Responding to the Conservative party leadership debate held in Exeter tonight, Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord, winner of the Tiverton and Honiton by-election, said:

“Tonight’s debate showed that Sunak and Truss have learned absolutely nothing from their Tiverton and Honiton by-election defeat.

“This is a dismal contest between the former Chancellor who repeatedly hiked taxes and a Foreign Secretary who sold out West Country farmers with botched trade deals.

“Rural communities across Devon spoke with one voice in the by-election – they demanded change.

“People told me they wanted a fair deal for local farmers, a plan to solve the NHS backlog, and targeted support for rural communities, who suffer higher energy bills and pay more for petrol.

“We saw no sign of such support tonight.”

The University Great Hall.

According to Devon Live Rishi Sunak has been non committal when asked if Chris Pincher should resign as an MP.

Says it all – Owl

As our economy faces serious crises, there seems to be no end to the fantasy promises being made by the two candidates. 

Anyone discussing Standards in Public Life? – Owl

From today’s Western Morning News:

Housing pressures in the South West and support for farmers have been highlighted as key issues by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as their campaign to lead the Conservative Party and the country brings them to the Westcountry.

Mr Sunak and Ms Truss will appear at a hustings event for Conservative Party members in Exeter today ahead of a national membership ballot which will determine who wins the keys to Number 10 Downing Street.

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak said ahead of this evening’s hustings that as part of his plan for the South West he will announce measures to tackle the issue of housing and holiday homes – a concern he said had been raised by communities across the region.

In a campaign statement he said he would give local councils a greater say over holiday homes and tourist rental properties; ensure that rural areas have sufficient affordable housing; review short-term tourist accommodation and give local authorities the power to introduce a register of holiday lets.

Mr Sunak said he had been touring the Westcountry, meeting local Conservative associations. “I am getting my message out to Conservative members in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset because this region will have a critical say in who our next Prime Minister should be,” he said.

“A critical part of that plan is tackling the issue of uncontrolled property lets which prevent local people from getting onto the housing ladder. So I will amend planning policy to give local councils a greater say over proposals to convert primary homes into tourist rental properties, and I will press on with reviewing the effect of short-term lets on local residents – providing further powers to local authorities where these are needed. You will not be priced out of your home towns and villages on my watch.”

On Friday, in an interview with the party blog ConservativeHome, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also talked about housing and stressed the importance of creating “low-tax investment zones which will also have a simpler planning system attached to them” and “more incentives at a local level to build houses”.

She said: “We need to think differently, and we also need different approaches in different parts of the country. What’s good in Cornwall is not necessarily good in London. In London, I support more building up of houses, allowing people to extend their houses upwards, using brownfield sites. In places like Cornwall, having more homes where people working in local industry can live and they’re attached to each other, like Bournville.”

Both leadership candidates have also outlined their positions on farming and food production.

South West Norfolk MP, Ms Truss has pledged to “unleash British food and farming” in order to improve the nation’s food security. The Tory leadership hopeful said she would “remove onerous EU regulations and red tape” if she becomes Prime Minister and promised to tackle labour shortages in farming, partly caused by post-Brexit freedom of movement restrictions, with a short-term expansion to the seasonal workers scheme.

Ms Truss, who is due to meet farmers on a campaign stop in the South West, said: “The pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have shown it is more vital than ever for us to ensure we have a high-quality and affordable supply of British food.”

Setting out his plans for farming, Richmond (Yorks) MP, Mr Sunak said that as Prime Minister he would maintain and boost domestic food production through a new UK food security target and also introduce a new ‘Buy Local’ target for the public sector.

“As an MP for a rural constituency, I understand how important it is to take care of our natural environment and those it supports. I will always back our farmers,” he said.

“The Common Agricultural Policy did nothing to deliver for farmers, farming and the environment. It was indefensible that 50% of the budget went to just 10% of the largest landowners. That is why I will drive forward the most significant reforms to farming in half a century. Not only that, recent events have demonstrated the importance of domestic food production and the national resilience that it gives us. I will put a renewed focus on it – and ensure that we are supporting our farmers to boost production.

“Whilst the opportunities are endless for UK agriculture, I know that farmers are concerned by some of the trade deals we have struck – including with Australia. I want to say to farmers that my Government will make you a priority in all future trade deals.”

Both have also outlined their vision for rural Britain in the Countryside Alliance’s membership magazine, My Countryside. Ms Truss told the rural campaign organisation’s members she wanted to “unleash the potential of our rural communities”, and “place planning powers in the hands of local people”, while Mr Sunak said that his “mission has always been to do things ‘for’ rural communities, not ‘to’ them.”

