelle Donelan, Victoria Atkins and Lucy Frazer. Collectively, seats held by cabinet ministers had about 265,000 hours of spills last year.

“These figures show the worst-hit areas by soaring levels of sewage dumping are held by Conservative MPs, including Rishi Sunak’s own constituency,” Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, said. “It shows Conservative ministers are turning a blind eye to rivers and beaches being ruined by filthy sewage dumping in their own backyards.”

Water companies have now paid out a total of £78 billion in dividends since privatisation in 1991. The Financial Times found firms in England and Wales had paid £2.5 billion in dividends since 2021. Barclay wanted to ban dividends for firms which broke the law on water pollution, but the Treasury rejected the idea.

The findings on spills echo a Times analysis of earlier data, which showed that out of 79,467 sewage releases in marginal constituencies in 2022, more than 39,000 were in Conservative seats. Marginal seats are those won in the 2019 general election by less than 10 per cent, and are considered crucial to the outcome of an election expected later this year.

The issue of water quality has been elevated in recent weeks by a series of celebrity protests, with the former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey and the actor Steve Coogan protesting at Windermere over sewage discharges.

The Conservative Party has not responded to requests for comment.

Ministers in London talk about sums spent on pothole repairs, but on the ground in Devon we are not seeing it. Why cut NI if we have to spend greater sums making up for crumbling infrastructure? I admire Stephen’s approach: “I’m doing this to help others” – Richard Foord MP on “X”.

Philippa Davies www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

A man whose car was damaged by a deep pothole in the road is making a legal claim against Devon County Council for the repair costs.

Stephen Lee from Beer incurred a bill of £466.63 after damaging a wheel and tyre of his car on the badly potholed Seaton Road near Southleigh in December.

He made a claim for compensation from the council, through its official application process, but it was rejected.

He has now lodged a claim through the Small Claims Court on the basis that Devon County Council has failed in its legal duty of care to maintain the roads properly.

Mr Lee says he’s taking this action to make a stand on behalf of all motorists in Devon who’re having to put up with the poor state of the highways: “I can afford the money but I’m doing this as a matter of principle to help others.”

The council had refused to pay compensation because its legal department didn’t consider that the authority would be held liable for the damage to Mr Lee’s car. He was told that, although the council has a duty to maintain the highways, it cannot reasonably be expected to prevent or respond immediately to all defects.

But in his legal claim form, Mr Lee states: “My claim is that the council have a duty of care to maintain the roads so that they remain safe.”

He told the Herald: “They say ‘we’re short of money’, and I know other counties are as well, but the problem is that they haven’t invested the repair money properly in the past, they’ve just patched up, they’ve not done preventative maintenance.

“If they’d drilled along the side of the road, dug down and put in concrete, it would have protected the surface from water penetration from underneath.

“My argument is this: these things happen and the council are notified about it and they try to get it fixed as soon as possible, but the problem is that this has been going on for years, they do a cheap cosmetic repair but have historically failed to invest in preventative maintenance and the state of the roads now is that they’re dangerous.”

After having his compensation claim rejected Mr Lee returned to the scene of the pothole incident he had reported to the county council, and saw that the relevant section of road had been recently ‘patched up’ – but there was another large pothole right next to it that had been ignored.

He said: “The real point of those photos is that the system is not working – they’ve done the repair but left other holes in the same immediate vicinity.

“The roads in Devon are the worst I’ve seen anywhere, and I’ve driven all over the country.”

Mr Lee lodged his small claim on Friday, April 12. He is claiming a total of £529.67 – the cost of the repairs, plus interest, plus the court fee of £50. Devon County Council has 28 days to respond.

Release £8.3bn HS2 money for potholes now, DfT urges Treasury

The vast majority of the money isn’t available to spend until the end of the decade. Only £300 million for the first two years has so far been allocated.

Ben Clatworthy www.thetimes.co.uk

HS2 money that was redirected to fix potholes should be made available sooner to fix crumbling roads, officials have said.

Ministers have pledged to resurface 5,000 miles of road using £8.3 billion of cash that would have been spent on the new HS2 line north of Birmingham.

However, the vast majority of the money isn’t available to spend until the end of the decade. Only £300 million for the first two years has so far been allocated.

The Times understands that the Department for Transport (DfT) is urging officials at the Treasury to unlock the funds earlier, allowing work to begin sooner. At present the money will be spent over an 11-year period.

“If we were going to go by the letter of HS2 funding, that means all of our funding comes towards the back end of the decade,” a DfT official said. “We don’t think that’s a particularly helpful way of doing things. We’ve had a conversation with the Treasury over what that looks like.”

Last month, an annual report into the state of the carriageways said that local roads are heading to “breaking point”, with less than half of the network now deemed to be in a good condition.

More than 100,000 miles of road, representing more than half the network, have less than 15 years’ structural life remaining, according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), which collects data from local authorities.

It said the continued decline in conditions is “reflected by the cost of tackling the backlog of carriageway repairs, which has increased to a new record high of £16.3 billion”. A one-time catch-up would take ten years to complete.

After weeks of speculation over the soaring costs of the scheme, Rishi Sunak announced in October at the Tory party conference in Manchester that the northern leg of HS2 would be axed.

