Category Archives: Misc

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28 Nov 2022

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 14 November

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Environment Agency fails to punish farmers who turned rivers into ‘toxic soup’

Just one farm was sanctioned for breaking laws designed  to stop water pollution out of 2,000 inspected, data shows.

[And: The Marine Conservation Society is announcing today that it is applying for a judicial review of the strategy, which does not require any improvement of the country’s storm overflows next to designated bathing sites until 2050.]

Adam Vaughan, Environment Editor www.thetimes.co.uk 

About half had been found to have breached regulations.

Leading green groups have accused the Environment Agency of being missing in action, as figures released under freedom of information laws also show the regulator inspects only about 2 per cent of England’s farms a year to check compliance with pollution rules.

Although most public anger over England’s polluted rivers has been directed at water companies, nitrogen and phosphate pollution washing off farmers’ fields is the number one reason that waterways fail to meet good ecological standards.

Yet just 2,213 inspections to assess nitrogen pollution compliance took place on England’s 105,000 farms from the start of 2020 to the end of 2021, figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reveal.

About half the inspections found breaches, suggesting that even with such minimal oversight, incidents of pollution are frequent and widespread.

The lack of surveillance and enforcement has prompted two green groups, ClientEarth and WWF, to lodge a formal complaint with Britain’s post-Brexit green watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection. They argue the government is in breach of at least three regulations controlling nitrogen pollution.

“While many farmers are putting more sustainable practices in place, unfettered agricultural run-off from other farms is turning many of our rivers, streams and lakes into toxic soup,” said Kyle Lischak at ClientEarth, an environmental law group. “Inspections and sanctions remain pitifully low. We argue this failure is unlawful.”

Nitrogen is used by farmers in fertilisers but can pollute rivers when washed off fields, harm sensitive habitats on land and be released into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. Globally, 68 per cent of agriculture’s nitrogen emissions comes from crops grown to feed animals, followed by nitrogen released by the build-up and management of manure.

Tom Bradshaw, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Good water quality is of paramount importance and farmers take their environmental responsibilities seriously and recognise the role their businesses can play, alongside producing food.” He said the farming industry had already made “great strides” on voluntary action to benefit waterways.

The government did not reply to requests for comment.

It is facing two new legal challenges against its recent flagship plan to cut sewage discharges from storm overflows. The Marine Conservation Society is announcing today that it is applying for a judicial review of the strategy, which does not require any improvement of the country’s storm overflows next to designated bathing sites until 2050.

“We’ve tried tirelessly to influence the government on what needs to be done, but their plan to address this deluge of pollution entering our seas is still unacceptable,” said Sandy Luk, the society’s chief executive.

Overflows within a kilometre of England’s marine protected area spilt untreated sewage 41,000 times last year, the society’s analysis of government data found.

The society’s legal challenge follows another by the environmental group WildFish, which announced last week that it was seeking a judicial review to see the plan withdrawn.

If granted, the cases may be heard together in court.

 

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27 Nov 2022

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MP calls for mayor and devolution deal to be separated

A Cornish MP says that proposals to have a directly elected mayor for Cornwall should be separated from the Duchy’s latest bid for more powers and funding from the Government. George Eustice has tabled an amendment to the Levelling Up Bill which he hopes will highlight Cornwall’s unique position in relation to devolution.

[Cornwall is seeking a level 3 devolution deal, which currently requires an elected mayor, where Devon and its constituent unitary authorities are seeking a level 2 deal. No easy summary of the difference. – Owl]

Richard Whitehouse www.cornwalllive.com

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced in his recent autumn statement that Cornwall was one of the areas which would have a directly elected mayor as part of its latest devolution deal. The Government has said that in order to get the top level three deal Cornwall Council would have to change its governance system to have a directly elected mayor.

However, a campaign has been launched to try and secure a referendum so that people in Cornwall have a chance to vote on whether there should be a mayor. Under the current proposals the decision on having a mayor will be taken by the 87 Cornwall councillors.

Whilst supporters of the change claim it will bring additional funding and powers to Cornwall and give the Duchy a stronger voice, critics say that it will be a costly endeavour which will only duplicate what is already in place and increase bureaucracy.

Mr Eustice, MP for Camborne and Redruth, has tabled two amendments to the Levelling Up Bill which is currently going through Parliament. The first seeks to ensure that when making any decisions on devolution the Government takes into account the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCPNM) which recognises the Cornish as a national minority.

The second amendment seeks to change the rules so that local authorities can secure a level three devolution deal without the need for a directly elected mayor. Both amendments have been supported by St Ives MP Derek Thomas.

Mr Eustice said that he considered that whilst there might be a case for having a change in governance he did not think that a devolution deal should be dependent on it. He said: “I am quite agnostic about a mayor. I know there are good arguments for one with the idea that you would have a single, strong voice for Cornwall and being directly elected would give more accountability.

“On the other hand there is something about Cornwall that having just one person having that power is uncomfortable – one for all rather than one and all – which goes against our sensibilities.

“Whether we should have a mayor, and the merits of having a mayor, is an issue of governance, it is a separate question to the one about securing devolution. If having a mayor is the right then then we should have one, but by not having a mayor should not mean we do not get a devolution deal.”

Mr Eustice said that ten years ago the FCPNM had been “pushed quite hard” by MPs including Liberal Democrat Dan Rogerson and was accepted by then Prime Minister David Cameron.

He said: “What the amendment says is that when considering the devolution deal the Government must have regard for what it means for the national minority. What that does is Cornwall is the only place in the whole of England that has a recognised national minority which makes Cornwall, legally, a special case.”

A motion on whether there should be a referendum held asking Cornwall residents if they want a mayor is set to go to a meeting of full council on Tuesday. In response to that motion the council has indicated that the proposed devolution deal could bring £390million into Cornwall – although there are no details about the timescale of the funding or what it would be for.

Mr Eustice wrote in a comment piece in the Western Morning News at the weekend that he was not in favour of a referendum which he said could be “quite painful and divisive”. He did praise council leader Linda Taylor for stating that councillors will be given a free vote when the time comes to decide what to do.

He said: “Each one of them will be able to listen carefully to residents in their own ward, hear arguments on both sides and then make up their own mind. That’s how it should be on a big issue like this and other parties in Cornwall should do the same. A development such as this would be an important constitutional change and we need there to be a free and open discussion about the merits of both courses of action.”

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Water chiefs blame UK government for failure to stop sewage pollution

Water company bosses have blamed UK government inaction for a lack of progress in stopping sewage pollution, newly revealed letters show.

