Backstory: Dozens of reservoirs across the country have been given up by water companies, while no new ones have been built in the last 30 years. 

Andrew Sells – who was head of Natural England between 2014 and 2019 – said the sell-off, with no replacements, was evidence of water companies putting profits before water resilience. www.telegraph.co.uk 

South West Water is also failing to meet leakage reduction targets, as a result, it’s offering to fix domestic leaks for free across the region.

Now, rather late in the day, they are offering a £30 credit to Cornish customers to reduce usage.

Another privatisation that has gone seriously wrong. – Owl

South West Water say they will give £30 credit to customers in Cornwall if Colliford Reservoir reaches 30 percent capacity by 31 December.

ITV News www.itv.com 

The company has made the announcement this morning (11 November) to try to encourage residents to limit their water usage.

It follows what they call unprecedented demand for water, alongside exceptionally hot and dry weather.

Customers can check reservoir levels on South West Water’s website. Levels are currently below 20 percent.

If Colliford Reservoir reaches 30 percent full, the company says all household customers in Cornwall will receive a £30 credit on their accounts which will show on their next bill after the incentive ends.

The water company fix up to 2,500 leaks a month, say say they are finding and fixing more leaks than ever before.

Earlier this year Colliford Reservoir, which serves around 255,000 households in Cornwall, fell to its lowers ever recorded level.

South West Water are continuing to urge people to reduce the amount of water they use to help recharge the county’s river and reservoirs. They say this will ensure there is enough water for next year.

Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer and Digital Officer, said: “We have been working around the clock to bring new supplies safely online, find and fix more leaks than ever before and help businesses and customers reduce their water usage.

“These proactive steps have helped river and reservoir levels stabilise across our region and recover in Devon.

“However, in Cornwall reservoir levels remain low. That is why we are asking everyone to help Stop The Drop so we can restore reservoir reserves, ensuring we have enough water today and into next year.

“Our Stop The Drop campaign draws on the collective might of the people of Cornwall who can help by reducing their water usage to secure supplies in Colliford Reservoir. Every one drop saved protects the water we need now.”

South West Water said they had one of the lowest rates of leakage across the industry.

A spokesperson said: “In 2021/22 we improved our leakage performance by 6%, reducing leaks to 116.7ml/d.

“We have targets to further reduce leakage by 15% from 2020 and are currently on track to do so.

“With around 30% of leaks now typically found on customers’ own properties, we have extended our offer to fix these leaks for free – saving enough water to date to serve the equivalent of 8,000 homes.”

South West Water say if everyone in Cornwall cut their shower time by just 1 minute it would save more than 4.5 million litres a day.

They warned that day to day activities around the house can use a lot of water, 50 litres per washing machine cycle and 14 litres for a dishwasher cycle.

Bullying claims: It has emerged that eight people working in Dominic Raab’s private office during his tenure as foreign secretary claimed to have been bullied or harassed at work, according to a leaked survey.

The poll, carried out in the latter part of 2019, also showed that 15 staff reported witnessing another person being bullied or treated unfairly.

The results, published by ITV News, were anonymous, meaning it is not possible to ascertain the subject of the claims. www.cityam.com

Ranting: On one occasion, the Deputy PM is said to have hurled tomatoes from a Pret a Manger salad across a table in a fit of pique because he ‘wasn’t happy with the way he was being briefed’. 

Mr Raab has also reportedly earned himself ‘The Incinerator’ tag because he ‘burns through’ staff so quickly. www.dailymail.co.uk

But Rishi Sunak doesn’t “recognise” bullying claims 

“Integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level”? – Owl

Rishi Sunak has defended his deputy prime minister and justice secretary, Dominic Raab, saying he does not recognise claims from multiple civil servants that he bullied staff.

Jessica Elgot www.theguardian.com 

Sunak gave a robust defence of Raab, having already been criticised over his judgment after promoting other controversial ministers including Suella Braverman and Gavin Williamson.

“I don’t recognise that characterisation of Dominic and I’m not aware of any formal complaints about him,” he told reporters onboard his plane en route to the G20 summit in Bali.

“Of course, there are established procedures for civil servants if they want to bring to light any issues. I’m not aware of any formal complaint about Dominic.”

However, Simon McDonald, the former permanent secretary at the Foreign Office when Raab was in charge there, has suggested that bullying claims were accurate. He described Raab as “one of the most driven people” he had ever worked for and a “tough boss”, before admitting his comments may be “euphemisms”.

Asked by the LBC radio presenter Andrew Marr whether the characterisation of Raab as “somebody who could bully, and around whom bullying happened” was plausible, he replied: “Yes.”

Sunak was speaking as ITV reported a new claim that eight people working in Raab’s private office when he was foreign secretary claimed to have been bullied or harassed at work.

The results of an HR survey leaked to the broadcaster found that 15 people in the office witnessed seeing someone else being bullied or treated unfairly. The person or persons doing the bullying were not identified in the survey.

The prime minister suggested that could not be considered proof of poor behaviour by Raab. “My understanding is that these surveys are annual and relate to the overall work environment, not to individuals,” he said.

It follows the Guardian’s report that Raab’s return to the Ministry of Justice prompted officials to be offered the opportunity to move from his private office because of concerns about his behaviour. They were offered “respite or a route out” of the department and at least 15 staff were given reassurances as a result of their anxiety.

