Budleigh Salterton is the only beach with a SWW sewage discharge alert. (one of 30 between Kent and Cornwall)
This does not mean that the other beaches are poo free.
Seaton will never know as “Water quality data not available out of season.”
Exmouth and Sidmouth have “Sewer systems in this location are under maintenance and the water company has temporarily disabled real-time alerts” So will you take a gamble and a New Year plunge?
We must remember that Budleigh Salterton is having its sewer outfall pipe replaced to discharge into the sea just beyond Otter head so this will be able to continue for the next 100 years!
With the ground saturated, there is a threat every time it rains.
Footnote from Owl – this warning comes too late for those taking the Christmas swim at Budleigh and Exmouth. See the extensive photo record on East Devon News of Hundreds Dash and Splash
Sidmouth sensibly chose to stay “wrapped up” this year.
Opps – this is last year’s survey – Owl thought they spotted another in a recent Journal!
Owl wanted to see whether Alison Hernandez was following Simon Jupp’s attempt to collect information on how you voted, in the survey she launched on 23 December. (To ensure balance, you understand).
However, her survey is currently closed..
Take five minutes to have your say on policing in Devon and Cornwall · Devon & Cornwall Police & Crime Commissioner
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly wants residents of the force area to tell her if they think the police deliver value for money.
The question is one of several posed by Alison Hernandez who today (Thursday, December 23) launched her 2022/23 budget survey. It comes a week after Home Secretary Priti Patel announced an increase in the amount forces will receive from central Government.
The additional money will in part pay for an uplift in police numbers that is due to boost officer numbers in Devon and Cornwall by 188 in the 2022/23 financial year. The provisional settlement also included plans to boost investigations into serious and organised crime and tackle fraud.
The Commissioner is now faced with a decision on setting police precepts – the amount households pay locally towards policing through their council tax bills. Police and Crime Commissioners have been given flexibility to increase this by up to £10 a year for a Band D Property for the next three years. Currently those in band D households in Devon and Cornwall pay £236.56 a year in their policing precept.
The survey, which can be completed online here, also asks a number of questions relating to police contact and seeks to understand levels of support for plans to open more police stations to the public in Devon and Cornwall.
“We have had what appears to be a reasonable settlement from central Government for Devon and Cornwall,” the Commissioner said. “It will allow us to continue on our upwards trajectory in police officer numbers that was already being funded by local taxpayers here before the Prime Minister announced the national uplift. This has enabled budgeted force strength to grow by 498 officers since 2016/17 to 3,422 officers this financial year. The force is set to grow by another 188 officers in 2022/23, taking force strength to a record high.
“This increase is helping to keep Devon and Cornwall as counties with some of the lowest recorded crime rates in the country, but there are still significant challenges ahead. Inflation means the force is facing significant additional costs, crime types like domestic abuse are now being reported and recorded more effectively – this is an extremely welcome development but it means our force is dealing with more calls for help than ever before.”
The Commissioner said her focus was now on strengthening, sustaining and stabilising the police force so it was fit to deliver on priorities laid out in the 2021-25 Police and Crime Plan of reducing antisocial behaviour, drugs crime and deaths and serious injuries on the roads.
“We have to ensure that people are served by a force that is responsive to their needs and victims of crime have swift access to justice and the services they need to help them recover,” she added.
People have until midnight on Monday, January 9, to complete the survey. Results will be published in a report to the January 28 meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.
South Western Ambulance Service has declared a critical incident due to “extreme pressures” affecting its ability to respond to patients following the Christmas break.
As of 11.30am on Wednesday, 482 patients were waiting for ambulances across the South West, with 106 patients awaiting handover at hospitals.
Declaring a critical incident allows trusts to prioritise the patients most in need and to instigate additional measures to protect patient safety.
Yesterday, North East Ambulance Service also declared a critical incident for the second time in just over a week due to “unprecedented” pressure following the Christmas break.
The majority of ambulance services in England declared critical incidents on 20 December ahead of strikes over the Christmas period.
South Western Ambulance Service covers 10,000 square miles, including Bristol and counties such as Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Cornwall and Somerset.
People have been urged to only call 999 if someone’s life is in danger and in other cases call 111 or their GP.
“If the condition of a patient is not life-threatening we may direct them to an alternative service. So please help us by accessing the right service for the care you need,” said deputy director of operations Wayne Darch.
“Please do not call back simply to ask for an estimated time of arrival of an ambulance. We cannot provide one, and it blocks our lines for other callers,” he added.
About 25,000 ambulance workers went on strike on 21 December and two further strike days have been announced for England in January amid a dispute over pay and staffing.
Two hospital trusts also declared critical incidents on Wednesday.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust said there was “immense pressure” and “exceptionally high numbers” of people waiting for treatment in A&E departments.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust took the same action due to “record numbers” at A&E, calling 999 and 111 and accessing GP services.
The all-star cast included Ian Hislop, Lewis MacLeod, Jan Ravens and Harry Enfield, who ran through some of the magazine’s best-selling front pages.
Among them was the revelation that a firm set up by Conservative peer Michelle Mone had bagged £200 million in PPE contracts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mone, a lingerie tycoon, reportedly profited handsomely from the deal, sparking outrage in Westminster.
She was brilliantly lampooned in this clip by Hislop and Enfield:
Watch the Tweet here and the show in full below (the Michelle Mone lampoon is the first after the introduction):
I hope you’ve had a good Christmas and are getting ready to celebrate New Year. When the country is in such a mess, we need the good cheer of family and friends all the more.