A plague on both your houses! – Owl

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

According to data from the Environment Agency, sewage has been dumped into the seas and rivers around the UK more than 770,000 times over the course of 2020 and 2021 – the equivalent of almost 6m hours.

During his short stint as environment secretary, Ranil Jayawardena demanded that every water company boss write to him with plans to reduce storm overflows, where human waste is pumped into rivers and on to beaches.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not publicly release these letters until months later, when obliged to under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the letters, the water company chief executives made scathing comments about the lack of action from government on the sewage scandal. They complained that the government had failed to bring in new laws as a reason for sewage discharges.

The water companies complained about two pieces of legislation in particular: regulations for drainage systems on new developments passed in 2010 but not yet enforced in England (Wales enforced the measure in 2018), and a ban on wet wipes which are not biodegradable proposed in a private member’s bill by the Labour MP Fleur Anderson but ignored by the Conservative government.

The Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “It is a bleak day for the government when even the water companies are blaming their inaction for the sewage crisis.

“No wonder the environment department sat on these letters for so long, they are highly embarrassing. They prove successive conservative ministers have buried their heads in the sand while Britain’s coastlines have been polluted with foul sewage.

“These are the same water company executives who paid themselves insulting bonuses worth millions of pounds, all while destroying rivers and lakes. The government needs to get their act together. Years of Conservative chaos has delayed tackling this crisis. This is an environmental scandal which is sadly here to stay.”

The CEO of Anglian Water, Peter Simpson, said the government had not acted to make sure homes were built sustainably, with the sewage system taken into account. “If water companies were made statutory consultees on planning developments, not just local plans, and if schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act were enacted, then our role in ensuring sustainable growth would be greatly enhanced.”

In addition, Simpson called for a ban on the sale of non-biodegradable wet wipes: “We also believe the time has come to enforce a complete ban on the sale of wet wipes that do not adhere to Fine to Flush standards. The sector has worked closely with manufacturers and retailers on the development of this standard, but adoption is not happening quickly enough.”

The CEO of Thames Water, Sarah Bentley, called for regulations on drainage in new developments. “The biggest single driver of discharge of untreated sewage into the environment is excess rainfall coming through our sewage treatment works, overwhelming them. By choosing to enact schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 government can significantly reduce the rate of surface water discharging to our network, meaning more available capacity for new connections for new development and a lower risk of spills from combined sewer overflows.”

Water companies have come under fire for paying their CEOs generous bonuses yet failing to stop the sewage scandal. Last week, it was revealed that companies have been releasing sewage on to beaches and in rivers even when it is not exceptional weather.

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‘I’m a Tory, get me out of here’: MPs ponder life after parliament

Sir Gary Streeter is the first Devon MP to head for the exit. Tory MPs have until 5 December to declare whether they wish to stand down at the next election.

Sir Gary was elected as MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1992 and stayed in his seat until 1997, when he became the South West Devon MP.

How many will follow him?-Owl

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com

Matt Hancock has just a few days left on I’m a Celebrity before he returns from the safety of the Australian jungle back to the more poisonous environment of the Palace of Westminster.

But this week, more Conservative MPs are pondering ways to get out of there – as a deadline approaches to give notice that they intend to stand at the next election.

MPs are already predicting as many as 50 colleagues may decide not to stand in 2024, having looked at the state of the polls. Some are toying with whether to stay till the end of the parliament or jump sooner – others holding out hope for a final reshuffle to get a chance at ministerial office.

Conservative MPs have been given a deadline of 5 December to declare whether they plan to stand down at the next election. The date coincides with the final decision on boundaries for the next election, so that Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) can start to look at the full electoral picture with new constituencies.

Chloe Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, and Will Wragg, the chair of the public administration select committee, have said they will stand down. On Friday Sir Gary Streeter announced he would not contest the next general election after 25 years in the Commons, followed shortly afterwards by Dehenna Davison, the levelling-up minister and MP for the “red wall” seat of Bishop Auckland.

Smith is 40, Wragg is 34 and Davison is 29, all with a significant amount of their professional lives still to come, but they have still decided they want out. The strains of the past five years of turmoil have been great for so many MPs – changes of prime minister, Brexit, the pandemic and party infighting. And all are on course to lose their seats on the current polling trajectory.

But some Tories predict that MPs such as Davison, Smith and Wragg are likely to be younger outliers and that there will be a major generational shift in the party, with numerous veteran MPs opting to stand down.

“A third of us were new to parliament at the last election, but there’s a lot of Tory MPs who have been here 15 or 20 years and feel they’ve done their time,” one said. “Some of those are in their 60s and 70s. If they go, they’ll get a good pension and be able to do the odd bit of work here and there.”

MPs who are still ambitious but feel their seats are on shaky territory are beginning to reach out to recruitment consultants, headhunters and former firms to try to get a sense of the post-electoral employment picture.

One long-serving Conservative backbencher said they had few illusions about their fate – or any plans for what might happen if, as expected, they lost their seat. “My constituency tends to change with the government, so it doesn’t look that great for me at the moment,” they said.

“But it’s not like I’m alone. Some colleagues are looking at other things they can do, but quite a lot are just keeping their heads down and getting on with their jobs. Everyone realises that the best we can probably expect in the election is damage limitation.”

Another MP said that they expected a number of colleagues to depart now they realised there was no longer a prospect of serving in government. “There are colleagues who have been passed over for ministerial jobs for years and now it’s getting to the point where they won’t serve – in which case, why stay?” one minister put it bluntly.

Others are concerned about Keir Starmer cracking down on MPs having second, often lucrative, jobs in addition to their parliamentary work. “You need to bear in mind that if we stay on and end up in opposition, the Labour government is likely to get really tough on second jobs,” one said.

Some have even discussed whether they should stand down early – even if that meant the party facing difficult byelections – thinking they would be more employable now.

“After the 1997 election nobody wanted to employ a former Tory MP,” one said. “It will be the same this time round, so people are thinking about getting out early while they still have some currency.”

Many have convinced themselves that life on the outside would be easier. “Even if the job was not that high-profile or interesting, I could earn three times as much and still spend all weekend at home with my kids,” one minister said.

More MPs are expected to announce departures before the deadline, but a number of Conservative MPs say they are likely to delay their decisions until later, to give themselves more time to decide.

Rishi Sunak could yet conduct another reshuffle, and one MP said they were waiting to see whether there was anything on offer for them for what they called “my last two years in parliament” before expecting to lose their seat.

“Rishi keeps dangling a reshuffle over our heads and of course that’s something that would be more attractive in the outside world, but if you say you’re going now, you won’t be getting a ministerial job.”