The decision was criticised by leaders in the north of England, including Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, and Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands.

Sunak insisted that the £36 billion saved by not building phases 2a and 2b of the high-speed line would be injected into more than a hundred transport schemes across the UK as part of a new Network North programme.

Announcing in November the £8.3 billion for roads, Mark Harper, the transport secretary, said: “Today’s biggest-ever funding uplift for local road improvements is a victory for all road users, who will enjoy smoother, faster and safer trips as we use redirected HS2 funding to make the right long-term decisions for a brighter future.”

Local highway authorities were given an extra £150 million last year. They will receive a further £150 million this year, with the rest of the funding allocated through to 2034.

A source close to Harper said the DfT and Treasury discussions formed part of the “usual dialogue of government”, adding: “We have already paid the first tranche of money into local authorities’ bank accounts and work is under way.

“It’s absolutely usual for us to be talking to the Treasury, especially about such a large amount of money. These are normal conversations.”

The AIA report found that across England and Wales, local authorities would need an extra £1.22 billion each year to maintain road networks to their own targets. It amounts to £7.2 million per authority.

Rick Green, the AIA chairman, said the extra Network North money was welcome but is “clearly not going to be enough to halt the decline” in the quality of local roads.

A spokeswoman for the DfT said: “Local highway authorities are responsible for maintaining their road networks but we are supporting them with the biggest-ever increase in funding, with £8.3 billion of reallocated HS2 funding over the next ten years — enough to resurface the equivalent of over 5,000 miles of roads across the country.

“As is the usual process, we will provide further detail on future years’ funding in due course.”

The domain “richardfoord.uk” was bought by Oliver Kerr, who works part-time as Mr Jupp’s campaign manager, and is paid by taxpayers to also work for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Works for the Standards Authority.You couldn’t make it up! – Owl

“The Office of Mr Jupp has acted deceitfully, and without integrity. This behaviour has no place in Devon.” Richard Foord MP

Ten days ago incurious Simon Jupp told the BBC he was “not responsible for the web domains”. – Owl

David Parsley inews.co.uk

A Conservative MP has admitted that one of his campaign staffers registered web domains in the name of a Lib Dem rival that directed voters to the Tory’s own campaign website, i can reveal.

As i reported earlier this month, web domains that purported to link to sites connected to Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord actually directed people to the campaign website of Tory Simon Jupp.

Mr Jupp and Mr Foord have both seen their constituencies abolished under boundary changes and are fighting a tight race in the new seat of Honiton and Sidmouth, in Devon.

While the website links were disabled, following the discovery of what the Lib Dems called a “deceit”, Mr Foord asked Nominet, the UK’s registrar for website domain names, to investigate who was behind the ruse.

An email sent from Nominet to Mr Foord on Thursday revealed the name of the person who bought at least one of the domains, while the Lib Dems believe the same person was responsible for at least one of the other two.

The web addresses richardfoord.uk, richardfoord.co.uk and richardfoord.com were, until 8 April, all linked directly to Mr Jupp’s website.

Nominet found richardfoord.uk was bought by Oliver Kerr, who works part-time as Mr Jupp’s campaign manager, and is paid by taxpayers to also work for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

It is understood that Mr Foord believes Mr Kerr also bought the .com address, as it was purchased at the same time as the .uk domain.

Nominet has offered Mr Foord the opportunity to report the matter to its dispute resolution service, and said it would investigate if a complaint was made.

He is now preparing to bring the matter to the attention of Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and will also write to Mr Jupp to ask for an explanation.

Mr Foord – currently MP for Tiverton and Honiton – told i: “This is a new low for the Conservative Party. Just this week, we have seen Conservative MPs caught in a honeytrap, trapped in a flat, and now a local Conservative MP seeking to trick the public with an online trap.

“In my time as MP, many people in mid and east Devon who have needed help have been able to contact me through my website. Yet we now find out that the office of Simon Jupp attempted to divert the public with dishonest election campaign tactics.

“In the Army you learn about integrity – it’s a core value in our Armed Forces. These values of honesty and integrity should be key to all those in public life too.

“The Office of Mr Jupp has acted deceitfully, and without integrity. This behaviour has no place in Devon.”

Mr Jupp, currently MP for East Devon, claimed he was not aware that Mr Kerr had bought the websites in Mr Foord’s name.

“The individual responsible has apologised for making an error of judgement, without my knowledge or approval, and no longer owns the website domains in question,” Mr Jupp told i. “That is the right thing to do, and I am glad he’s apologised and reflected on his actions.”

Mr Kerr said: “I would like to apologise to Richard Foord for buying these website domains. I bought them independently. I wasn’t asked to buy them by anyone.

“I regret my actions and no longer own the website domains in question.”

According to political forecasting website Electoral Calculus, Mr Jupp has a 54 per cent chance of winning the Honiton and Sidmouth seat, while Mr Foord is on 45 per cent.

Web domains are inexpensive to buy and easy to direct to any website as long as no one has already bought the name.

For example, domain names ending in .uk can cost as little at £10 a year, with the first year coming in at less than £1. A .co.uk domain will cost around the same amount and a .com address tends to be a little more expensive at around £18 a year.

Once the web domain name is owned it is a simple process to redirect it to any other website already in existence.