Just don’t get too relaxed, and above all do your best not to get ill or have an accident. Our NHS trust’s chief medical officer has urged the public to “think very carefully whether it’s the right thing to do” before going to the A&E in Exeter. Similarly the South Western Ambulance Service is urging us “to think carefully before dialling 999”.
These depressing appeals were made before the recent beginning of NHS industrial action. For weeks and months, A&E had already suffered ever longer delays and the SW ambulance service has been the worst-performing in the country.
Strikes will make things even more difficult in the short term, but nurses and ambulance workers are right say that the NHS was already broken. It is outrageous of the government to blame the strikers for problems that have been festering on their watch for a very long time.
I have no special brief for the last Labour government but the figures show that the NHS was healthier – and nurses ’pay improved – until the Conservatives took over 12 years ago. Since then, funding has not kept pace with the needs of an older population, while a decade of below-inflation pay rises has led to chronic staff shortages.
Paying staff properly is part of the solution and it is nonsense to say that the country can’t afford it. Close down the tax havens, end the scandal of “non-doms”, introduce full windfall taxes on energy firms, tax wealth properly, and you’ll be able to afford proper public services once again.
Another problem throughout the public services is deteriorating buildings. You may have seen Tiverton & Honiton’s MP, Richard Foord, being shown the leaking roof of Tiverton High School on TV – repairs have been promised, but failed to materialise, for years. Likewise in Exmouth, they waited years for the tennis centre roof to be repaired.
The government has been content to allow the public sector to rot, and Conservatives in local councils have connived in this. At East Devon District Council, when a new coalition of East Devon Alliance, Lib Dems and Greens took over two and a half years ago, they discovered just how much the Tories had let things slide.
Nowhere was this clearer than in social housing. The council’s housing stock had been hollowed out by the Right to Buy, since the council didn’t get enough money to replace the homes sold on. Today EDDC has over 4700 individuals and families on its waiting list, and there have been 70 new requests to buy already this year, so even fewer homes will be available. Recently there were 170 applications for a single council home in Seaton.
Under its new leadership, EDDC is at last helping to address this scandal. On the initiative of Seaton councillor Dan Ledger, EDDC is now working to deliver more truly affordable, secure and sustainable homes for the residents who need them most. The first site of 25 units will be delivered late next year in Honiton, subject to planning.
To fully solve the housing problem we need a national scheme to build social housing. Sadly that’s unlikely to happen under the Conservatives, but hopefully 2023 will be the last full year we have to put up with their travesty of a government.
Second home owners in some of Devon’s most desirable hotspots are to be clobbered with a double Council Tax bill. The move has been passed unanimously by councillors in the South Hams, a district which includes Dartmouth, Salcombe, Hope Cove and other sought-after seaside destinations.
Rees-Mogg warns Tories face ‘inevitable defeat’ in an election as he mulls leadership bid.
“Jacob certainly would be a popular choice for members and be the right leader to reset the Conservative Party into something more conservative again.” A Tory MP is quoted as saying.
The former Brexit Opportunities minister, an ardent critic of Rishi Sunak, is also understood to have considered running to replace his friend and ally Boris Johnson in the summer leadership contest.
But after 24 hours, Mr Rees-Mogg decided not to run as he was not sufficiently prepared compared to frontrunners Liz Truss and Mr Sunak, who had set the wheels in motion months before Mr Johnson was forced to quit.
A source close to Mr Rees-Mogg told the Daily Express: “Jacob thought about it overnight but decided that his loyalty to Boris meant that he had not put a team in place to be able to win a contest while others had.
“Also, Liz Truss was quick out of the blocks which meant it was difficult for him to run against her.”
The Tory MP for North East Somerset decided instead to back Ms Truss for the leadership. He was joined by other loyalists of Mr Johnson, including former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
Since Mr Sunak replaced her as Prime Minister after she lasted just 44 days in office, Mr Rees-Mogg has proved to be a strident critic of her replacement.
He said rebellions are “ill-advised” as they will ultimately tarnish the party’s electability.
Though Mr Rees-Mogg already appears to have conceded defeat at the next election, according to the Express.
Friends of the Brexit minister told the newspaper that he thinks the Tories may even need an election defeat, suggesting if they win “what would they have to offer the country?”
Though former PM Theresa May is more optimistic, and told BBC Radio 4 that while there is “no doubt” the party’s brand took a knock under Ms Truss, Mr Sunak has shown “can turn it round and we can win that election.”
Sources also said Mr Rees-Mogg is mulling a leadership run if the Conservatives lose the next election and Mr Sunak is forced to resign.
He is said to believe “the right needs to have a candidate after what appears to be an inevitable election defeat”, according to the paper.
Mr Rees-Mogg denied the reports, telling i: “Although the current polling is not great two years is a long time and it is simply to early to say.”
Much of the public view him as out of touch and with anachronistic attitudes on issues such as gay marriage and abortion.
Other Tory MPs expected to run in any fresh leadership race include Penny Mordaunt, Priti Patel, Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman.
One MP said: “Jacob certainly would be a popular choice for members and be the right leader to reset the Conservative Party into something more conservative again.”
Others though fear he would “not appeal to a wider audience.”
It’s an odd thing that the more all-consuming your work, the more just two or three days off from it can restore the spirits. In previous articles, I have mentioned what a tiny allowance district councillors receive for work which, for the hard-working majority, consumes at least two and a half working days per week.
For that, a councillor can claim £4,360 per annum, taxed. Before tax, they are lucky if this amounts to more than £4 per hour.