One said they had all but decided to go at the next election though had told CCHQ they were staying. “Under Liz [Truss] I would have gone like a shot, but I think Rishi’s got a chance of holding maybe 50 more seats than she would have done,” one senior backbencher said.

Others already have a new life back in government having thought their ministerial careers were now over – and might reconsider their future.

“I think there are some including Dom [Raab] and Michael [Gove] who might have decided to look for new careers after 2024, but now they are back in the tent that decision is not going to come any time soon,” the backbencher said.

Labour advisers report an avalanche of attention from recruitment consultants and lobbying firms, desperate to hire those with an inside view of the party.

“The phone just hasn’t stopped, it’s doing my head in. Even worse is people emerging out of the woodwork trying to get commissions and jobs,” one senior Starmer adviser said. Conservatives are likely to find the opposite is true.

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A correspondent remembers 2017, including the part played by Sarah Randall Johnson

In a recent post detailing the latest meltdown in the NHS emergency service, Owl asked:

Do you remember 2017, the year the local Tories ruthlessly started stripping out our Community Hospitals? 

To which a correspondent has written:

I do indeed remember those times.

I attended a few meetings at DCC HQ and heard the pleas to retain our cottage hospitals, solid arguments from Claire Wright and Martin Shaw .

I remember the promises of alternative provision but later experienced a 100 year old former Royal Marine and ex POW friend being told no such alternative care was available despite him fully meeting the criteria.

He blocked a few beds but was also sent home on occasions, one of which saw him laid in a hospital-provided bed but from which he could not move by himself. He was expected, in light of the shortage of the promised alternative, to be left alone in that bed and flat all night, some 12 plus hours.

In the end, friends, (there was no capable family), stayed for several nights until alternative private arrangements could be made.

I should have liked Sarah Randall Johnson, the Tory party through and through chair of the Health Security Committee, to have seen what the consequences of the policy she was promoting caused.

Those who have read any of Swire’s wife’s diaries will know that he got involved ‘saving’ Ottery’ just to piss Claire Wright off (see Martin Shaw’s blog). That’s Tories and health care for you.

Having been the subject of 999 calls for a priority ambulance I can assure you it is not a pleasant experience waiting and wondering if they will turn up in time-obviously and thankfully they have so far, but dozens will share the concerns and as long as we have the same politicians running things, our hard working ambulance service will (hopefully), be carrying the politicians.

They, and we, deserve better. Sarah Randall Johnson appears still to be chair of the County Health Scrutiny Committee. I for one would like to see her long gone.

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26 Nov 2022

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New sewage spill policy ‘like asking arsonists to assess fire damage’

“Now you see it, now you don’t!” Catch phrase of the trickster. – Owl

The government response [to pollution] appears to be to change how incidents are classified, rather than greater effort to tackle the cause of them.

The Environment Agency has told its officials to cut back on inspections of bathing water pollution incidents and rely instead on water company assessments.

Adam Vaughan, Environment Editor www.thetimes.co.uk 

England has more than 400 designated bathing waters from beaches to lakes in the Cotswolds and The Serpentine river in London. However, some are regularly hit by sewage spills including those that have plagued the Isle of Wight, a Cornish cove and beaches along the southeast coast in recent weeks.

Despite rising public concern over the issue, the country’s environment regulator has privately issued guidance that weakens its inspection regime when people report pollution incidents.

One UN campaigner said the shift was “like asking an arsonist to assess fire damage” and a “hammer blow” to clean water efforts.

Previously, for the two most serious of four categories of incident, “cat 1” and “cat 2”, Environment Agency officers would attend and investigate in person after a member of the public reported pollution.

However, in August, shortly before heavy rains led to a series of shocking sewage spills from Seaford in East Sussex to beaches in Devon and Cornwall, the regulator issued supplementary guidance to staff on how to classify bathing water incidents.

Officials have now been told that their usual presumption “that an impact has occurred” can be overturned if “appropriate information to demonstrate no impact has been provided by the water company.”

A source at the agency said: “It used to be: incident reported, someone from the EA on site, then contact the water company to see what they have to say about it. You’re now missing that ‘someone on site’.”

Lewis Pugh, an endurance swimmer who recently became the first person to swim the Red Sea in a bid to increase action at the Cop27 climate conference, said: “Asking water companies to assess their own pollution is like asking an arsonist to assess fire damage. Our beaches are already amongst the most polluted in Europe.”

Pugh, 52, who is the UN Patron of the Oceans, continued: “This is a hammer blow for what remains of our efforts to protect Britain’s coastal waters from pollution. It’s offensive to swimmers, surfers, beach walkers and our precious wildlife.”

The motivation for the new guidance, leaked to Greenpeace’s investigative unit Unearthed and seen by The Times, appears to be concern within government that a growth in bathing water incidents looks bad. Last year there were 126 incidents in bathing waters, most of them caused by sewage. The figure is more than twice that of recent years.

The government response appears to be to change how incidents are classified, rather than greater effort to tackle the cause of them. The document circulated to Environment Agency officers, sensitive enough to be marked “controlled content,” said: “Judging the appropriate classification for bathing water incidents has been recognised as of particular concern.”

Experts working with the water sector said the shift was in line with how regulation on water pollution has changed in recent years. “This is part and parcel of the overall approach which has become apparent over degrading inspections, or heavy prioritisation attached to attending only the worst incidents,” said Alastair Chisholm, director of policy at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management.

The water companies “have always” provided impact assessments of pollution events, but the guidance suggests the agency will have to place greater reliance on them, Jo Bradley, formerly a water quality adviser at the Environment Agency, told Unearthed.

The regulator received an increase in its government funding this year. But even its chairman has admitted that cuts in recent years have hampered its ability to undertake inspections. James Bevan told the House of Lords in October “the amount of resource that we have had over the last decade or so … has affected our ability to regulate in certain ways”.

Jim McMahon, the shadow environment secretary, said: “It is astonishing that the Environment Agency would even consider asking water companies to mark their own homework given their record on sewage discharges. What’s next, putting Matt Hancock in charge of counting votes for the next bushtucker trial?”

Failure by water companies to properly self-report pollution incidents has been a growing source of controversy, and has led to an investigation into water companies’ sewage treatment plants by the sector’s other main regulator, Ofwat. The regulator wrote to the chief executives of all the wastewater companies last month to raise concerns over firms’ draft improvement plans, which are meant to ensure the “best outcome for the environment”.