The department’s permanent secretary, Antonia Romeo, is said to have “read him the riot act” upon his return to the MoJ after Sunak became prime minister – warning Raab about treatment of staff.

Raab was one of Sunak’s most high-profile and early supporters in the leadership contest, taking on difficult broadcast rounds in his defence and acting as a key attack dog against Liz Truss.

His actions in the leadership campaign led to him being sacked from the cabinet by Truss but he was restored to his previous post at the MoJ by Sunak.

No 10 said the prime minister had full confidence in Raab and denied he was aware of any formal complaints against his deputy. However, pressed repeatedly on the matter, the spokesperson failed to deny that an informal complaint may have been made.

Over the weekend, the Observer revealed that concerns were raised about Raab’s treatment of officials during his time as Brexit secretary in 2018. A senior source said there was a “serious expression of concern” to the Cabinet Office by a key official in the department, accusing Raab of “unprofessional, even bullying” conduct towards staff in his private office. No action was taken.

The No 10 spokesperson added: “As the prime minister has said before, people in public life should treat others with consideration and respect. Those are principles that this government will stand by.

“There are established procedures by which civil servants can raise complaints. These processes allow allegations to be looked and considered with due process and a fair hearing. We are not aware of any formal complaint having been raised.”

The claims about Raab follow the resignation of the Cabinet Office minister, Gavin Williamson, another prominent Sunak ally during the leadership campaign. Williamson was accused of bullying MPs and officials, including sending expletive-laden texts to the former chief whip Wendy Morton, and civil servants said he had used threatening language. Williamson has denied allegations of bullying.

Sunak did not issue as vigorous a defence of Williamson after the texts to Morton came to light and said there would be an investigation after condemning the language used. Williamson resigned later that week as minister in the Cabinet Office after a slew of damaging stories about his time as defence secretary and chief whip.

A spokesperson for Raab said: “Dominic has never received nor been made aware of any formal complaint against him. He consistently holds himself to the highest standards of professionalism and enjoys good working relationships across Whitehall.”

A South West MP is demanding explanations from the Environment Agency after reports it has become ‘obsessed’ with health and safety. A whistleblower quoted in a daily newspaper claims agency staff have been banned from carrying out basic tasks such as clearing waterways because of overzealous rules.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

This has extended to the work of removing debris and blockages from rivers, often delayed for months while risk assessments are carried out. Officials are also said to be imposing strict controls on using hand tools such as screwdrivers until training has been ‘developed and assessed’.

Now Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, says he intends to find out whether the allegations are true. “It is shocking to learn that basic Environment Agency work is being delayed because some people have gone completely over the top on matters of health and safety,” he said.

“In an area like Somerset the daily lives of thousands of people depend on waterways being routinely cleaned and maintained – and there are still many painful memories of what happened eight years ago when the Environment Agency decided it was no longer necessary to do so.

“If these allegations are true it is by no means the first time that an organisation has taken health and safety precautions to a ridiculous extreme. I am taking steps to ascertain if these claims are well-founded and if they are I shall be making it very clear to the Environment Agency that it needs to adopt a more proportionate attitude. I fully appreciate that its staff need to be protected while they are at work but precautions must not be allowed to create a wider risk to the general public.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Our staff carry out vital work to protect the environment, people and wildlife and we are committed to providing a safe, healthy and high quality working environment for them while they undertake this vital role.

“In dealing with routine work and serious incidents around the country, we will continue to take every step necessary to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our staff, whilst always being considerate of how we manage the environmental risks to the communities we serve.”

• A recent review of all of our high risk activities identified a number of health and safety improvements that we are in the process of making. In some cases, we decided that we needed to pause carrying out some activities whilst we ensured that the correct health and safety measures and training were in place.

• However, this does not mean that these activities just stopped. Where appropriate, we have put more work out to our supply chain to deliver on our behalf.

• Much of the annual programme of river and coastal maintenance work is routinely delivered by our contractors: we have simply extended the amount of work that they are delivering on our behalf where we have deemed this necessary.

• Furthermore, we have additional risk control measures in place to allow our own staff to undertake paused activities where they are essential and there is no other way of delivering the work.

• Many of the paused activities have already been re-started by our employees. Most recently, we allowed certain maintenance machinery to be brought back into use with improved health and safety procedures.

Are “Stalinist” top-down targets back on the agenda?

How is public opposition to housebuilding to be reduced? – Owl

Developers seeking planning permission for ugly new homes will have their projects “called in” by the government and vetoed, Michael Gove pledged yesterday, as he outlined plans to reduce public opposition to housebuilding.

Oliver Wright www.thetimes.co.uk

In his first big speech since being re-appointed as levelling-up secretary by Rishi Sunak, Gove launched a broadside against housebuilders for putting up identikit homes out of keeping with the local area.

He also accused the industry of “manipulating” councils by using loopholes in the planning system to avoid paying for community infrastructure and overturning democratic decisions about where houses should be built.

Gove claimed that under the government’s planning reforms, ministers and local authorities would have the power to hold developers to account and reduce the factors that had made new developments so controversial.