Does this herald a new energy sustainable future in development or is it just “greenwashing” by Burrington Estates? – Owl

Affordable homes being built at an eco-friendly development in East Devon will have solar panels and air source heat pumps.

Becca Gliddon eastdevonnews.co.uk

Burrington Estates recently secured planning permission to build 34 ‘sustainable’ new homes at Winslade Park, in Clyst St Mary, East Devon, including four affordable two and three-bedroom properties.

The developer said the new homes – including the affordable properties – will have air source heat pumps for hot water, underfloor heating, and solar panels ‘as standard’.

Eco-friendly additions across the development include electric car charging points, bee bricks, bat boxes and bird boxes.

And ten trees for each new home built will be planted in a bid to offset the development’s carbon footprint.

The developer plans to launch the residential phase in the autumn when it hosts a dedicated evening event for prospective buyers.

Mark Edworthy, managing director of Burrington Estates, said: “We are delighted to be introducing this new residential phase to our gorgeous Winslade Park development.

“The sustainable homes will provide much-needed housing in the area and are the perfect addition to the site, which already provides the ultimate in leisure opportunities and commercial space.”

Promoting the new homes launch event, the developer said: “Sustainability is at the forefront of our commitment to the environment, and Burrington Estates are taking the essential steps necessary to create a greener, more carbon-neutral footprint for the projects delivered.

“All homes across both developments will feature PV solar panels and underfloor heating and hot water will be supplied through an air source heat pump.

“Moreover, to offset the carbon footprint of construction, the planting of ten trees per home through More:Trees will sequester an estimated 69 tonnes of carbon, ensuring Burrington Estates continues to lead the way into a sustainable, more environmentally friendly world.”

The 86-acre site, with sports and leisure facilities, earlier received £28-million of funding from Paragon Development Finance.

Tory campaign to choose “our” next Prime Minister plumbs new depths. – Owl

Liz Truss supporter Nadine Dorries is facing a backlash from colleagues for sharing a “distasteful” and “dangerous” doctored image on social media that shows Rishi Sunak about to stab Boris Johnson in the back.

Ashley Cowburn www.independent.co.uk

The culture secretary – a staunch Johnson loyalist – retweeted a modified image from a film, which had been altered to show the outgoing prime minister’s face imposed on the character of Julius Caesar and Mr Sunak’s on that of Brutus.

Greg Hands, a business minister who is backing Mr Sunak in the race for No 10, told Sky News on Sunday that he was “sure Liz Truss would disown this kind of behaviour”, as he described it as “appalling”.

“Look, it’s not even a year since the stabbing of Sir David Amess at his Southend constituency surgery, so I think this is very, very bad taste – dangerous even,” he added.

The senior Tory MP Simon Hoare also shared a post on Twitter that urged Ms Dorries to delete the retweet, stressing: “This is not how we should conduct our politics or discourse.”

The SNP MP Stewart McDonald added: “Nadine Dorries – currently a secretary of state – is grossly unfit for public office of any sort.”

The row came as Ms Dorries also used a newspaper article to admit that she “may have gone slightly over the top” last week when she mocked the former chancellor for wearing £490 Prada shoes and expensive suits.

“I wanted to highlight Rishi’s misguided sartorial style in order to alert Tory members not to be taken in by appearances in the way that happened to many of us who served with the chancellor in cabinet,” she wrote.

She then used the same article in The Mail on Sunday to criticise Mr Sunak’s decision to resign from government, saying it “made Michael Gove’s betrayal of Boris Johnson during the 2016 leadership campaign appear like a rank amateur rehearsing for the role in a village hall play”.

Welsh secretary Sir Robert Buckland, another supporter of Mr Sunak, also denounced Ms Dorries’ behaviour. “I think that sort of imagery and narrative is not just incendiary, it’s wrong,” he told BBC Radio Wales.

“I think it’s time for those who think that an argument about Prada shoes or earrings is more important, for instance, should wind their neck in and let people talk about the issues rather than the personality.”

Former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, who has thrown his weight behind Ms Truss in the leadership contest, told Sky News: “It’s certainly not the sort of thing I would tweet.”

He added: “Nadine is well known as having strong views on things. Nadine speaks for herself, she’s very much an individual on that. But that is not a position that Liz would take.”

Readers will remember that Simon Jupp jumped to support Rishi Sunak as soon as his candidacy was announced. 

So this week could well see Simon racing round the constituency in a desperate attempt to shore up support for Sunak by speaking personally to as many members of the party as he can. (See below)

If “his man” fails, it would spell the end of any influence or promotion our Simon might have been hoping for by nailing his colours to the mast so soon.