And this is proper work. Perhaps in the old days a district council role was part of an elderly member of a community’s retirement, the allowance perhaps allowing a cabin upgrade for their annual cruise.
That’s not how it is these days. The work is technical, and challenging. Meetings are long with agendas are often the length of a short novel.
Nobody can remember when these allowances were last raised, although in the coming year an independent review will have a look. East Devon’s are, I understand, just about the lowest in the south west. Despite this, I have not heard any special pleading. Councillors understand it is an honour to serve.
As leader of the council, I was back to the desk on the 27th, in preparation for the first cabinet of the year next week. If you have a moment, may I please suggest a glance at the agenda, published on the website. There are a couple of items in particular which show how my administration and our officers are doing all we can to help those especially struggling at the moment.
We are discussing a “Cost of Living Hardship Fund”, to replace the fund running during Covid-19. In particular this will target homes, especially those with poor insulation and low energy ratings, whose energy bills are a great worry this winter.
Then we discuss the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2023/24. From the work we have been doing on poverty and financial resilience since 2020, we have recognised that low-income households are being disproportionately impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. In addition, welfare reform over the last 10 years has seen real term cuts in benefit payments.,
As a result, more and more people are becoming reliant on foodbanks or accessing emergency support funds. These proposed changes will provide real term benefits to those households on low incomes, and the two largest groups to gain will be families with children and households where there is a disabled resident living.
I mention all this because I want readers to know that our work is not just about planning. These proposed changes support the work the Council is doing as part of its poverty strategy by building financial resilience, and helping to lift people out of repeat financial crises.
The consideration given to devising these schemes, ensuring that they are both lawful and affordable, is highly complex. This is many hours of work, and many meetings, for councillors. The burden of administering it all then falls on our deeply committed officers. The relationship between councillor and officer must never be complicated by politics, but my sense is that these sensible, centrist measures strike a chord with our staff.
Which brings me to conclude with a matter I often forget to mention! What is the political identity at EDDC? Well, about a third of councillors are Conservative and since 2019 they are the opposition.
But the council is actually governed by what we ended up calling a “Democratic Alliance” of Independents (mainly East Devon Alliance Indies), Lib Dems and Greens.
We get all sorts thrown at us, and with district councils up for election in May, this will probably escalate. But we govern from the centre in the most transparent way EDDC has ever managed. I hope that, acknowledging imperfections, this matches most of your wishes too. Happy New Year.
In early December the Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove announced that councils would be allowed to build fewer homes than the number originally allocated to them. Rather than facing mandatory targets based on national algorithms, local planning authorities will have more flexibility to decide what is right for their areas.
East Devon District Council had been told to build more than 900 new homes every year, and the Local Plan currently under public consultation is based upon this number.
But the chairman of the council’s scrutiny committee, Cllr Mike Allen, has called in the Local Plan for review at the meeting of the committee in February.
He said: “Michael Gove’s announcement changes everything. Our population is declining, so the only reason we’re supposed to build new houses is to allow people to come into the East Devon area.
“If we don’t have to because the rules have changed, we need to look at the Local Plan again.”
Cllr Allen (Conservative, Honiton St Michael’s) said East Devon, with its larger-than-average population of over-65s, needs many more homes that are suitable for elderly people, and more wheelchair-friendly houses for people of all ages. A review of the Local Plan would enable East Devon District Council to make sure the right number, and the right type, of houses are built, where they are most needed.
And he emphasised that it is ‘critical’ that parish and town councils, and members of the public, should have their voices heard in this decision-making process.
He said that, while many people have been finding it difficult to submit their comments to the district council’s online consultation which closes on January 15, anyone can make their views known to February’s Scrutiny Committee meeting where the review of the Local Plan will be discussed. They can contact the committee through their own district councillor, contact any member of the committee, or contact Cllr Allen directly by writing to him at the council’s HQ or emailing mallen@eastdevon.gov.uk
The Scrutiny Committee meeting will discuss what changes are needed to the Local Plan and how these could be made, and its recommendation will go before the full council at a later stage.
It’s ten years since Exmouth seafront redevelopment plans first came forward. And things are no closer to any final vision for the site being decided upon.
Delay after delay has beset the Queen’s Drive site. Several visions have gone forward, been proposed, and then dropped.
It was back in 2012 when plans to redevelop the area between the old lifeboat station and the Maer first came forward, with the intervening period seeing several iterations of the plans not coming to fruition – with the scheme being referred to as ‘Exmouth’s Brexit’. Another year will soon get under way, without any clear long term knowledge of what the seafront will eventually look like.
While phase 1 – the relocation of the Queen’s Drive road – and phase 2 – the watersports centre – have been completed and are open, phase 3, the longer term vision for the site remains in doubt.
The attractions currently on the Queen’s Drive space – the replacement for the former Fun Park now have planning permission to stay on the site permanently after two temporary were granted – but ultimately may not be the final use for the stretch of land.
The 2023 summer is set to see the events space at Queen’s Drive once again tendered to attract an operator for the season. LED are once again set to use the fitness space, as no longer term vision is likely to have been agreed.
Residents’ and visitors’ to the seaside town were last summer asked what they wanted ultimately as the long term plans for the seafront. The results of the consultation will be used to appoint a professional team to develop a terms of reference and a plan for a Placemaking Strategy for Exmouth Town and Seafront – but that won’t be happening until later in the year.
THE LONG HISTORY OF THE EXMOUTH SEAFRONT SAGA
In 2012, plans to redevelop the area between the old lifeboat station and the Maer, known as the Splash Zone, formed part of the Exmouth Masterplan which sets out future regeneration in the town The controversial plans divided opinion in the town in 2013 when more than 500 people completed questionnaires about the authority’s intention to redevelop the area between the old lifeboat station and the Maer, known as the Splash Zone.
