How much of the South Hams will now be swallowed up for the expansion of Plymouth and its free port?

The signal lies in just one word. Before appointment the job title was changed  from “strategic director for place” to “strategic director for growth”. You have been warned!

Karime Hassan is remembered in East Devon as being at the forefront of the “build, build, build” administration, in particular, the architect of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan which dumped much of Exeter’s housing needs on the green fields of East Devon. 

He was appointed Corporate Director in EDDC in 2005, the same year as the influential (unaccountable and infamous) East Devon Business Forum was formed. He was also the main driving force behind “setting Devon’s first free-standing settlement to be built in Devon since the Middle Ages on its way” (Cranbrook). Leaving us with continuing legacy problems regarding housing targets.

In 2011 he joined Exeter City Council as the Director of Economy and Development after about six months of sharing his time between Exeter and East Devon. In 2013, controversially, he was appointed both Chief Executive and Growth Director of Exeter City Council. [His exploits are extensively recorded in the EDW archives].

Plymouth hires retired Exeter City Council boss on £1,000 a day

Miles Davis www.bbc.co.uk

The former chief executive of a city council who retired in 2023 has landed a new job with a different council being paid an estimated £1,000 a day.

Karime Hassan MBE left Exeter City Council in March 2023.

He has now been hired by Plymouth City Council as the interim strategic director for growth.

Plymouth City Council has not disclosed Mr Hassan’s salary but a council report said, external there was a “shortage of high-quality candidates” for this type of role and the market rate was between £1,000 and £1,300 a day.

In his previous job as chief executive and growth director at Exeter, Mr Hassan was paid an annual salary of more than £123,000.

Exeter City Council announced his retirement in December 2022, external, saying he was leaving after “a golden decade”.

Exeter City Council accounts show, external he received £369,680 from the council in 2022/23, made up of his salary, compensation for loss of office of £60,877 and employer’s pension contributions of £185,125.

The chief officer appointments panel on Plymouth City Council agreed in August, external that an interim strategic director for growth should be “engaged initially for six months, but with the option to extend to nine months pending the permanent appointment to the role”.

A spokesman for the city council said the pay rates in the appointments panel report were “indicative” and did not necessarily mean the role was being paid for on a daily rate.

The council said the pay band for the role was an annual salary of £136,920 to £163,904.

The employment of Mr Hassan follows the departure of Anthony Payne from his role as strategic director for place – the name of the role was changed to strategic director for growth ahead of the new appointment.

The chief executive of Plymouth City Council, Tracey Lee, was paid £184,773 with additional pension contributions of £32,356 in 2023/24 according to the council’s annual accounts, external.

Leaves no doubt who is in “the naughty corner”. But the EA does not make clear what will replace their own daily water sampling in Exmouth after the end of September. No response from SWW. – Owl

Exmouth Water Quality (text with image below)

September 2024

We have created this briefing to update communities and interested parties on Environment Agency actions regarding Water Quality in Exmouth.

Background

Exmouth is serviced by a sewerage system operated by South West Water. Some of the network is due significant improvements and upgrades. Unfortunately, some of the changes planned by South West Water are overdue. The Environment Agency is demanding that the issue is addressed quickly.

Throughout 2023 and 2024 the existing system has been struggling to cope with the increased flows which were the result of both the aging infrastructure and an exceptionally wet winter.

More recently during the summer holiday season, damage to a rising main has resulted in further incidents impacting bathing water quality, this had negative impacts to local businesses and visitors to the town.

The Enviroment Agency’s Role

The Environment Agency is responsible for issuing environmental permits relating to the discharge of treated effluent to the environment and ensuring that water companies comply with the conditions.

An investigation into incidents in Exmouth in 2023 and 2024 is currently underway. We are questioning South West Water about the incident and what proposals are in place to prevent further bursts at Exmouth. We also have 24 hour monitoring in place whilst South West Water fixes the current issue. We aim to conduct prompt investigations, however until all the facts are known especially at a site like this where there have been multiple incidents, we cannot set timescales for this investigation and anticipate it will take many months.

We will look at all available options in deciding how best to proceed and this can only be done once the investigation is complete. Any future decision will be made in accordance with the EA Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.

The Environment Agency was successful in getting all water companies to complete a programme to install Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) across England. This was completed for all combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in Devon and Cornwall in 2023 including Exmouth. This published data shows all discharges. Much of our investigation will be on understanding the cause and circumstances of the spills which have taken place.

Ongoing Monitoring at Exmouth

We currently collect water samples at Exmouth from May to September and these give us information on the numbers of bacteria in the water. These bacteria can come from a range of sources not just sewage. Because of the increased risk of pollution by South West Water we have increased our sampling to daily monitoring until the end of September and installed sensitive equipment in the Littleham Brook. These are continuous monitors operating 24 hours a day, every day. We now better understand the extent to which South West Water is impacting the local area and this has allowed us to build our knowledge of the local systems.

Water quality can also be impacted by other factors, especially through the winter. We will continue to prioritise proportionate data gathering in this area whilst risks remain.

Outstanding improvements for Exmouth

SWW was expected to deliver two key improvements for the Exmouth Area by September 2023. Improvements at Maer Road Pumping Station and Phear Park Pumping Station, and their associated CSOs, were planned to reduce the number of spills. This environmental obligation was put in place due to the Exe Shellfish Waters having been shown statistically to be deteriorating, with a high degree of certainty.