Sunak’s campaign needs an overhaul. It looks as though it has been run by a bunch of overenthusiastic, inexperienced SPADS .

If you can’t run an effective campaign, how can you run the country? – Owl

Many Conservative MPs believe there is now only a brief window to change the race, with ballot papers delivered to members from Monday. Some prominent backers want Sunak and a large network of supportive MPs to dedicate their time solely to contacting local members directly through phone banks and online group calls to make his case…

Several MPs said that many local members had been relatively easy to persuade to back Sunak over Truss once they had been contacted, arguing that support for the foreign secretary was often soft. However, they said that the “air war” aspects of Sunak’s campaign were simply not reaching the membership, thought to comprise around 160,000 people.

“They’re running it like an election campaign,” said one Sunak backer. “This is very straightforward. There’s 160,000 Tory members dotted around the country. We know who they are. We know where they are. All we have to do is talk to them. The social media campaign, the TV appearances – most of them make no difference to members.

“The vote is very soft, you don’t have to do much to move it. We’re making this far too complicated. There’s brilliant people in charge, but I’m just worried we’re fighting the wrong campaign.”…

Source: www.theguardian.com (Extract)

But wait! 

Is that a photo of the “Lawrence Tower” (or Haldon Belvedere) that Owl sees in the ad for this event?

It only holds around 50 people, isn’t in Exeter and anyone attending would have to climb a spiral staircase.

Furthermore,  it was built by Sir Robert Palk, 1st Baronet of Haldon House in the parish of Kenn, who was an officer of the British East India Company and who served as Governor of the Madras Presidency.

What message is this sending? – Owl

A majority of voters believe a general election should be called immediately after the Tory leadership election, regardless of whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak succeeds Boris Johnson in No 10, a poll for The Independent reveals.

Ashley Cowburn www.independent.co.uk 

It comes as around 160,000-plus members of the Conservative Party – equivalent to 0.34 per cent of the voting public – will begin casting their ballots next week to elect the next Tory leader and Britain’s next prime minister.

Highlighting the appetite among the public for a snap election, the poll by Savanta shows that 56 per cent support the proposal that whoever wins the leadership contest “should call a general election immediately”.

Just over a third of all respondents disagreed, with the figure being higher among Tory voters, at 59 per cent. But strikingly, 34 per cent of those who cast their ballot for the Conservatives in 2019 believe the new leader should go to the polls.

Sir Keir Starmer has already challenged whoever succeeds the outgoing prime minister on 5 September to call a snap election, insisting that the Labour Party is “ready” to govern after 12 years on the opposition benches.

During the televised debates, both Mr Sunak and Ms Truss dismissed calls for an early vote, and instead tried to focus on what they would do as an immediate response to spiralling inflation and an economy in crisis.

However, their comments echo assurances given by both Mr Johnson and Theresa May on taking office that they would not hold a snap general election – assurances they later reneged on.

Chris Hopkins, associate director at Savanta ComRes, said: “Despite it becoming fairly commonplace in recent years for prime ministers to come and go without the backing of the public at an election, the view that the next leader of the Conservative Party should call an immediate election and seek a mandate from the British public is held by a majority of the public.”

The survey also found that Ms Truss, who has remained loyal to the outgoing prime minister and made cutting taxes a centrepiece of her leadership bid, is the clear favourite among 2019 Tory voters, with 45 per saying they would prefer her to Mr Sunak as prime minister.

Just under a third (31 per cent) opted for Mr Sunak, while 24 per cent of those polled said they did not know. Polling of Tory members, who will ultimately decide the winner of the contest, has also highlighted a significant lead for the foreign secretary in recent weeks.

However, among all voters surveyed by Savanta, the former chancellor enjoyed a three-point lead over Ms Truss – 33 per cent versus 30 per cent. A significant proportion (37 per cent) opted for “don’t know”.

In recent days Mr Sunak’s campaign has struggled to gain momentum, while Ms Truss has won the highly sought-after endorsement of the defence secretary Ben Wallace – a popular figure among the Tory grassroots – and the former leadership contender Tom Tugendhat, who appeared alongside her on the campaign trail on Saturday.

As a Tory peer leads a grassroots campaign to include Mr Johnson on the leadership ballot – despite party rules forbidding this – the poll also shows that 45 per cent of 2019 Conservative voters would prefer the current prime minister to either Ms Truss or Mr Sunak.

In this scenario, Ms Truss comes in second place, with 23 per cent preferring her for the next prime minister. Mr Sunak – only slightly ahead among the general public on this metric – trails behind among Tory voters, sitting in third place, with 18 per cent.