When asked for a general opinion, 52 per cent of respondents of the questionnaires were in favour of the overall proposals with 41 per cent against. The remaining seven per cent did not express a preference. In December 2013, East Devon District Council’s Development Management Committee gave the go-ahead for the development of the Queen’s Drive area in Exmouth.
But at the same time, a new action group was launched to ‘save’ Exmouth seafront from developers, with Save Exmouth Seafront concerned that the £18m redevelopment would mean some of the town’s oldest most popular businesses closing. In October 2015, the Carriage Café on the seafront left the town. It had been open for nearly 50 years and the restored 1956 carriage business’s closing brought an end to an era for residents.
At around the same time, more than 1,000 residents and visitors took part in the Exmouth Seafront Survey, initiated by Cllr Megan Armstrong. Led by author and analyst Louise MacAllister, the survey aimed to discover if plans for a multi-screen cinema, outdoor water splash zone and adventure golf park were wanted by those who would be using the facilities.
East Devon District Council were then working with Moirai Capital Investments of Bournemouth to put forward proposals to “breathe new life into the nine acre council-owned seafront site at Queen’s Drive with a range of exciting leisure facilities”.
Exmouth seafront Splash Zone plans
Organisers said the survey showed 95 per cent were against the redevelopment, it showed widespread support for the businesses at the time occupying the seafront and that many Exmouth residents felt their concerns regarding the plans had been ignored.
In April 2016, Exmouth residents went to the polls, and around 95 per cent of those who turned out to vote want more consultation on multi-million-pound plans for Queen’s Drive. Called by concerned residents, the parish poll saw 4,754 people – 17.8 per cent of the electorate – take part. But the summer of 2016 saw Moirai Capital Investments sacked as the developer due to the length of time it had taken for them to bring more plans.
September 2016 saw the Jungle Fun attraction and Arnold Palmer Putting Course closed for the last time. Hours earlier, locals and tourists had flocked to the attraction for one last round. The crazy golf course was established around 40 years ago.
In November 2016, campaigners in Exmouth staged a protest march calling for further consultation on controversial seafront redevelopment plans. The Save Exmouth Seafront protesters set off from the lorry park in Marine Way and marched through Imperial Road, The Strand and Alexandra Terrace before finishing on the seafront.
April 2017 saw the reserved matters application for the seafront redevelopment approved. It meant the council could now go ahead and build the £18million redevelopment of a 3.6-hectare swathe of Queen’s Drive, but had no plans to do so. Had the application been rejected, it would have meant the outline permission for redevelopment would have no longer been extant and sent the project back to the drawing board. The Fun Park, run by the Wright family, closed after more than 40 years at the end of August 2017, with a vigil held and floral tributes presented.
A last gasp bid to reprieve the Fun Park from closure failed two weeks later, when East Devon councillors voted 26 to 21 against extending the lease of the Fun Park. The contents of the Fun Park were auctioned off the following day. The Harbour View café was also due to close at the same time, but has seen its lease extended, and is still operating now.
October 2017 saw Grenadier reveal their plans for the Watersports Centre, before submitting the formal planning application in February 2018, which was then approved in June 2018 by eight votes to five, with a full opening taking place in the early part of 2021.
The temporary attractions for the seafront at the Queen’s Drive Space, which include the food and drink area and the dinosaur-themed play park opened in May 2018, having been given planning permission in March 2018. Permission was initially granted for one year, followed by a second permission for a further three years. That expired in March 2022, but the council agreed to make that use permanent earlier in 2022.
Work began at the end of 2018 to realign the Queen’s Drive road, which was completed in June 2019, although questions have been raised about where the funding for the road, which East Devon District Council paid for, actually came from.
At the end of 2019, HemingwayDesign and Lambert Smith Hampton submitted their vision for Phase Three for Exmouth Seafront to East Devon District Council. The suggested uses for the site include a new two storey café/restaurant on the existing Harbour View café site to the south of Queen’s Drive, a mix of playspace (including free play) and open public space on the remainder of the site, and a 60–80 bed 3–4 star hotel of high design quality.
East Devon District Council’s cabinet, when they met on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, agreed to launch a formal marketing exercise to identify developer/operator partners for the Queen’s Drive site. But the council’s scrutiny committee then unanimously agreed that the panel for the purpose of agreeing the selection criteria for the commercial development was not properly balanced, and expressed their anger at how they felt Exmouth residents were not being listened to.
That process was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and a change of administration, in August, full council accepted that recommendation and sent it back to cabinet, who are now able to make the decision they wish over the future of Queen’s Drive, although as of yet, no firm plans have come forward.
That meeting saw councillors agree and express a desire to ‘Get Seafront Done’, as Cllr Joe Whibley put it, but that as Exmouth is the biggest town in East Devon, it was critically important to the economy and the reputation of the council that they do the right thing and get a scheme that is both popular with the residents and viable in the long term.
The ultimate decision over what happens with Phase 3 will lie with the council’s cabinet, as under the council’s constitution, it falls within their remit rather than that of full council. They have now launched this latest consultation to once again gauge the views of residents in the town ahead of more concrete plans coming forward.
In 2022, the fairground provider took up occupancy of the Queen’s Drive Space on July 7, 2022 and then departed three weeks later without any notice or contact, impacting negatively on other traders due to the loss of footfall. The Events Team tried to find a replacement but the lack of lead-time proved challenging.