SWW confirm that the two schemes in Exmouth have been delayed due to the increased complexity of the solution. SWW is proposing an enhanced plan which includes: upgraded pumping stations, rising main improvements, replacement of the sea outfall and UV treatment on storm overflows, as well as advancing the upgrade of the wastewater treatment works by 2030. (from SWW DWMP)

We accept that increased investment is planned at Exmouth. However, we believe the improvements needed to reduce sewage spills are well overdue. We have submitted this information to OFWAT the financial regulator of water Companies

We are seeking assurance that SWW are doing all they can to mitigate the environmental impacts now, whilst they wait for planned improvements. The prioritisation of improvements, to reduce sewage spills in Exmouth, remains a substantial agenda item at leadership and performance meetings with the company.

We are receiving many complaints and requests for information regarding Exmouth and will endeavour to update this briefing every 3 months. Information relating to sewage discharges can be found at the following links:

South West Water EPA Report 2023

Inspection surge to crack down on water sector pollution

Storm overflows discharge reduction plan

Environment Agency investigation into sewage treatment works

Below is the text of the letter plus an image. 

In Owl’s opinion it should be the local MP who takes the lead in getting Ministers to visit on serious matters of this sort.

It is a sign of the significance of the political upheaval we have just witnessed, accompanied by a collapse in Tory morale, that David Reed MP has not inherited a functioning constituency office. This is what he has been having to tell his constituents:

“Thank you for your email regarding storm overflows.

Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in my reply. Since the election I have been busy setting up my office, hiring staff and prioritising urgent casework.

Nevertheless his job is now to press home the invitation.

This invitation and the Leigh Day review of possible legal action may not be all that is going on. Three days ago Owl spotted this cryptic comment made by Paul Arnott, Leader EDDC, on the ESCAPE facebook page:

“We have an event announcement to make soon which will go to the heart of it all.”

Text of Exmouth Town Council letter

The Rt Hon. Steve Reed O.B.E., M.P Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Defra, Seacole Building, 2 Marsham Street,London SW1 P 4DF

Cc David Reed, Member of Parliament for Exmouth & Exeter East

A copy has also been emailed to Defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk

Dear Secretary of State,

Exmouth, as I’m sure you are aware is a seaside resort 10 miles south of Exeter.

At the height of the summer season (14th August) a rising main leading to the sewage treatment works (on the edge of Town) failed. This resulted in highly concentrated raw sewage being discharged on to the Highway and agricultural land adjacent to a water course leading ultimately into the bathing waters. Red flags to effectively ban swimming were flown.

National media swarmed into Exmouth to cover the story highlighting the deserted beach, a dearth of visitors to the town and angry residents, businesses and trippers.

The reputational damage to Exmouth as a seaside resort, although still being quantified, is considered immense.

South West Water (SWW) mobilised a significant number of engineering teams and equipment to the area, but the mains failure meant hundreds of sewage tanker journeys travelling through town and they were also highly visible from the seafront.

SWW has recently rectified the immediate fault, and they are publicly giving assurances to our community that they are “doing everything we can, as quickly and thoroughly as possible, to ensure your local wastewater network is fit for the future”. Unfortunately, there appears to be little public trust in their promises.

We have tried to engage with SWW, but we have been disappointed with their slow responses and when they do respond frustrated with the lack of up to date information being provided.

The Town Council are therefore writing to invite you to visit Exmouth, in order that you might gain an understanding of the impact on the Town, its residents and businesses, associated with these events. We would see this as the first step in re-building civic pride and to show potential visitors that we are taking serious steps to rectify matters.

On 10th September the Government announced plans to attract investment into the water sector to rebuild broken water infrastructure and clean up Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas.

We would also extend our invitation for you to take this opportunity to outline the Government’s plan for dealing with water companies who fail to comply with the Environment Act, what enforcement steps are being implemented and what initiatives are being encouraged to meet clean water targets.

We hope you see this invitation in a positive light and feel you can use Exmouth as a ‘pilot scheme’ to realise Government intentions in promoting water companies working together with communities to implement immediate courses of action to provide permanent solutions to existing problems.

If you would like further information or to speak with me please feel free to call on 01395 276167.

We look forward to your response.

Yours Sincerely

Chetna Jones

Deputy Town Clerk On behalf of Exmouth Town Council

Geoff Crawford

This is Nicky Nicholls the person who has turbo powered this campaign and is organising the Group Legal Action.

Hi Everyone, SS Exmouth

What a fantastic meeting last night! The room was packed (thank you to Ocean for hosting us) and the speeches were really insightful (thank you Ollie & John).

For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s a brief summary:

Leigh Day confirmed that anyone who has been affected by pollution incidents can join the claim – businesses and beach users too (e.g. swimmers, kite surfers, rowers, sailors or dog walkers). The legal action will focus on “public nuisance” which is defined as something which endangers “the life, health, properly, morals or comfort of the public or obstructs a public right”. People do not have to live in Exmouth to join the claim – they just have to be a beach user, or run a business which relies on people who do.

The next step is for everyone who has been affected to register their interest in legal action. This doesn’t commit anyone to anything at this point, but it helps Leigh Day understand more about the scope of who wants to get involved. People can register here: https://leighdaylaw.info/ExmouthSewagePollution?r=qr or email exmouthsewage@leighday.co.uk

Please circulate this brief info, and the sign-up link to everyone on your mailing lists, contacts, members and social media. Feel free to use the attached photo too (I think it’s helpful to see the amount of support there is). Getting this out there in the next week is crucial.

The next step will be when Leigh Day have scoped out the case a bit more and then are ready to sign people up to the action. They will get in touch with everyone who has registered directly.

I hope that makes sense. I’m learning as I go here too!

Thanks for all your support,

Nicky,

Nicky Nicholls, Community & Innovation Lead, Sideshore

Photo credited to Ed Dark. Thanks Ed