“This summer has underlined how important it is for companies to step up and improve their performance. These plans are a chance for them to address some of the key challenges the sector is facing, including storm overflow spills, pollution incidents and sewer flooding,” an Ofwat spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, the draft plans companies have submitted fall short of our expectations.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “There has been no change to how we classify and assess pollution incident reports. We are promoting a precautionary approach which assumes a water quality impact has occurred unless proven otherwise, providing bathers with the best information on any risks associated with using affected bathing waters.”

However the agency went on to implicitly admit there had been a change in guidance as it said the document issued in August provided a greater consistency of approach. In the past fortnight, Environment Agency staff with the Prospect and Unison unions have both voted to go on strike over below-inflation pay offers.

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More than a third of hospitality businesses at risk of failure.

Closure of Digger’s Rest in Jupp’s constituency features in National Press

‘We are not even full for Christmas’ – England’s restaurants count their lost bookings

Joe Middleton www.theguardian.com (Extract)

More than a third of hospitality businesses are at risk of failure in early 2023 due to cost increases, the UKHospitality survey found. Figures from the Insolvency Service showed that the number of restaurants and food outlets across the UK entering liquidation has increased by 46% in the three months to September.

While Hunt’s autumn statement included a £13.6bn package to support business rates payers, industry experts were critical of the lack of focus on economic growth.

Arwen Beaton (right) publican at the Digger’s Rest in Woodbury Salterton, Devon, with Daniel Kelly.

Arwen Beaton (right) publican at the Digger’s Rest in Woodbury Salterton, Devon, with Daniel Kelly. Photograph: Emily Whitfield-Wicks

“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, we worked so hard and we have walked away with nothing to show for it after almost three years,” said Arwen Beaton, publican at The Digger’s Rest in east Devon after closing its doors for the last time. The thatched pub nestled in the picturesque village of Woodbury Salterton was taken over by Beaton, 48, and her partner Daniel Kelly, 42, in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

The couple offered free food delivery to vulnerable people and opened a shop selling essential items to locals, before reopening after lockdown.

“At the beginning of this year we were in a good place, we had somehow got through Covid and everything was looking positive and then we were hit with massive cost increases,” said Beaton.

Energy costs at the pub “tripled”, food prices went through the roof with key items such as cooking oil more than doubling and the pub operator which owns the premises increased the rent by 10%.

Beaton said that for the first time customers were “talking about their finances at the bar” and footfall began to decline as they went from seeing regulars once a week to less than once a month.

In August, The Digger’s Rest was 30% down on the previous year’s takings , forcing it to close its doors for good on 7 November.

Beaton said that three other pubs within a five-mile radius also shut up shop in recent weeks, adding that rural pubs in particular were “part of the community” and when they are gone “you will struggle to get them back”.

Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said the industry remained on a “knife-edge” and it was “very disappointed” that a 12.5% rate of VAT was not implemented.

Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, welcomed the business rates support but said the chancellor failed to outline “any plan for economic growth” and there is “nothing to give firms confidence, let alone invest”…

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it had “provided an unprecedented package of support including VAT cuts, business rates holidays and government backed loans worth around £400bn”.

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Asylum seekers to be housed at Exmouth hotel

A hotel in Exmouth has been confirmed to host an unspecified number of asylum seekers within the coming days. East Devon District Council said it has been informed by the Home Office that an unnamed hotel in the town will be temporarily housing asylum seekers who are beginning their asylum application.

Shannon Brown www.devonlive.com

A number of hotels across the country are being used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers temporarily, following a backlog of asylum applications yet to be processed.

This comes after an investigation into the Manston processing centre in Kent found there to be 4,000 people temporarily housed there – over double its 1,600 capacity. It has since stood empty, since the people being held there were moved to hotels across the country, including one in Cornwall.

According to East Devon District Council, asylum seekers would be arriving in Exmouth within the next few days. Their accommodation will be funded by the Home Office, the council confirms, adding that it was not consulted on the decision.

A statement from the council said it will consider the best way to facilitate support needs for the visitors, in collaboration with its partner organisations including Devon County Council and NHS Devon.

Councillor Steve Gazzard, Exmouth Town Council’s chairman, said: “Exmouth extended an extremely warm welcome to our Afghan families in 2021 and I hope the community will once again help these asylum seekers to feel safe, respected and understood as members of our diverse community.

“The town council will be working with its partners to support the new arrivals and more details will be provided next week on ways in which you can potentially help.”

Councillor Roger Croad, Devon County Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for communities, said: “We are aware of the Home Office’s commissioning of the hotel, as short-term emergency accommodation for asylum seekers who are at the start of the asylum application process. This is one of many across the country that the Home Office is utilising for this purpose.

“We don’t know how long those placed here will remain in Devon, but we and our district, parish and town councils partners in Devon, and with excellent support from NHS Devon colleagues and the voluntary sector, are well placed to provide care and support to individuals. We are extending our hand of welcome to those new arrivals, and with a duty of care, will do all we can to support them.”

NHS Devon’s chief medical officer Dr Nigel Acheson said: “The NHS in Devon has well-established processes in place to ensure our doctors and other health professionals can provide essential care to support very vulnerable people arriving in our country as refugees or asylum seekers. Local people can continue to access health services as normal.”

On Wednesday Home Secretary Suella Braverman faced the Commons Home Affairs Committee over whose fault the conditions at the Manston processing centre were. The Home Office has now been threatened with five legal actions over the site.

Speaking to MPs on Wednesday, Ms Braverman said: “I’m not going to point the finger of blame at any one person. It’s not as simple as that.”

When pressed further, she said: “I tell you who’s at fault. It’s very clear who’s at fault. It’s the people who are breaking our rules, coming here illegally, exploiting vulnerable people and trying to reduce the generosity of the British people. That’s who’s at fault.”

However, MPs said there is a “shortage of safe and legal routes” to the UK for asylum seekers after the Home Secretary struggled to explain how an orphaned African child fleeing war and religious persecution, who has a sibling living legally in the UK, would be able to make a claim from abroad.

In the exchange on Wednesday, Ms Braverman replied: “Well, we have an asylum system and people can put in applications for asylum.”

Tim Loughton a Conservative member of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, then asked: “How would I do that?”

To which Ms Braverman said: “You can do it through the safe and legal routes that we have.”

But Mr Loughton replied: “I’m not Syrian. I’m not Afghan. I’m not Ukrainian… What scheme is open to me?”

“Well, if you are able to get to the UK, you’re able to put in an application for asylum,” Ms Braverman added.