The dinosaur park once again proved very popular and councillors agreed that they would like to see it maintained and extended, perhaps using CIL money. The park is free to use and important for the community particularly in the context of the cost of living crisis, and needs to be maintained well for reasons of health and safety.
There is a firm proposal for LED to take on the Fitness Space at Queen’s Drive for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but not immediately post-Christmas. Following a debrief meeting with the traders at Queen’s Drive Space, all the current traders have submitted interest in taking the pitches for the 2023 season.
Planning consent is being prepared for the fitness area as the temporary permission expires in July 2023 and needs to be renewed. The Events Space has been marketed as agreed to see if a reliable operator can be secured either for the whole season or for the summer holidays.
In terms of the development options that were provided to respondents, the top two responses were that developments should provide income and jobs for a variety of different business types, not just one type and there should be improvements to the unoccupied and derelict areas of Exmouth.
A further report will come back to the Placemaking in Exmouth Town and Seafront Delivery Group and then Cabinet setting out Terms of Reference for Placemaking in Exmouth in the first half of 2023. Following this, it is then hoped that eventually there will be some progress in finally coming up with a long term vision for the seafront.
“I think there is a chance if the polls keep sliding by this time next year we will see Boris Johnson back in Downing Street,” she said.
Mr Johnson was forced out of the top job by his own MPs after a series of scandals, including Partygate.
But Ms Dorries, a key ally, suggested that Conservative politicians could again rally around their former leader, to save their own skins.
“Many of the people who were anti-Boris realise they are nothing without their seat (in the House of Commons),” she said.
And she warned that life post politics would prove very difficult for the dozens of Tory MPs set to lose their jobs at the next general election.
“They have no voice, no one is interested in what they will have to say, not even down at the job centre,” she said.
Mr Johnson was finally forced to resign after months of criticism over the Partygate scandal, which even saw claims at one point that he had been “ambushed by a cake”.
But he attempted a comeback just weeks later when his successor Liz Truss announced she was resigning after 44 days in the post.
He flew home from holiday to mount a campaign, but withdrew after it emerged that Mr Sunak had the support of more MPs.
However, he did not rule out another tilt at the job, saying “this is simply not the right time”.
And he still faces a Commons privileges investigation into claims he misled MPs over Partygate.
But some have warned Mr Sunak will face questions over his political future in May after the local elections, the first time voters will be able to give their verdict on the party since the turmoil.
But in the interview, Ms Dorries said: “It will take a little bit longer than that”. “I think the local elections in May are going to be absolutely difficult for us but Rishi won’t walk,” she told the Express.
Mr Dorries is expected to be awarded a peerage as part of Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list.
From Tim Jones, mouthpiece of so many Tory business groups past and present. But these are effects, not side effects, of Johnson’s “oven ready” deal.
(In Owl’s view Tim Jones is one of a group of old men who have been too influential for too long in the strategic planning of the South West. They represent the historic failure of our local economy to do anything other than bump along the bottom. He now incongruously pops up as Chairman of the Biosphere Foundation)
It is now possible to start making a sensible judgement about the impact of our leaving Europe. It does not matter which side of this debate you are on. We made our decision and we are committed to it.
It is however now possible to start seeing whether there have been overall benefits or losses arising. Undoubtedly, many of the benefits will be slow burn and it may not be for 5 or 10 years until we know what progress we have made.
There was much hope that once freed from Europe we would be able to become a global trading partner with many other countries. Inevitably this has been tougher to progress than had been billed. Deals with Australia and New Zealand are being picked over currently and are regarded as having been rushed and therefore not to our benefit.
The deal with Japan has good and bad elements. We are trying to make progress with America but this could take a number of years. There are high hopes that we will join the Pacific Trading Alliance (the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-pacific partnership – this is a free trading block of 11 countries in the indo-pacific region). Here again, however, these are delicate negotiations which can take years to complete.
In the interim, we can now more accurately assess the impact of losing our trading agreement with Europe. Overall it seems that we are down by around 7-8%. We have also lost the significant muscle power that Europe has on the world stage. We have also lost access to a number of really important funding streams, such as, the Horizon Programme which has been valuable for many years to a number of our academic institutions.
We have of course lost (or we think we have lost) the burden of European red tape. The government are trying to capitalise upon this by freeing up many of our financial institutions to allow them to expand into other new world markets. This is important as our financial services sector contribute around 10% of the current countries wealth generation (including tax income).
A slightly unexpected consequence has been the effect on the international labour market, which has been a very important part of supporting many of our businesses, such as, health care, agriculture, hospitality/ tourism. The impact of much tighter visa control has become painfully apparent as we are suffering skills shortages across many sectors and are having to reach out across the world and try to recruit for key skills.
What is alarming however is the slow progress we are making in recruiting homegrown talent. Even more alarming is that, in accordance with a recent institute for management development World Talent Ranking Survey, the UK has become less attractive as a destination for oversea workers.
The survey shows we have slipped 7 places, falling to 28th out of 63 countries. This response has been gathered after contacting around 5,000 executives from these various countries. It shows that the UK is no longer being seen as a particularly favourable destination for international professionals and now ranks behind countries such as Latvia, Cyprus, Estonia and Slovenia. The reasons for this are that there are growing concerns about the UK’s economic situation and education system. Many apparently therefore feel that our quality of life is no longer as attractive as it was. All of this has been fuelled by the Brexit debate. Additional concerns have been expressed about the UK’s rising cost of living (which is not as severe in many other countries) and, importantly, the lack of affordable houses to buy and rent.