Highlighting the support among Tory voters for the outgoing prime minister, Mr Hopkins said: “The fact that Sunak was so instrumental in bringing the prime minister down may not have worked in his favour among Conservative voters, having put himself in the running for leader.”

He added: “Of course, that race is now down to the final two, where Liz Truss is narrowing the gap to Rishi Sunak among the country at large, having enjoyed the backing of a plurality of Conservative voters and, if notoriously difficult membership polling is accurate, the backing of Conservative members for a few weeks now.”

Retirement flats are to be built on the site of the old cattle market in Honiton, with the creation of more than 100 jobs.

Becca Gliddon eastdevonnews.co.uk

Churchill Retirement Living on Wednesday (July 27) announced it had been granted permission to build 57 apartments on the former cattle market site, in Silver Street, Honiton, after a successful planning appeal.

The retirement living developer said the new homes will plough £440,000 a year back into the local economy and support more than 112 jobs both during and after construction.

Although a date has yet to be announced for the work to begin, construction will start ‘as soon as possible’, said the developer.

Stuart Goodwill, managing director of Churchill’s planning consultancy, said: “After a long appeal process, this is a very positive result and we will now look forward to starting work as soon as possible on this new development which will create a vibrant new community in the heart of Honiton.

“Retirement housing is the most effective form of residential development for generating local economic growth, supporting local jobs, and increasing high street spend.

“The new apartments will also help improve the health and wellbeing of those who live there, and meet the housing needs of many older people in Honiton and the surrounding area.”

The new development will be made up of secure and self-contained accommodation in landscaped grounds, a communal owners’ lounge, guest suite, lodge manager, and a 24-hour emergency call alarm service

Churchill Retirement Living said the successful appeal supersedes a previous appeal decision in August 2021, which was quashed by order of the High Court following a Judicial Review.

In his decision notice, the Government’s Planning Inspector Jonathan Bore noted that there was no convincing evidence of harm to the farming sector or any likelihood that the site’s former use as a cattle market would resume.

He concluded that “the proposed housing scheme represents a much more appropriate development for this brownfield site adjacent to a town centre than a reoccupation by the last previous use, or re-use or redevelopment for business purposes.”

The number of people with covid in Devon’s hospitals has fallen sharply over the past fortnight, but one leading health boss is warning of a “challenging winter.”

Ollie Heptinstall, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

As of Tuesday 26 July, 166 patients were in hospital in the county with the virus, down from a recent peak of 334 on 11 July. Two pepole are in mechanically ventilated beds.

For most people, covid is no longer the reason they are admitted in the first place. Two-thirds test positive once in hospital.

However, while Devon’s director of public health says it is “really good to see hospitalisations down,” he warned there is “still some caution required, particularly as we enter the autumn and winter period.”

Speaking to a Team Devon meeting of local leaders on Thursday [28 July], Steve Brown urged eligible people to come forward and have flu and covid booster jabs when the time comes.

He believes the covid booster jab will be launched in the first week of September. Everyone aged 50 and over, care home residents, frontline health care staff and the clinically vulnerable will be eligible.

“In terms of covid, we do know historically that [in the] winter period we can see a higher rate, so that vaccination programme for covid-19 is going to be really, really important,” Mr Brown said.

He added the Southern Hemisphere – where it is currently winter – is seeing “quite high numbers” of flu in adults and children. “So, the flu vaccination is going to be equally important.”

The meeting was also told the current cost-of-living crisis, with energy bills set to rise sharply again in the autumn, could cause further pressure during what Mr Brown predicts to be a “challenging winter ahead.”

He warned: “We’re going to have vulnerable people who are going to potentially be at risk from living in cold environments, as well as covid, as well as the flu.”

Business Leaders send message to candidates ahead of Monday’s “closed hustings” in Exeter (second after Leeds) according to Western Morning News.

Tim Jones (who seems to have been a local business leader for ever) said “the current devolution discussions are a fig leaf”.

[Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have given a full-throated commitment to “levelling up” the North during the BBC hustings

Ms Truss said she was “completely committed” to the levelling up agenda and pledged “urgent action” if she won the race to Number 10. While Mr Sunak gave “an unequivocal massive yes” to the policy.]

Expect dollops of “magic sauce” and  “catchup ketchup” – Owl

Businesses are sending a strong message to the two candidates vying to be the next Prime Minister, urging whoever wins the battle not to forget the South West and to tackle the major issues facing its cities, towns and rural areas.

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are due in Exeter on Monday as they try to persuade Tory party members to vote for them in the race to Number 10.

And business leaders are using their visit to highlight the challenges facing the Westcountry and to place the region as prominently in their thinking as the North of England, which is also scrapping for “levelling up” support.