Mr Loughton asked: “I would only enter the UK illegally then, wouldn’t I? How could I arrive in the UK if I didn’t have permission to get on to an aircraft to arrive legally in the UK?” At this point, Ms Braverman asked Home Office officials to step in and respond further.

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Son of Devon MP ill after swimming in sewage polluted river

A Devon MP has raised concerns over sewage discharges in the House of Commons after his son became ill swimming in a local river. It comes as the Surfers Against Sewage Water Quality report was released uncovering evidence of people becoming sick from swimming in water polluted by sewage.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com 

In a question to Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, Richard Foord, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton, asked when the government will finally crack down on water companies polluting our waterways despite evidence of people getting sick – including his own son.

He said the coastal constituency of Tiverton and Honiton is plagued with sewage spills from South West Water, the second worst offender of “dry spills” in the UK according to the SAS Water Quality Report.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, November 24, Mr Foord said: “Today, we have seen a damning report from Surfers Against Sewage regarding the scale of discharges being committed by water companies. In particular, the report includes new revelations about dry spills that pollute our rivers and beaches even when there is no rainfall. My own son was ill after entering the water earlier this year, in the summer—he came down with a spell of gastroenteritis, as did his friend—so I have some personal experience of this issue.

“Thanks to that report, we now know that South West Water, which covers the Tiverton and Honiton constituency, is one of the worst offenders. Will the Leader of the House make time available so that hon. Members from across the House can discuss the report’s findings in relation to dry spills?”

Responding, Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt MP said: “First, I am very sorry to hear that the hon. Gentleman’s son was ill, and that this was the cause. This issue is vital, and this Government have committed through the Environment Act 2021 and other work done by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to ensure both that genuine storm overflows are reduced and that we are monitoring what water companies are doing.

“In 2016, I think only five per cent of such discharges were monitored; from next year, that figure will be up to 100%, which is a key part of getting to the bottom of this. The report is an important one. I do not think there will be Environment, Food and Rural Affairs questions until 12 January, so I will write on the hon. Gentleman’s behalf and ask the Department to respond to his question.”

Speaking after the debate, Mr Foord, who lives in Uffculme, where the River Culm flows, added: “Our children should not be getting sick from spending time in nature or building sandcastles next to sewage. This is an environmental scandal. It is deeply shocking to hear people from across the South West, the Lake District and beyond have become sick from swimming in lakes and coastlines as a result of these ‘dry spills’. My own son became ill swimming in a Devon river.

“Months of Conservative chaos and an ever-changing cast of Environment Secretaries has meant that instead of action taken to hold water companies to account, we have only seen empty threats from the Government. Those MPs who voted against a ban on these sewage discharges last year should hang their heads in shame. The time is now to save Britain’s wild swimming spots and wildlife. This is a wake-up call to Conservative Ministers whose instinct is to do nothing.”

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Green light given for development of 500-job new business park in East Devon

Development of a new business park in East Devon that will create up to 500 jobs has been backed by district council chiefs.

East Devon Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

A plot at Long Lane, opposite the Future Skills Centre near Exeter Airport, has been earmarked for the ‘Power Park’ scheme.

It will form part of the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone.

East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) Planning Committee gave its seal of approval to a red tape-cutting Local Development Order (LDO) at its October meeting.

The document will ‘simplify’ the planning process so that developers can more easily bring forward ‘high-quality’ premises for a range of businesses.

EDDC says the LDO ‘will enable a sustainable new business park to be created to meet changing demands within the business and industrial sectors’.

“It will encourage investment and economic growth, creating up to 500 new jobs in East Devon,” said a spokesperson.

EDDC leader Councillor Paul Arnott, who chairs the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone, added: “This new LDO shows we are committed to unlocking development in the Enterprise Zone to bring high-value jobs to local people.

“The LDO will simplify the planning process and minimise delays so that employment opportunities can come forward quickly.

“The LDO will provide a framework for sustainable development through a mixed-use scheme with good place making whilst mitigating the impact on the local environment and wildlife.”

The LDO will set out the type and quantity of development which can take place on the site.

Developers would need to demonstrate their proposals comply with the LDO before starting the development.

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Police seek help identifying man found dead on seafront

Devon and Cornwall Police are seeking help from the public identifying a man who was found dead on the Sidmouth coastline earlier this week. The body of a man was found on Thursday, November 24 on rocks at The Esplanade, at around 2.20pm.

Shannon Brown www.devonlive.com

Officers are working to establish who the man is in order to locate his next of kin. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A number of emergency service staff, including police, HM Coastguard, RNLI and the ambulance service attended the scene on Sidmouth waterside. The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious at this time.

Devon and Cornwall Police have asked anyone who may know who the man is to get in contact, so they can inform his next of kin. He is described as white, possibly in his early 70s, of average build, with short grey hair, and approximately 5ft 10in tall.

He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, which is white with a blue check, black trousers with a brown belt, and black socks. The man was not wearing any shoes or a jacket and had no personal belongings or jewellery with him.

Detective Inspector Andy Hingston said: “We’re keen to speak to anyone who may recognise this person from our description. We are not treating his death as suspicious at this time and are keen to identify him so that we can inform his next-of-kin.

“We would ask whether any hotels or care homes are aware of anyone who has not returned, or anyone who thinks they know who he is to contact us.”

If you have any information that could help with enquiries, please contact police via the website here or by calling 101 quoting log 443 of 24/11/22.

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“This government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.”

Michael Gove is facing mounting pressure to fully explain his role in the government’s award of large PPE contracts to a company that was first recommended to him by the Tory peer Michelle Mone.

David Conn www.theguardian.com 

Asked in an interview on Thursday how he had responded to Lady Mone’s approach in May 2020, Gove said he had referred all offers of PPE to “the appropriate civil service channels”.

That explanation appears to be at odds with a chain of emails previously released under the Freedom of Information Act that shed light on how the company, PPE Medpro, was added to a “VIP” lane that prioritised politically connected firms. The emails suggest that after initially being contacted by Mone, Gove suggested she contact another then minister, the Tory peer Theodore Agnew.

She then did so, emailing Gove and Lord Agnew using their private, non-governmental email addresses to tell them about PPE that could be procured from “my team in Hong Kong”. It was Agnew, who was then a minister in the Cabinet Office responsible for procurement, who referred PPE Medpro to the VIP lane.

Pressed repeatedly by the presenter Kay Burley on Sky News to recall how he responded to Mone’s offer, Gove, who was Cabinet Office minister at the time, said his job then was to make sure anyone who offered PPE was “referred to the right channel”.