Last month Gove recommitted the government to its manifesto target of building 300,000 homes a year after Liz Truss said she wanted to abolish “Stalinist” top-down targets.

Gove told a Centre for Policy Studies conference that to achieve this it would be necessary to take on board local communities’ objections to building in their area.

“The experience of many buyers is that the incredibly expensive homes that they buy simply aren’t up to the standard that they should be,” he said.

“There are far too many faults and defects. But more than that, for those who have seen new houses built, the fact is that so many house builders are using a restrictive pattern book with poor-quality materials, and the aesthetic quality of what they produce is both disappointing and also not in keeping with the high aesthetic standards that may already exist.

“We will see the wide adoption of design codes and ways in which individuals can appreciate how it is easier to secure planning permission if you build in a way that is consistent with those design codes.

“We will use all the powers we have in order to make sure that developments which are not aesthetically of high quality don’t go ahead.”

Gove cited the example of the King’s model village in Poundbury, Dorset, that adopted traditional housing design and integrated shops and businesses as well as private and social housing within the development zone.

He pointed out that house prices in Poundbury were higher than in neighbouring Dorchester, suggesting that it could be a blueprint for other developments. “If we do make sure that in the planning reforms we are bringing forward, people understand that new homes will be beautiful, they will be accompanied by infrastructure, there will be democratic decision-making, there will be environmental enhancement and that we are creating new neighbourhoods, then we can build new homes and additional infrastructure that this country needs to power the growth to which all of us are committed,” he said.

Gove added that the government also needed to take environmental concerns seriously, but joked that some communities began taking a particular interest in such issues only when housebuilding was threatened.

“It is surprising how many communities that had not hitherto shown a fondness for newts and bats can suddenly discover a love of reptiles and flying reptiles, that they did not have before, when new development is promised,” he said.

“Fund councils properly or change the law to remove the “outdated and under-resourced” legal obligation on town halls to provide services such as libraries and home-to-school transport.”

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com 

Two of England’s largest Tory-run local authorities have warned the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, that they will be forced to declare bankruptcy within the next few months because of the unprecedented financial crisis enveloping both councils.

The leaders of Kent and Hampshire county councils said even “drastic cuts” to current services would not be enough to patch up the huge holes in their budgets created by soaring inflation and rising pressures in adult and children’s social care.

In a strongly worded joint letter to Sunak, Kent leader, Roger Gough, and Hampshire leader, Rob Humby, said while they recognised the difficult national economic circumstances, “we cannot sit by and let two great counties sleepwalk into a financial disaster”.

Ministers effectively had a choice, the letter said: to fund councils properly or change the law to remove the “outdated and under-resourced” legal obligation on town halls to provide services such as libraries and home-to-school transport.

Both councils faced budget deficits over the next few years “of a scale that has never been seen before”, they said, and unless ministers stepped in with emergency help and a long-term funding plan, they would be “likely to be considering section 114 [effective bankruptcy] notices in the next year or so”.

The letter said: “The problem is simple: the additional money that we can raise from council tax and business rates barely covers the normal inflationary pressures that we face each year. This leaves significant growth, particularly in adults’ and children’s social care, totally unfunded.

“Without a fundamental change either in the way in which these two services are funded, or in our statutory obligations, all of upper-tier local government will soon go over the cliff edge.”

Although bankruptcy will not result in councils stopping core services, issuing a section 114 notice formally obliges them to formulate drastic cuts to services, make job cuts and announce fire sales of assets such as social housing, development sites and office buildings.

The letter reflects alarm across the sector about the long-term viability of local government, which has been battered by a decade of austerity cuts, followed by the pandemic, and now rampaging inflation. Several councils have announced that they will unexpectedly have to cut services this year to balance the books.

The Conservative-run County Councils Network said at the weekend that only one in five of their members were confident of avoiding having to issue a section 114 notice this year. To stave off bankruptcy, they were cutting social care services as well as bus route subsidies, waste services and street lighting.

Reports in the Times on Monday suggested ministers were considering scrapping the cap limiting annual council tax rises to 2.99% plus 1% for social care in Thursday’s budget. But there is little confidence in the sector that this will provide a fair or viable answer to the financial pressures facing town halls.

A handful of councils have gone bankrupt in recent years – Northamptonshire, Croydon, and Slough – while several others needed government bailouts to stay afloat – most recently Thurrock – because of financial chaos stemming from commercial investments designed to counter the impact of years of funding cuts.

Others have avoided bankruptcy only through dramatic cuts to services, while local government sector surveys suggest many councils will manage to balance the books this year by only draining their already depleted financial reserves – which will leave them brutally exposed in the coming years.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We understand that councils are concerned about the impact of inflation and we are working with them to understand how this will affect their budgets. This year, we have made available an additional £3.7bn to councils to ensure they have the resources to deliver vital services.”

Forty councils in England saw no social rent housing built in five years in the wake of government funding cuts, according to official figures analysed by the Observer.

Chaminda Jayanetti www.theguardian.com 

In 2010 the Conservative-led coalition slashed funding for subsidised housing by 60% and redirected the remaining money away from social rent and towards more expensive “affordable rent” housing.

The cuts took a few years to feed through, as councils and not-for-profit housing associations completed developments that used money provided under the previous Labour government.