This obviously also raises questions about not only how many international workers we can recruit but also our ability to retain the international workforce we have already got. In parallel with this, many companies who are trying to expand are making investment decisions to move with the labour market. This further diminishes the economic prowess of the UK.
The government needs to take a strong grip on this. It will help when we have less political and economic turmoil. Northern Devon has a role in this, in sending out strong messages of welcome to the international labour market and to show that we have an abundance of high growth businesses hungry to expand and huge back-up support, both in innovation and education. This is a great opportunity for Northern Devon to show regional leadership.
Halting tax cuts given to the banks for just one week could fund food vouchers for 1.9 million children in poverty over Christmas, analysis has revealed.
“…I will place economic stability and confidence at the heart of this government’s agenda. This will mean difficult decisions to come…but I promise you this – I will bring that same compassion to the challenges we face today…” Rishi Sunak
If Rishi Sunak’s government were to ditch the tax cuts for seven days, it would raise enough to feed all the children eligible for free school meals in England during the school break.
Analysis by the Liberal Democrats, shared with The Independent, shows an expected loss to the Treasury of £3.2bn next year from the planned reduction to the bank surcharge on profits and cuts to the bank levy – over £61m per week.
The opposition party said £61m could be used to provide £3 lunch vouchers to children in poverty every weekday over the festive period.
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dems’ education spokesperson, said: “It is completely out of touch for this Conservative government to press ahead with cutting taxes for the big banks.”
“If Jeremy Hunt reversed the cut for just a single week, it would feed millions of children this Christmas. The fact that he is so unwilling to do so proves how completely wrong his priorities are,” she added.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement confirmed Mr Sunak’s planned cut to the bank surcharge on profits from 8 per cent to 3 per cent would go ahead from April 2023.
The change and recent cuts to the levy mean banks operating in the UK will pay £18bn less in these taxes over the next five years, according to Lib Dem analysis of data from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR).
The findings come as MPs and campaigners call for Mr Sunak to expand both free school meal eligibility and funding for holiday programmes.
The Independent has partnered with the Food Foundation for the Feed the Future campaign, calling for an extension of free school meals to all children in households on universal credit.
Around 1.9 million children are currently eligible, but a further 800,000 children in poverty are unable to get free meals because their family’s income – excluding benefits – is more than £7,400 a year after tax.
Last week Labour MP Zarah Sultana introduced a bill that would widen eligibility to all primary school pupils in England. She said the move would guarantee that “every child in England, no matter their background, gets a decent meal each day”.
The call comes amid fears that hundreds of thousands of children in poverty miss out on the patchwork support available through local authorities over the Christmas holiday.
Campaigners’ analysis of the government’s Holiday Activity Fund Programme (HAFP) – which provides funding to councils for vouchers during school breaks – shows it only reached 29 per cent of the 1.9 million children eligible for free school meals.
If the scheme has the same restricted reach again this year, it would leave 1.35 million eligible children without support with meals during the holiday, warned Labour MP Kim Johnson.
Urging Mr Sunak to expand the programme, the MP said: “Give councils the funds necessary to tackle holiday hunger this winter and ensure no child goes hungry.”
The Food Foundation said there was now a “postcode lottery” on which local authorities provided vouchers or other additional support during the holiday.
The Local Government Association said some councils could no longer afford to continue giving vouchers through the government’s Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) scheme.
The Lib Dems’ education spokesperson said the government had been dragged “kicking and screaming” into helping children struggling with food poverty during the Covid pandemic.
“Yet their continued efforts to deny free school meals to 800,000 children proves they either don’t care, or that they still haven’t got the message,” said Ms Wilson.
She added: “Conservative ministers must step up and extend free school meals and roll out food vouchers nationwide – it would cost a fraction of what they spend on vanity projects and helping out their rich friends.”
The MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Richard Foord, has hit out at South West Water over its handling of supply problems during last weekend, December 17 and 18.
Residents in Axminster, Honiton, Seaton and Tiverton were left without water after the change to milder weather caused pipes to burst.
But information from South West Water was communicated via social media and people reported problems reporting localised faults.
Mr Foord said many people said they had spent more than an hour on the phone trying to get through to South West Water’s customer service team. He added that the system for reporting problems via the company’s website stopped working after just a few hours.
The Liberal Democrat MP is now calling for South West Water to ‘shake up its processes’.
He said: “It’s shocking that at the first sign of trouble South West Water’s whole process seemed to fall apart. We can appreciate the risk posed by a sudden shift in temperatures, but why wasn’t it properly planned for?
“I had people reaching out to me in anger, confusion or distress over the course of several days. They woke up to find themselves without access to water and found it all but impossible to get a clear answer out of South West Water about what was happening.
“With South West Water’s phone lines backed-up, and their online reporting channel breaking within hours, the only way anyone could get reliable updates was via social media. It cannot be right that such a vital service only communicates via Twitter.
“Worse still, it took a long time for support to be mobilised. Emergency water provision was slow to be rolled out, with many vulnerable people reporting they still didn’t have water days after the first outage.”
On Monday morning (December 19), when some towns and villages were still without water, South West Water confirmed that compensation payments of £30 per 12 hours of outage will be issued to affected customers. However, these payments can take up to 20 working days to arrive.
Mr Foord is urging South West Water to change the way it responds to these incidents by setting up a dedicated emergency phoneline to report faults, paying compensation more quickly, and investing properly in local water infrastructure to stop these problems at their source.
Rishi Sunak has been criticised over an awkward exchange with a homeless person while volunteering at a soup kitchen in front of television cameras.