He added: “I would have hoped that you or I, if someone said ‘I can provide PPE’, that we would have said: ‘Great. The thing to do is to go to this official government process, to go through this procurement gateway, to have the quality of the contract that you’re seeking to secure assessed.’”

However, the emails obtained by the Guardian appear to show Gove directing Mone not directly to civil servants but to a fellow minister.

They reveal how Mone laid out a sales pitch to Agnew for the supply of PPE. The government had by then suspended normal competitive tendering processes and, it would later emerge, was fast-tracking to a “VIP” lane offers of PPE referred by politically connected people.

“I hope this email finds you well,” Mone wrote to Agnew, copying in Gove, using their private email addresses. “Michael Gove has asked to urgently contact you [sic]. We have managed to source PPE masks though [sic] my team in Hong Kong. They have managed to secure 100,000pcs per day of KN95 [face masks] which is equivalent to N95 or FFP2. In order to commit to this 100,000pcs per day could you please get back to me asap as freight will also need to be secured. Hope to see you in the House of Lords when we get out of lockdown. Kindest regards, Michelle.”

Agnew replied from his personal email address, copying in the government email address of his private secretary. “Michelle, thank you for your kind offer. I am forwarding this into the appropriate PPE workstream with Dept of Health. They will ask you some basic questions on the details of the offer and then hopefully progress it from there. Best wishes Theodore.”

One of his staff then emailed a Covid PPE “priority appraisals” mailbox, asking them to “pick up with Baroness Mone”. The staff member added the words “VIA LORD AGNEW” and “VIP” to the subject field.

At that stage, the company, PPE Medpro, had not even been incorporated. However, within weeks it had been awarded two government contracts worth £203m to supply millions of face masks and sterile surgical gowns.

Mone’s lawyers have previously said she never had any role “in the process by which contracts were awarded to PPE Medpro”. PPE Medpro previously said the company “was not awarded the contract because of company or personal connections to the UK government or the Conservative party”.

The Guardian was only able to establish that private emails had been used because of an apparent administrative error by the Cabinet Office, which failed to properly redact documents released after a freedom of information request from the Guardian.

The Guardian contacted Gove to ask him how the account he gave of his response to Mone’s offer on Sky News, in which he said he referred all offers to “the appropriate civil service channels”, was consistent with the suggestion he in fact told Mone to contact Agnew. He did not respond.

The government has consistently defended the “VIP” process; spokespeople have maintained that contracts were awarded “in line with procurement regulations and transparency guidelines, and there are robust rules and processes in place to prevent conflicts of interest”. However, the use of the high-priority lane to award contacts has been ruled unlawful by the high court.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader and the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, said: “Michael Gove must urgently come clean with the public on his personal involvement in the award of contracts to PPE Medpro during his time as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster.

“The government must commit to publishing all the documents and correspondence relating to the award of taxpayer contracts to PPE Medpro out in the open.”

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“Profiteering” revelations prompt anger in Commons

The growing controversy over a PPE company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone has sparked an angry reaction in parliament, as MPs demanded an investigation into wider concerns over what one called “absolutely sickening, shameful and unforgivable” instances of politically connected firms profiteering from unusable PPE during the pandemic.

Henry Dyer www.theguardian.com 

Parliamentarians asked ministers for more information about how PPE Medpro was awarded more than £200m in government contracts after it was referred to ministers by Lady Mone.

They also used the occasion to ask broader questions about the government’s procurement contracts during the pandemic – some of which, one MP said, had since been flagged by Transparency International as a “corruption risk”.

In response to an urgent question on Thursday from Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, the junior health minister Neil O’Brien repeatedly sought to defend the government’s actions and its use of a “VIP lane” that prioritised referrals from politically connected PPE companies.

The minister said that “the people who came through the high-priority route were not politically connected people, except in the sense that they were being referred in by MPs across the house”.

The urgent question was triggered by a report in the Guardian on Wednesday. It revealed that the Conservative peer Mone and her children secretly received £29m originating from the profits of PPE Medpro, a company that was awarded large government contracts after she recommended it to ministers, documents seen by the newspaper indicate.

Mone’s referral of the company to the Tory ministers Michael Gove and Theodore Agnew helped it secure a place the “VIP lane”, which was used by the government during the coronavirus pandemic to prioritise certain companies. PPE Medpro then secured two contracts worth more £203m.

Tens of millions of pounds of PPE Medpro’s profits were later transferred to a secret offshore trust of which Mone and her adult children were the beneficiaries, the documents indicate. The documents state that the secret payment to the trust was via Mone’s husband, Douglas Barrowman, who had weeks earlier received at least £65m in profits from PPE Medpro.

Mone’s lawyer last year said she “did not benefit financially and was not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity”. On Thursday, Mone broke a 10-month-long silence on Twitter by sharing an image that said: “Don’t believe everything you read, or everything you think.”

The SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Brendan O’Hara said it was “almost inevitable” the VIP lane “would come to this”.

‘Sleaze, corruption and scandal’: MP Brendan O’Hara confronts government over PPE contracts – video

“This get-rich-quick scheme to fast-track cronies, politically connected pals and colleagues was never going to end well. I suspect that today’s revelations, however shocking, are simply the tip of a very large iceberg – an iceberg that could yet sink this ship of fools,” he said.

He added: “Transparency International UK has flagged 20% of the £15bn given out by the Tories in PPE contracts at the height of the pandemic as a corruption risk. As we have already heard, they are spending £770,000 every single day to store much of that useless equipment in China.

“Now that we have one Tory politician who had absolutely no background in PPE procurement personally making millions from those contracts, does the government plan to proactively investigate how many others like that are in their ranks, or are they content to sit there and watch this dripping roast of sleaze, corruption and scandal unfold on its own?”

O’Brien replied that “the idea that there was some sort of greater success if you had a political connection, when you say ‘politically connected’, they were our constituents – they were getting in touch with all of us, they had to be referred on somewhere, they had to be managed and they went through the same process as every other contract”.

The UK government is continuing its attempt to recover money from PPE Medpro in relation to unused gowns purchased in a £122m contract – one of two the company was awarded. The gowns were rejected after a technical inspection and never used.

PPE Medpro insists the gowns purchased through the £122m contract passed inspection, and that the company – and, presumably, the beneficiaries of its profits – are entitled to keep the money.

O’Brien told parliament that a “process” was under way with regard to what he called an “underperforming contract”. “The first step is to send a letter before action, which outlines a claim for damages. That is followed by litigation in the event that a satisfactory agreement has not been reached.”

Rayner called on the government to publish correspondence on the award of PPE Medpro’s contracts once the mediation process was finished, a call that O’Brien did not respond to.