But data published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) shows that 40 local authority areas neither built nor acquired (either via councils or housing associations) any new social rent housing units between 2016-17 and 2020-21, the most recent year for which figures are available.

These areas are scattered across England and include Peterborough, Luton, the Isle of Wight, Spelthorne in Surrey, and parts of Greater Manchester, as well as rural districts.

The coalition government also limited councils’ ability to borrow to build housing, further hitting supply. The figures do not account for the impact of policies such as right to buy in reducing the social rent stock.

Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, said: “There is a chronic shortage of social homes in England. We know there are 4.2 million people in need of a social home across the country, and this is likely to increase rapidly as a result of the cost of living crisis we are facing.

“Housing associations are ambitious to build much-needed social rent homes at scale and pace. However, over the past decade, government grants have prioritised affordable home ownership and affordable rent. Social rented homes are much more expensive to deliver due to the lower rents charged, therefore most housing associations cannot afford to build these homes without access to specific funding.”

The DLUHC figures show that 122 local authority areas – more than a third of all councils in England – each saw under 20 social rent properties built or acquired over the five years. Many areas saw much more construction of housing at “affordable rent” levels – which can be set at up to 80% of market rents. Across England, affordable rented housing costs nearly 40% more than social rents, but this masks wide variations.

London has managed to build more social rent housing after negotiating a separate deal with the government recognising its higher housing costs. But even in the capital, Richmond added just 16 social rent units and 137 affordable rent units in five years; homes in Richmond let under the national affordable rent programme cost on average more than £200 a week, over 50% higher than local social rents. The council’s social housing waiting list has risen markedly in the last five years.

“Eighty per cent of an arbitrary market rent can be extremely high in many different places, so people who are in desperate need end up being insecure because they can’t afford it,” said Charlie Trew, head of policy at homelessness charity Shelter.

The government has now changed its funding programme to encourage more social rent housebuilding, and there are signs the rate of development is increasing – but funding is concentrated in areas where the difference between average social rents and private rents is at least £50 a week.

“The £50 rule flies in the face of ‘levelling up’,” said Trew. “Areas affected will be locked out of social rent funding until at least 2026. Prices will rise, low-income local people will be priced out, homelessness will grow.”

The DLUHC said: “We understand how important social housing is and the secretary of state has been very clear that we must build more social homes across the country.

“Our £11.5bn Affordable Homes Programme will help to deliver more of the genuinely affordable, quality homes this country needs and since 2010 we have built nearly 600,000 affordable homes in England, including 157,000 for social rent.”

Peterborough council said the low number of new social rented homes was due to government policy. Richmond, Dorset and Luton councils said they were developing new social rent homes. Spelthorne council said housing associations had failed to deliver enough social housing, and that the council had set up its own affordable housing firm in response.

if his Chancellor’s brutal budget works…

Tory MPs have been told there is “hope on the horizon” provided Mr Hunt’s plan is a sucessful at slashing inflation by the middle of next year, while also filling a £55 billion blackhole in the nation’s coffers and shortening a predicted two year recession. www.thesun.co.uk 

Rishi Sunak is in the jungle – and the creepy-crawlies have him in their sights

Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget cost the country a staggering £30bn – doubling the sum that the Treasury says will have to be raised by Jeremy Hunt this week in a huge programme of tax rises and spending cuts.

Toby Helm www.theguardian.com (Extract)

The independent Resolution Foundation calculates that the Truss government was responsible for about £30bn of the fiscal hole which the Treasury puts at £60bn, and which Hunt will have to tackle in the autumn statement on Thursday.

The thinktank also says the £30bn figure would have been far higher without the U-turns already taken by Hunt on the Truss plans.

The RF’s economists estimate that in her seven-week premiership £20bn was blown by Truss and her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on unfunded cuts to national insurance and stamp duty, with a further £10bn added by higher interest rates and government borrowing costs as the markets reacted with dismay to the former prime minister’s dash for growth.

The rest of the fiscal hole, the RF says, can be accounted for by unexpectedly bad economic conditions, which have meant lower growth and lower tax receipts to the Treasury.

The estimates of the cost of “Trussonomics” will intensify a bitter blame game now being played out at the top of the Tory party.

While many Conservative MPs will be angered by more tax rises, the chancellor is expected to make clear that he is, in large part, having to repair damage caused by the last occupant of No 10, who was backed by many rightwing Tory MPs.

Last week Kwarteng tried to excuse himself for some of the blame, saying he had told Truss to “slow down” and warned her that she would only survive for two months in Downing Street if she pressed ahead with her full tax-cutting agenda.In an interview with the Sunday Times, Hunt says Truss was right to want to grow the economy, but wrong to do so without making sure tax cuts were funded. “We’ve corrected those mistakes very quickly and, you know, I think we understand how it is very, very important that … alongside any plan you demonstrate that we’re a country that will pay its way,” he said.

Or is it the failure of the “market model”. (See also railways)

Consumers have been forced to pay almost £100 more for their gas and electricity due to Ofgem’s failure to regulate the energy supply market properly, a new report has found.

Andrew Woodcock www.independent.co.uk

The report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee found that the collapse of 29 energy suppliers as prices spiked over the past year cost a total of £2.7bn – or an average £94 for every household in the country.