The prime minister visited a shelter on Friday, where after a brief exchange he asked the man whether he worked in business. The man replied that he was homeless. Sunak then discussed his background in the finance industry and asked if it would be something the man would “like to get in to”.
The man replied: “I wouldn’t mind, but I don’t know, I’d like to get through Christmas first.”
He explained that he hoped a charity would find him some temporary accommodation so he was not on the street for Christmas.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, described the exchange as excruciating, and the Labour MP Stella Creasy said: “Watching this I am concerned that the prime minister thinks homeless means ‘doesn’t have a country pile at the moment’.”
Sunak used the trip to outline that the government had pledged £2bn to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.
The current fine for cutting down a tree without a licence, established by the Forestry Act 1967, is £2,500 or twice the value of the timber, whichever is the higher.
But the development value of the land, as opposed to the price of timber, has been the main driver of illegal felling in recent years.
To deter property barons from illegally flattening trees and accepting the paltry penalties as a cost of doing business, the Forestry Act 1967 will be amended by the Environment Act to allow uncapped fines. The Environment Act passed into law in November 2021, although its provisions against illegal tree felling are not yet in force.
Under existing laws, illegally felling 12 oak trees, all about 150 years old, attracted a fine of just £15,000 in January 2020. The case, prosecuted at Hastings magistrates court, was remarkable for resulting in one of the biggest fines in recent years.
“These new powers will hit people where it hurts – in their wallets,” said the Forestry Commission’s chief executive, Richard Stanford. “By guaranteeing that illegal felling is no longer a financially viable option for offenders, these measures are a significant step forward in the fight against this offence and will help in our endeavours to fight the climate emergency and nature crisis.”
The changes also mean a failure to replant illegally felled trees after a court’s restocking order could result in a prison sentence.
Selling land developed through illegal felling will also be made less lucrative, with restocking notices and enforcement notices listed on the local land charges register – potentially reducing the land’s value in the eyes of buyers.
But critics question whether the harsh penalties will be meted out often enough to be an effective deterrent. Last month the Guardian revealed only 15 of 4,002 alleged illegal felling cases reported to the Forestry Commission resulted in a successful conviction between 2012-13 to 2021-22.
The Forestry Commission, a non-ministerial government department, said its count of alleged wrongdoing is inflated by members of the public misreporting. Exemptions apply in the majority of cases flagged up, relating to factors such as the timber volume, the diameter of the tree and its location.
Local planning authorities already have the power to issue tree protection orders (TPOs), with those who breach them facing unlimited fines if the case is serious enough to be tried at the crown court. Earlier this year, a case prosecuted by Eastleigh borough council resulted in a £50,000 fine for a landowner who illegally felled a number of trees within Scorey’s Copse, including oak, ash, birch, hawthorn and poplar.
From 1 January 2023, even trees without TPOs could land illegal fellers with an unlimited fine, if chopped down without a licence outside of qualifying exemptions.
The forestry minister, Trudy Harrison, said: “Felling trees without a licence is illegal and can cause irreparable harm – scarring landscapes, damaging habitats for wildlife, and causing distress for local communities.
“These robust measures, implemented as part of our world-leading Environment Act, empower the Forestry Commission to tackle the issue head-on with unlimited fines and custodial sentences for the worst offenders.”
Abi Bunker, the director of conservation at the Woodland Trust, said: “This is a welcome announcement which should strengthen protection for trees in England. These changes should send a clear message that felling trees illegally, for example prior to submitting development proposals, will not be tolerated, and that the penalties reflect the value and many benefits trees bring to our towns and cities.
“It is important that this is backed by increased resources for the organisations that deal with the enforcement of illegal felling.”
Targets to clean up the majority of England’s rivers, lakes and coastal waters suffering from a cocktail of agricultural and sewage pollution have been pushed back from 2027 to 2063.
Not one English waterway, including rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters is in good ecological and chemical health at present, with pollution from water treatment plants and agriculture the key sources of the damage. The Environment Agency said on Thursday £5.3bn was being invested for the next five years to stop the further deterioration of waterways.
But the summary documents within the plan reveal the target for all 3,651 water bodies to achieve good chemical and ecological status – a state in which they are as close to their natural state as possible – was now decades away in 2063.
Until Brexit the UK government was signed up to the water framework directive, which required countries to make sure all their waters achieved “good” chemical and ecological status by 2027 at the latest. The UK government later reduced the target to 75% of waterways reaching the single test of good ecological status by 2027 at the latest. The target for the majority of waterways to achieve good status in both chemical and ecological tests has now been pushed back to 2063, according to the documents.
By 2027, only 4% of waters are currently on track to be in good overall condition.
The Wildlife Trusts said the new river basin management plans were the third instalment of proposals to restore nearly 5,000 rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters across England. Both previous plans from 2009 and 2015 were supposed to oversee the recovery of a large proportion of these waters by 2015 and 2021 – but the targets were missed and pushed back.
Ali Morse, water policy manager for the Wildlife Trusts, said this new target of 2063 meant rivers, lakes and coastal waters would not be healthy within the lifetimes of many people. “For too long we have allowed our rivers and lakes to become poisoned, decimating aquatic wildlife and habitats.
“We need ambitious targets to repair the immense damage inflicted on our natural world. Instead, the government is comfortable with kicking action on rivers into the long grass. At this rate, a great deal of us will not see England’s rivers and lakes given a clean bill of health in our lifetimes – and that is nothing short of a tragedy.”