The SNP MP Alan Brown called for “a public inquiry into PPE procurement”, while Labour’s Sam Tarry called for the government to publish “in full” the names of the ministers, MPs and officials who referred companies to the VIP lane. “We need to know what corruption happened,” Tarry said.

The Commons speaker reminded members that parliamentary procedure meant MPs were not allowed to specifically criticise the conduct of Mone, a sitting member of the House of Lords.

However, several MPs expressed strongly worded criticism of the revelations in the Guardian.

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, who lost three family members in the pandemic, said: “For Tory peers and other chums of the Conservative party to have been profiteering at taxpayers’ expense from shoddy, unusable PPE, especially through the VIP procurement lane, at a time when people were locked down in their homes and tens of thousands of people, including my loved ones, were dying is absolutely sickening, shameful and unforgivable”.

Dhesi called on O’Brien to offer an apology to bereaved families for “the amazing lack of integrity at the heart of this whole process”. The minister did not do so.

Criticism of the PPE contracts came from both sides of the house, with the Conservative MP Christopher Chope asking O’Brien: “What has happened to the £122m which was spent on 25m gowns supplied by the company referred to earlier, but whose gowns were never used and weren’t fit for purpose?”

But another Tory MP, Peter Bone, said there was a “rewriting of history” taking place, alleging that the opposition was making political points “out of what was actually a great success in getting our NHS staff protected”.

Contacted about the Guardian’s new disclosures on Wednesday, a lawyer for Mone said: “There are a number of reasons why our client cannot comment on these issues and she is under no duty to do so.”

A lawyer who represents both Barrowman and PPE Medpro said that a continuing investigation limited what his clients were able to say on these matters. He added: “For the time being we are also instructed to say that there is much inaccuracy in the portrayal of the alleged ‘facts’ and a number of them are completely wrong.”

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“Dry spills” – Richard Foord already on the case.

Richard Foord raises new sewage spill report in Parliament

Honiton MP Richard Foord is going to raise the topic of the Surfers Against Sewage report in Parliament today, (Thursday).

Water pollution is the result of underinvestment, this public utility has been asset stripped by privatisation. It is subject to weak “light touch” regulation, and chronic underfunding of the Environment Agency.

As a “newly promoted” PPS, Simon Jupp is not free to criticise his government on such fundamental policy issues. So he is unlikely to intervene.

PPSs aren’t exactly “free to speak and free to act.”

Tough luck for Budleigh and Exmouth residents. – Owl

Adam Manning www.midweekherald.co.uk

The report found that South West Water was the second worst offender in the country and gives evidence of people becoming sick from swimming in polluted water. 

The new report uncovers evidence of illegal “dry spills” of sewage into the sea at Exmouth, Sidmouth, Budleigh Salterton and Sandy Bay among spills in rivers, lakes and coastlines across the UK.

The Liberal Democrat MP represents Tiverton & Honiton, where local rivers and beaches have been plagued with sewage spills and his son also became ill after swimming in a local river this summer.

Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Honiton Richard Foord said: “Our children should not be getting sick from spending time in nature or building sandcastles next to sewage.

“This is an environmental scandal. I will be seeking to raise this report in Parliament today and calling on Ministers to explain why water companies are getting away with making these illegal ‘dry spills’. 

“It is deeply shocking to hear people from across the South West, the Lake District and beyond have become sick from swimming in lakes and coastlines as a result of these ‘dry spills’. My own son became ill swimming in a Devon river.

“Months of chaos in Government and an ever-changing cast of Environment Secretaries has meant that instead of action taken to hold water companies to account, we have only seen empty threats from Government. Those MPs who voted against a ban on these sewage discharges last year should hang their heads in shame. 

“The time is now to save Britain’s wild swimming spots and wildlife. This is a wake-up call to Conservative Ministers whose instinct is to do nothing.”

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More on “dry spills” (which are anything but dry)

The full Surfers Against Sewage report is a “must read” and can be found here.

“Excellent” Seaton, Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Beer, Sidmouth are all listed in descending order of numbers of “dry spills”. [Worst first] – Owl

Devon sewage dumps are ‘putting swimmers at risk’

The impact of sewage discharge on Devon’s bathing spots has been revealed in a shocking report. Today, Surfers Against Sewage released the Water Quality Report 2022, which analysed discharge alerts, meteorological data and reports of ill health to paint a damning picture of the scale of sewage spills across the UK.

Alex Davis www.devonlive.com

During the 2021/22 bathing season, research from SAS showed sewage was dumped into bathing waters 5,504 times in the UK, for a total of 15,012 hours. According to SAS, at least 146 sewage discharges occurred in multiple instances when there was no rain recorded between October 2021 and September 2022– despite regulations stipulating that outflows should only occur during ‘unusually heavy rainfall’. South West Water were the second worst water company for dry spills in the UK, reporting 21 dry spills between May 31 – September 31 2022.

Examples include sewage spills at Croyde Bay on June 21 and Sidmouth Town in 2022, despite there being no cases of ‘unusually heavy rainfall’. Croyde Bay is part of North Devon’s World Surfing Reserve due to the quality of the surf and importance of the ocean to the region’s community.

Teignmouth Holcombe suffered the most dry spills in Devon between October 2021 – September 2022 and the third most in the UK, with sewage discharged five times. Surfers against Sewage is an environmental charity based in Cornwall who campaign to end sewage discharge into UK bathing waters by 2030.

The governments Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan states that overflows at a designated bathing ground must be designed to achieve no more than three overspills for a “good” rating, and no more than two overspills for an “excellent” rating. The table below shows all designed bathing areas in Devon where an overspill occurred in 2022.

Bathing waters impacted during the bathing season- 15 May to 30 September (source: Surfers Against Sewage)

RankBathing Water NameClassificationSewage HoursCount of Spills
5Plymouth Hoe EastGood373303
43Plymouth Hoe WestExcellent4559
44Thurlestone SouthExcellent3910
59MeadfootExcellent267
60Mill BayExcellent2623
75MothecombeGood1818
76Seaton (Devon)Excellent177
78Dartmouth Castle and Sugary CoveExcellent1623
86ExmouthExcellent1411
91InstowN/A1323
92Budleigh SaltertonExcellent125
93BeerExcellent1210
95Woolacombe VillageExcellent124
96LynmouthExcellent126
105Hope CoveExcellent87
111Ilfracombe HeleGood76
112Slapton Sands TorcrossExcellent72
113Teignmouth HolcombeExcellent715
114Sidmouth TownExcellent72
118Salcombe South SandsExcellent69
126CawsandExcellent52
129St Mildred’s Bay, WestgateExcellent56
138Beacon CoveExcellent46
143Combe MartinSufficient32
159Westward Ho!Excellent22
167Ilfracombe Tunnels BeachExcellent12
172Paignton Preston SandsExcellent11
176Paignton Paignton SandsGood11
177Widemouth SandExcellent12
179WemburyExcellent11
197SummerleazeExcellent01
198ChallaboroughExcellent01
200BabbacombeExcellent01

The report also argued that sewage in Britain’s oceans and rivers was having an impact on the health of bathers. Between 1st October 2021 and 30th September 2022, 720 water users contacted Surfers Against Sewage to report they had become ill after entering the water. The campaign says that’s more than double the amount of reports received in the 2020/21 season.