The government has already budgeted a further £1.9bn to keep Bulb Energy running, with the final cost to taxpayers unknown until the company is sold.

Between the autumn of 2021 and the summer of 2022, wholesale prices for gas and electricity soared to as much as 10 times their normal level. The surge in prices was unsustainable for a number of suppliers, whose charges to customers were capped by Ofgem.

But the PAC report found that problems in the energy supply market were evident as early as 2018, with Ofgem failing to “strike the right balance between promoting competition in the energy suppliers market and ensuring energy suppliers were financially resilient”.

Ofgem’s “failure to effectively regulate the energy supplier market” was exposed by the sharp rise in prices, which led to the collapse of companies providing power to four million households, which had to be transferred to surviving firms.

The committee found that Ofgem’s price cap was “providing only very limited protection to households from increases in the wholesale price of energy”, noting that the regulator believes prices could “get significantly worse through 2023”.

It said that the treatment of vulnerable customers, who already pay higher energy prices, was “unacceptable”.

PAC chair Dame Meg Hillier said: “It is true that global factors caused the unprecedented gas and electricity prices that have caused so many energy supplier failures over the last year, at such terrible cost to households, but the fact remains that we have regulators to set the framework to shore us up for the bad times.

“Problems in the energy supply market were apparent in 2018 – years before the unprecedented spike in prices that sparked the current crisis, and Ofgem was too slow to act.

“Households will pay dear, with the cost of bailouts added to [record-high] bills.

“The PAC wants to see a plan, within six months, for how government and Ofgem will put customers’ interests at the heart of a reformed energy market, driving the transition to net zero.”

The GMB union, which represents many workers in the energy industry, said that the market model had failed consumers.

National secretary Andy Prendergast said: “The government’s remorseless attempt to use the market to regulate energy has been a massive disaster that has left millions of responsible households worse off.

“In reality, the market may be the right solution when it comes to selling tins of beans but has been an abysmal failure when applied to energy. The simple fact is that energy is an essential service and needs to be treated as such.

“Rather than expect the public to pick between suppliers – many of whom appear to have been trading without the necessary capital to underwrite their commitments – people simply want a simple option that gives them the best price.

“Sadly, Ofgem appears to be a regulator that doesn’t regulate . As a result, households are picking up the bill for their costly failure.”

An Ofgem spokesperson said that many of the issues highlighted by the PAC had been covered by the independent report which it commissioned and published earlier this year and whose recommendations it is now implementing.

“The sheer scale and pace of this once-in-a-generation global energy price shock meant supplier failures were seen all over the world,” said the spokesperson. “However, the supplier of last resort scheme acted as a vital safety net for British consumers, ensuring they continued to receive energy when their supplier failed and kept their credit balances. This safety net inevitably incurred costs.

“Looking ahead to this winter, prices remain volatile, however the market is now in a much more resilient position, partly due to robust steps we’ve taken to reduce the risk of future supplier failures and to raise the bar on entry for new suppliers.”

Martin Shaw, chair of the East Devon Alliance on Richard Foord MP Tiverton and Honiton

www.midweekherald.co.uk

It’s over four months now since voters in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency elected Richard Foord, our first non-Conservative MP in a hundred years, in June’s by-election. A few days ago I went along to his well-attended open meeting in Axminster Guildhall, where residents, councillors and supporters from around the area came to hear his impressions of Westminster and to put their questions to him.

The first thing to say is that Richard is a breath of fresh air – a politician who actually answers questions and says when he doesn’t know the answer. Until May, when Neil Parish’s stupid behaviour threw away the Tories’ 24,000 majority, Richard had no idea that he would become our MP. Living in Uffculme, near Honiton, he was rooted in the local community, and has now taken on the concerns of the wider area in the same spirit.

Sadly, the issues which came out in the meeting were very familiar. Bus services between local towns are being cut, yet again. In villages on the A35, residents still can’t cross safely; National Highways is still reneging on a decade’s promises to install crossings. The prospects of EDDC’s ‘levelling-up’ bid for Seaton and Axminster are still completely hazy due to the chaos in government. And the community hospitals in Axminster, Honiton, Ottery St. Mary and Seaton, while saved by our protests from complete closure, still lack beds.

A reader has chided me to ‘stick to local issues’, but Richard Foord made clear that the Tories’ national mess affects everything. When he goes to meetings with ministers, it’s ‘a new bunch of amateurs every week’, often without a clue about the issues, barely listening to their civil servants’ advice, and more interested in ‘self-aggrandisement’ than action.

Most local issues are caused by national failures or need national changes to sort them out. South West Water is pouring effluent into our rivers because the government has failed to get a grip on the privatised water companies, which are diverting the profits from our water charges into excessive salaries and dividends. The Environment Agency is failing to stop farmers polluting our waterways, it was shown this week, because it is starved of funds.

Richard returned repeatedly to the dire state of the South West Ambulance Service. Everyone is being put at risk by this scandal. Lives are also threatened by the inability of local hospitals to meet targets for the prompt referral and treatment of cancer cases. Tens of thousands of Devon people are suffering while they wait months or even years for surgery. The root cause of all of this is that for twelve years, the Tories have failed to raise NHS funding in line with the growing needs of the population.