The latest state of rivers and lakes released by the Environment Agency in 2020 shows that only 16% meet the criteria for good ecological status and no surface water bodies are deemed to meet the criteria for achieving good chemical status. Both criteria are required for a waterway to be deemed as in a good state – thus no river, lake or coastal water is judged to be in a good state at present.
The Environment Agency said on Thursday the £5.3bn being invested in the river basement management plans into waterways over the next five years would help protect and enhance England’s waters, tackling the impacts of pollution and climate change. The plans are legally-binding and aimed at tackling the key threats to rivers and coastal waters which are water company pollution, agricultural pollution, climate change and population growth.
But if no progress is made the EA said only 6% of rivers, lakes and coastal waters would be in a good ecological state by 2043.
John Leyland, EA executive director said: “Whilst progress has been made to protect and enhance England’s waters, it is clear that considerable time and investment will still be needed if we are to see the further improvement in our water environment that we all want.”
The £5.3bn action plan to 2027 was already funded, the EA said. It included £4.3bn of action by water companies and more than £500m to mitigate the impacts of agriculture on the water environment.
The Wildlife Trusts said pressures from water demand and pollution were incessant; from record-breaking temperatures and low rainfall, to the overuse of storm overflows to release raw sewage into rivers, even at times of dry conditions. The latter, the trusts said, were a clear sign that investment in sewage infrastructure had not kept pace with what was needed.
Morse said the reason for what was an extremely long road to recovery of river health outlined in the new plans was in the majority of cases, chemical pollution. Waterways are polluted by chemicals from landfill sites, urban runoff or agriculture, and when these chemicals have already reached the environment, there was very little that could be done to remove them, she said.
Rishi Sunak has appointed a new “Old Etonian” ethics adviser whose long business career involved links with disgraced retail tycoon Sir Philip Green and the late Robert Maxwell. (Various additional sources)
“This government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” – Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak has appointed a new ethics adviser after a six-month vacancy but has been condemned for clinging onto the personal power to veto any investigation into ministers.
Historic England chairman Sir Laurie Magnus was announced as the successor to Lord Geidt – who quit after a turbulent tenure under Boris Johnson – as the adviser on ministers’ interests.
But the prime minister ignored calls from the Committee on Standards in Public Life and others to give his top adviser the power to start their own investigation without his permission.
Labour accused Mr Sunak of having chosen to “preserve the rotten ethics regime” that led to the resignations of both Lord Geidt and his predecessor Sir Alex Allan.
The Liberal Democrats said the new adviser was “toothless”, and the respected Institute for Government think tank said it was “unwise” for Sir Laurie to accept the role without a strengthened remit.
Welcoming the new role as “an honour” and a “significant responsibility”, Sir Laurie said an early priority will be scrutinising the declaration of ministers’ interests.
“I will endeavour to discharge the important responsibilities of the role with fairness and integrity, in a manner which inspires the confidence of ministers, parliament and the public,” the adviser wrote to Mr Sunak.
In a letter to Sir Laurie, Mr Sunak stressed he believes it is a “critically important role”, having faced pressure to appoint someone to a role vacant since June.
“I have sought to identify potential candidates who can demonstrate the critical qualities of integrity and independence, relevant expertise and experience, and an ability to command the trust and confidence of ministers,” the letter read.
Sir Laurie, who has a background in financial services and is a former deputy chairman of the National Trust, takes up the adviser role for a non-renewable five-year term.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “After months of dither and delay, Rishi Sunak has chosen to preserve the rotten ethics regime he inherited from his predecessors that saw the previous two ethics watchdogs walk out.
“By ignoring the Committee on Standards in Public Life and refusing to grant his ethics adviser genuine independence, this weak Prime Minister is failing to deliver the integrity he promised and instead has installed yet another toothless watchdog.”
She said Labour would install a “genuinely independent” integrity and ethics commission with powers to launch investigation without ministerial approval.
Institute for Government director Dr Hannah White said it was “disappointing” that Mr Sunak has “forgone the opportunity to strengthen the role”, and said Sir Laurie had been “unwise” to accept it without new powers.
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union representing senior civil servants, argued Mr Sunak is “essentially continuity Boris Johnson when it comes to the ministerial code and ministerial conduct”.
“The prime minister retains a veto over investigations into his minister’s conduct and is the sole arbiter of the Ministerial Code, including any sanctions. How will this give civil servants the confidence to come forward?” he asked.
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons standards committee, told the BBC the system is “bust”, with the PM “judge and jury in his own court”.
Lord Geidt resigned after an “especially busy year” during which he investigated the controversial funding of Mr Johnson’s Downing Street refurbishments and as the then-prime minister was embroiled in Partygate.
He quit in June in protest at Mr Johnson’s willingness to consider measures which would breach the ministerial code, saying he was put in an “impossible and odious” position.
His predecessor Sir Alex resigned in 2020 after Mr Johnson refused to accept his finding that then-home secretary Priti Patel had bullied civil servants.
Mr Johnson initially reviewed whether the role needed to be filled after Lord Geidt quit, and Mr Sunak has seemingly struggled to find a willing replacement since taking over in October.
The lack of an ethics chief meant that the PM had to appoint another “independent” investigator to examine the complaints made against justice secretary Dominic Raab.
Liberal Democrat Cabinet Office spokeswoman Christine Jardine said: “To leave the vital ethics adviser post vacant for weeks was bad enough. Now we discover the new incumbent has to seek the PM’s permission to launch investigations. It’s utterly toothless.”
Mr Sunak’s leadership rival Liz Truss said during the summer Tory contest that was unnecessary because she knew “the difference between right and wrong”.
East Devon Watch 