Of the 720 reports, 424 (58%) said they had become ill in bathing water with “Excellent” water quality ratings. Symptoms reported include respiratory issues, gastroenteritis and infections in the ear, nose and throat.

As well as having health implications for those swimming in infected water. The campaign said their consumer survey showed 11% of people became sick due to entering British waters, which they calculate as costing the economy £21.7 million a year in sick leave.

(Image: Surfers Against Sewage)

Dr Anne Leonard, an environmental epidemiologist and microbiologist based at the University of Exeter, said: “We’ve known for over one hundred years that sewage contains disease-causing microorganisms, and that ingesting water contaminated with this kind of waste causes infections. These infections may be mild, self-limiting illnesses but they can also be really severe infections that require medical treatment.

“We are particularly concerned about the presence in sewage of disease-causing bacteria that do not respond to treatment with antibiotics – so called antibiotic resistant bacteria. We are running out of antibiotics that are effective against the most resistant bacteria, so keeping sewage away from our rivers and beaches is a key public health intervention to reduce preventable infections and limit our reliance on antibiotics.”

Tiverton and Honiton dumped sewage 2766 times in 2021 – the 25th worst record in the country. MP for Tiverton and Honiton, Richard Foord, raised the report in Parliament after his son also became ill after swimming in a local river this summer. He said: “This is an environmental scandal. I will be seeking to raise this report in Parliament today and calling on Ministers to explain why water companies are getting away with making these illegal ‘dry spills’.

“It is deeply shocking to hear people from across the South West, the Lake District and beyond have become sick from swimming in lakes and coastlines as a result of these ‘dry spills’. My own son became ill swimming in a Devon river.

“Months of chaos in Government and an ever-changing cast of Environment Secretaries has meant that instead of action taken to hold water companies to account, we have only seen empty threats from Government. Those MPs who voted against a ban on these sewage discharges last year should hang their heads in shame.

“The time is now to save Britain’s wild swimming spots and wildlife. This is a wake-up call to Conservative Ministers whose instinct is to do nothing.”

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Another day, more scandal 

Good for a long old Mone:

It’s the VIP contracts scandal that keeps on giving: Baroness Michelle Mone and her kids received £29 million via the massive COVID PPE contract she lobbied to secure for a firm she had links to — and the cash was squirreled offshore out of the clutches of the taxman, the Guardian reveals this morning. The belter of a scoop from David Conn (no pun intended) throws into question the past claims from Mone’s legal representatives that she received no financial benefit from the contract award to the now infamous PPE Medpro. 

From Politico london Playbook

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Where now for the Local Plan?

From a concerned correspondent:

Question one of  “A quick survey for the East Devon Local Plan” asks

 Where should new homes and jobs go – the big picture?

The Government currently requires EDDC to plan for around 20,500 extra homes in East Devon (1,040 a year) for the period of 2020 to 2040.

Rishi Sunak is reported to be in the process of climbing down on targets in The Levelling Up Bill and some compromise on imposing “Soviet Style” top down targets seems inevitable.

The question is will East Devon still continue to promote their new plan? Will they follow the example of Bristol and seek the true number of housing that East Devon needs, not some arbitrary figure imposed by central government?

Shouldn’t EDDC start to find out just what the real local need for housing is?

Please make your views known to your EDDC councillors at this early stage and, by default, not build over the agricultural land we so badly need and despoil our wonderful countryside.

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Dominic Raab’s ex-private secretaries to lodge formal complaints

Deputy PM Dominic Raab is facing fresh bullying complaints from senior civil servants across multiple government departments, BBC Newsnight has learned.

Simon Jupp was a SpAd to Raab before being selected as the Conservative candidate for East Devon.

Interestingly, Simon recently said this about the “shouty oldies of Salterton”: “There’s no excuse to verbally abuse staff who are just doing their jobs.” 

By Nicholas Watt & Liz Rawlings www.bbc.co.uk

A number of Mr Raab’s former private secretaries – senior officials who work most closely with ministers on a daily basis – are preparing to submit formal complaints, sources told the BBC.

Mr Raab requested an investigation into his own conduct towards staff in the wake of two earlier complaints.

He denies any allegations of bullying.

Mr Raab, who is also the justice secretary, maintains he has always acted with integrity and professionalism.

There is now a coordinated effort by former private secretaries of Mr Raab to ensure their allegations are heard as part of the investigation.

Private secretaries work in the private office of government ministers on the day-to-day running of the department, including managing the minister’s diary and advising on policy matters.

Meanwhile, Newsnight has also been told that Mr Raab used his personal email account for government business at two separate departments – once as recently as 2021.

Officials issued multiple warnings to the deputy prime minister not to use his email in this way, a source said.

Mr Raab, however, believes that the way he has used private email does not amount to a breach of the ministerial code, which allows for it to be done in some circumstances.

A friend of Mr Raab said he had used it on occasions to approve tweets and quotes related to government business.

Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary last month in part after admitting a breach of the ministerial code involving use of her private email to share government documents.

Ms Braverman, who has since been reappointed to the role, said this should not be done “where it was not reasonably necessary”.

Dave Penman, chief executive of the FDA union which represents senior civil servants, said: “This is an extraordinary set of circumstances. We’ve never come across a situation where so many civil servants appear to be raising complaints about a minister’s conduct.

“So if they are serious allegations about his conduct, that the prime minister has seen, he has to make a decision – is it safe essentially for civil servants to continue to work with him? That’s what any employer would do.”

The government has appointed Adam Tolley KC to investigate two formal complaints made about Mr Raab’s conduct.

Downing Street said a report would be published “in a timely way”.

Any final judgement on whether Mr Raab was in breach of the ministerial code will remain with Mr Sunak.

Mr Raab has said he will “thoroughly rebut and refute any claims made”.