The latest new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, even refused to smile for the cameras as he entered Downing Street, in order to signal his determination to take ‘tough decisions’. All I can say, from a Devon point of view, is that these decisions must not take real funding away from our NHS, local schools, or our desperately underfunded adults’ and children’s social care, the escalating costs of which threaten the solvency of our county council.

I say ‘real’ funding because the government will make severe cuts merely by not uprating spending in line with inflation. Sunak is also threatening to use this trick to reduce the value of pensions and benefits. When he was chancellor last year, our billionaire prime minister stole £20 a week from claimants. It will be outrageous if he takes a further £10 a week by refusing to give them a proper inflation rise, or undoes the ‘triple lock’ on state pensions that his party’s manifesto and Liz Truss both pledged to honour.

People are going without food, without heating, without electricity. ‘Tough decisions’ should target those who can afford them, not the vulnerable and public services.

Met takes no action over Tory lockdown event attended by Shaun Bailey, clears the way for him to become a peer in Johnson’s “Lavender List”.

Nothing to see here – Owl

www.theguardian.com (Extract)

The Metropolitan police took no action over an apparent Christmas party at Conservative headquarters in London during lockdown in 2020 attended by Shaun Bailey, then the party’s candidate for London mayor, it has emerged.

In a statement, the force said that despite a much-published photograph showing Bailey amid a crowd of seeming revellers, some holding drinks and standing next to a buffet, there was not enough evidence to “disprove the version of events provided by attendees”.

The decision not to take action against Bailey and the two dozen or so party staffers and aides seen packed into a room at Matthew Parker Street in central London, next to a table laden with platters of food, clears the path for the former mayoral candidate to become a peer.

Only a problem if he wins the new seat. – Owl

From the Times Diary, Saturday November 12 2022

The Speaker may need elocution lessons. Sir Lindsay Hoyle has mastered Rhondda and Na h-Elieanan an Iar, but the boundary review has thrown up newly challenging constituencies, such as Caerfyrddin. However, Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon at present, wants a review of the review as he says it will be a “struggle” to say his new seat of Exeter East & Exmouth. “It would be better to have something that rolls off the tongue a lot easier,” he says but, bizarrely, suggests Exmouth & East Exeter. A test of my colleagues’ enunciation exhibits that exclaiming Exeter East and Exmouth is exasperating but Exmouth and Exeter East is equally exacting.

This comment posted on Simon Jupp MP prioritises saving party vote over helping people in crisis gives more insight into the Tory Newton Poppleford campaign effort. – Owl

To be fair Simon Jupp did knock on my door and I’m an ardent and vocal Independent supporter. But of course he didn’t have the local knowledge to know my garden is always festooned with Independent banners come election day. Local knowledge seemed conspicuously absent in the Tory campaign team I spoke to, the party faithful flooded in from Sidmouth, Exeter, Woodbury, even Bampton (and London, Simon?) but I couldn’t find any that came from our Parish? Even their Candidate wasn’t from our parish, and I’m sorry Paul but even getting photographed with a cute donkey was never going to convince us to vote for a candidate cast out by his own parish in 2019. The volume of Tory leaflets, canvassing and Tellers seemed a desperate attempt to take control of our parish and I’m glad their time was wasted.

The government has “no idea” how much water is being taken from rivers and groundwater, according to an Environment Agency (EA) whistleblower, as swathes of England remain in drought despite recent heavy rainfall.

Rachel Salvidge www.theguardian.com 

The whistleblower told the Guardian that the EA’s regulation of water abstraction points for farms, small businesses and private water supplies was “absolutely pointless” because most were not metered and the monitoring that did take place was unreliable.

Abstractions were monitored on a rota system but the agency’s inspections were a “waste of time”, said the whistleblower, because, in most cases, the abstracting individual or organisation would report how much water they had removed based on what they had noted down on a particular day – and “they have to be taken at their word”.

“They’re not going to log an illegal number,” said the insider. “That’s why there’s so little enforcement on water abstraction, they’re not going to dob themselves in.”

The abstraction licensing regime dates back to the 1960s and successive governments have pledged to reform it for more than a decade.

According to the EA’s figures for 2018, the latest year for which data is available, there were 18,193 abstraction licences in force in England, when, it estimated, 10.4bn cubic metres was removed from non-tidal surface and groundwaters.

The Guardian asked the EA for the total number of abstraction points in England and the proportion that are monitored but was not given the information.

Abstractions of less than 20 cubic metres a day became exempt from licensing in 2005 under the Water Act. The move instantly deregulated 22,000 licences, most of which were for agricultural or private water supply purposes.

The EA said: “Abstraction licences have conditions attached to them to ensure the environment and the rights of other abstractors are protected. Our powers and duties enable us to regulate the use of water under existing licences and to decide whether to grant new ones. Where abstraction is damaging the environment, we also have the power to amend or revoke existing licences.”

However, under current rules, if the agency changes the conditions of a licence because the abstraction is damaging the environment, it must pay financial compensation to the abstractor. There are plans to remove this requirement, but not until 2028.

The EA said it “routinely require[s] the licence holder to keep a record of actual abstraction available for inspection at a relevant location. This is in addition to the requirement to provide the Environment Agency with formal records of actual abstraction and compliance inspections carried out by regulatory officers.”

It said it was reforming the abstraction management system to “maximise the amount of water available to abstractors whilst also protecting water ecosystems in line with legal requirements to reduce the risk of environmental deterioration” The EA is “committed to ending damaging abstraction of water from rivers and groundwater wherever it is cost effective to do so”, it added.

However, there are no plans to require abstractors to install water meters. The EA insider said that omission meant the system would remain seriously flawed. “You can change how much water a licence allows, but it’s pointless if there’s no meter to record it,” they said.

From next year, the agency plans to “start investigations to determine the changes that may be required to individual permanent abstraction licences”. Until then, it will “continue to seek voluntary changes to abstraction licences through negotiation and adopting nature based and catchment solutions, where possible”.

Feargal Sharkey, the vice-president of the charity WildFish, is not convinced, saying that “every day things appear more rotten” at the EA and that the regulator is “sacrificing the environment on the high altar of corporate greed”.

Dr Nathan Richardson, the head of policy and strategy at the NGO Waterwise, said: “The Environment Agency has highlighted that we face a shortfall of around 4bn litres of water a day if we want secure water supplies and a healthy environment.

“Given this challenge, it seems pretty fundamental that regulators know how much water is being abstracted, where and when. Without appropriate monitoring and enforcement, abstraction regulation won’t work and it is very difficult to ensure that water is being abstracted legally and used efficiently.”

An EA spokesperson said: “We are taking robust action to end environmentally damaging water abstraction – and we monitor the amount of water in our rivers and groundwater along with assessments of the impact of water abstraction in all of our catchments.

“Licence holders must monitor and record how much water they abstract and our programme of inspections ensures they comply with these strict conditions. We will not hesitate to take enforcement action in cases where conditions are not being met.”

Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s Budget fire sale has cost pensions £75bn, according to a report by a US investment bank

[Not his fault by the way, it was the Queen’s funeral and Liz Truss in too much of a hurry. . And you get to pay twice as the budget seeks to fill the fiscal hole. – Owl]

Patrick Tooher www.thisismoney.co.uk 

The near-collapse of the pensions market that prompted a Bank of England bailout has already cost company retirement schemes as much as £75billion, according to a report by a US investment bank. 

The huge loss in value reflects the exposure many private sector pension funds have to liability-driven investment strategies. 

They use LDIs to ensure they can afford future payouts to ten million members of final salary schemes, which pay guaranteed pensions based on workers’ pay at retirement. 

Fire sale: Many funds came unstuck after former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September sparked an unprecedented sell-off

LDIs deploy leverage – or borrowing – to boost returns from Government bonds, known as gilts. 

But many funds came unstuck after former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget in September sparked an unprecedented sell-off. 

JPMorgan reckons the fire sale of assets has cost pension funds between £65 billion and £75billion since August alone. That compares with total assets of £1.7trillion at the start of this year. 

The estimates are based on the bank’s forecast of figures due this week from the Pension Protection Fund, the safety net for the interests of around 5,200 final salary funds. 

But the final cost is likely to be much higher. ‘We reckon about 25 per cent of assets have been lost,’ said Iain Clacher, professor of pensions at Leeds University. 

Supermarket group Sainsbury’s last week revealed it made a £500million loan available to its fund to prevent a fire sale of assets. Its pension fund had already fallen 30 per cent to £8.2billion in the year before the LDI market blew up. 

The BT pension fund, which has increased its LDI use in recent years, says it lost £11billion in the turmoil. The telecom giant’s fund has slumped by more than £21billion since June 2021 as a result of its LDI strategies. 

BT this weekend defended its use of LDIs. ‘Throughout this period, the liability hedging assets performed as intended. They have fallen in value in step with a fall in the present value of our future obli­gation to pay pensions,’ it said.

‘As a result, there was no worsening of the funding position.’

Today, Historic England publishes its Heritage at Risk Register for 2022. The Register gives an annual snapshot of the critical health of England’s most valued historic places and those most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development. historicengland.org.uk

There are 20+ heritage sites in East Devon including: Woodbury Castle, Bicton Garden, Church of St Lawrence, Clyst St. Lawrence, Church of St Michael, Honiton, Newenham Abbey, Axminster, Dumpdon Camp, Luppitt etc etc. (see map below)

Here, as an example, is the review of the Grade 1 Bicon Park and Garden:

“C18 and C19 country house estate developed from earlier manor. Large park, important gardens and arboretum. Registered park in three main ownerships. The core of the site, including the principal house, has been developed in the post-war era as a land-based college. Continuous pressure for development as the college has expanded has tended to erode the integrity of the designed landscape. The absence of a masterplan to guide and inform development remains a major cause for concern.”

Over the past year, 175 historic buildings and sites have been added to the Register because of their deteriorating condition and 233 sites have been saved and their futures secured.

Restored, rescued, and brought back to life

Many have been rescued thanks to the hard work and dedication of local communities, who have come together to save places.

Charities, owners, local councils, and Historic England have also worked together to see historic places restored, re-used, and brought back to life.

These include two sections of Hadrian’s Wall, the ‘Dome of Home’ at the entrance to the River Mersey, the museum which houses the original manuscript of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and one of only two moving bridges on the River Thames. Click to see larger images

As the threat of climate change grows, the reuse and sensitive upgrading of historic buildings and places becomes ever more important. Finding new uses for buildings and sites rescued from the Register avoids the high carbon emissions associated with demolishing structures and building new.

Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive Historic England

Funding sources

Historic England awarded £8.66 million in repair grants to 185 sites on the Heritage at Risk Register in 2021/22. In addition, 15 sites have benefitted from £3.25 million in grants from the heritage at risk strand of the Culture Recovery Fund during 2021/22. These grants help with emergency repairs to historic buildings and help protect the livelihoods of the skilled craft workers who keep our cherished historic places alive.

Internet Explorer 11 cannot display this chart / image. To see it, please use a different browser eg: Chrome or Safari.

At risk of neglect, decay or inappropriate change

 Examples include Papplewick Pumping Station in Nottingham – England’s only pumping station to still have all its original features, King Arthur’s Great Halls in Tintagel, experimental concrete homes in Essex, and the Tank House in Merseyside – the best surviving example of a late 19th century glass-making tank furnace. Click images to enlarge

Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register plays a vital role in our ongoing mission to protect and preserve our rich heritage across the country. It helps to ensure that future generations can continue to benefit from everything our historic sites and buildings have to offer. It is also wonderful to see so many heritage sites removed from the Register thanks to the support of local communities – together with Historic England.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay Heritage Minister

Heritage at Risk in your area Interactive map link here

Screenshot of East Devon sites

Government is in such a panic that it is commandeering seaside hotels without any notice or consultation, stretching resources to breaking point.

Will Sidmouth be next? – Owl

From Western Morning News:

A Westcountry council has called on local people to show “patience and understanding” towards asylum seekers arriving in the area to be housed in local hotels.

Seafront hotels in Torquay, Paignton, Ilfracombe and Newquay are being used as short-term accommodation for people who have arrived in the UK, many having risked their lives on perilous crossings of the Channel in small boats.

Yesterday the WMN reported that frustration was growing at the imposition by the Home Office of migrants in Westcountry seaside hotels – with at least one council considering legal action to stop the practice.

Torbay Council says it was not notified in advance about a Torquay hotel now being used and is ready to seek injunctions to stop it happening again. It says services – including children’s services for new arrivals who are registering as being under 18 – are under “severe” pressure.

Meanwhile, the council has issued a statement about the current situation. It said: “The asylum seekers have now arrived safely at the hotel. Please be mindful that not all of these individuals will understand English and they may have had a very difficult experience before arriving here in the Bay. We would be grateful for your patience and understanding at what will be a worrying and confusing time for them.

“We know you will have a lot of questions about this situation, how this happened so quickly and what the council’s involvement is.”

Anne-Marie Bond, chief executive of Torbay Council, said in a statement on Wednesday: “We asked for assurance from the Home Office that there would be no further hotels in Torbay, but despite that request, we learnt on Monday 7 November that a further hotel has been stepped up by the Home Office. This was without any prior notification to us.  

“We have today asked, through our solicitors, urgent questions of the Home Office and we stand ready to issue urgent proceedings upon a response from them. 

“The social and economic impacts of these hotels are significant and the pressure that is being put upon our services, especially our Children’s Services department, is profound. With the first hotel alone, we are managing a significant number of residents who are claiming to be under the age of 18 and this is limiting our ability to undertake statutory services for children and young people.” 

Following the use of hotels in Paignton, Ilfracombe and Newquay, migrants began arriving at the prominent Torquay hotel on Monday. Torbay Conservative MP Kevin Foster said: “It is deeply frustrating to see another hotel in our key tourist areas taken out of use for tourism and converted into longer-term accommodation, with no notice at all to either Torbay Council or me as the MP until we discovered the use via another route.”

Cllr Darren Cowell, deputy leader of Torbay Council, said earlier this week: “As a council we do not have a say in how many asylum seekers are accommodated here as the Home Office makes this decision, along with where they will be staying or for how long. We have put together a multi-agency group that are working to ensure the appropriate help and support is made available.”

Congratulations to Councillor Chris Burhop (Independent) on being elected District Councillor for Newton Poppleford & Harpford to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Val Ranger to keep the Indy flag flying.

The turn-out was a creditable 46% and the results are as follows:

Christopher Burhop (Independent)      560 votes

Paul Carter (Conservative)                  113 votes

Caleb Early (Labour)                           162 votes

[Readers may recall that Simon Jupp elicited this comment whilst “knocking on doors” campaigning for Paul Carter in Newton Poppleford: Could you please start responding to your emails, rather than galavanting round East Devon! People are still in crisis and are still needing help, even though your party is in pieces at the moment, your job still stands!”]

Full result declaration can be found here

Britain’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the three months to September, in what is expected to be the beginning of a long recession.

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com

In its first estimate of growth in the third quarter, the Office for National Statistics presented a bleak picture of the economy before next week’s autumn statement from the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

The Bank of England expects the latest gross domestic product figures to be the start of a prolonged UK recession – as rising interest rates and the cost of living take their toll on activity – lasting until the end of next year. Another negative growth figure for the final three months of 2022 would confirm a technical recession.

The ONS said the performance of the economy in the three months to September had been affected by the extra bank holiday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which led to weaker activity.