Among the issues spotlighted by South West experts are the housing crisis, transport links, business taxes, and support for key industries such as green and blue technology, agriculture and tourism and hospitality.

Stuart Elford, chief executive of Devon and Plymouth Chamber and chair of British Chambers of Commerce South West, said: “Businesses have faced a tough time over the last few years dealing with Brexit, Covid and exponential rises in costs. Here in the South West we have specific challenges in terms of infrastructure, both physical and digital, as well as the tight labour market exacerbated by the high cost of housing in key areas and the lack of employment land.”

He is calling on whoever becomes the new Prime Minister to do four main things:

• Economy – help firms manage cost pressures by reducing their tax burden

• People – reform the training and immigration systems to help firms find the people they need

• Trade – ensure firms have the support they need to take advantage of global business opportunities

• Net Zero – incentivise firms to build a green economy and support them through the transition.

Mr Elford said: “The South West has huge potential in the blue/green economy and we ask that the new Prime Minister recognises us as a natural blue/green powerhouse and gives us the resources to maximise our potential. With the right investment we can drive our own levelling up and deliver huge benefits to the regional and national economy while tackling the inequalities in education, employment and health.”

Tim Jones, chairman of the South West Business Council, stressed the region has unique challenges which can only be tackled at a local level. He said: “The current devolution discussions are a fig leaf which will result in retaining strategic policy making in Whitehall. So, what commitment can be made for radical devolution including local tax raising powers – including local institutions/pension funds being able to invest?”

He said SWBC also wants to know what the candidates see as a replacement of previous EU funding for underprivileged areas and asked: “What does levelling up really mean for the South West? The current Shared Prosperity Fund, spread over three years, is not enough to implement a single small road improvement scheme.”

Mr Jones said the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport is “an attractive proposition” which is appealing to investors and to international partners. He added: “Extending this concept to other sectors such as food and drink or marine in local enterprise zones could ignite strong regional growth.”

He said bureaucracy still impacts on many business initiatives and said: “Regional productivity would rise if there was a genuine bonfire of red tape.”

He concluded: “Each region has its own unique proposition. For the South West, food and drink and tourism are high priorities. Emerging is the power of natural capital – the South West will be a national leader in four or five years. A national ‘hot spots’ map with promotion and marketing by the Government internationally would help to replace markets in near Europe lost as a result of Brexit.”.

The next Prime Minister must also tackle the supply crisis in the private rented sector in the South West if home ownership ambitions are to become a reality, according to the National Residential Landlords Association, as new survey data shows that the supply of homes to rent in the region is likely to keep falling over the next year.

Luke Pollard, Labour MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, also put housing high on the priority list, particularly the “second homes crisis”. He wants the successful Tory leadership candidate to look at South West transport links and the region’s “struggling” farmers – and level up too. “The far South West does not get its fair share from the Government,” he said.

A bankrupt local authority could have to raise council tax by 20% a year and will be forced to sell off thousands of homes and other assets under “unprecedented” plans imposed on it after it ran up catastrophic debts amid overspending running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com 

The scale of the financial and management chaos at Labour-run Slough council is revealed in a stark report by a team of government commissioners sent in to run the authority after it declared effective bankruptcy a year ago.

It calls on ministers to give special powers to commissioners to effectively rebuild “the basics of local government” in an authority it says lacks top-level leadership, faces a major staffing crisis and struggles to deliver what it calls “extremely fragile” services.

The council has been told to offload hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of assets to fund its recovery programme, including its stock of about 6,700 council houses, and a number of development sites earmarked for housebuilding.

But the report warns council leaders that even a fire sale of assets – everything the authority owns except roads and parks is said to be “on the table” – may not be sufficient and that it may need financial support from government for up to eight more years.

The parlous state of Slough’s finances mean local residents face potential council tax increases of between 12% and 20% in each of the next three years, the report says. Annual council tax increases are normally limited to a maximum of 5%.

Although Slough initially reported a £100m “black hole” in its budgets at the time of its Section 114 bankruptcy notification in July 2021, this ballooned to £480m as auditors went through the books. It also owes £680m borrowed in recent years to finance a series of property developments.

Formally responding to the report, local government minister Paul Scully said the “unprecedented” scale of the financial challenge in Slough meant “radical solutions may be required to ensure best value and sustainable service delivery for the residents of Slough”.

The commissioner’s report describes a council reeling from years of disastrous investment decisions and leadership failures and which now struggles to deliver even basic services as it grapples to recruit and retain staff.

“Even in the best of times, managing such a small unitary authority would be very challenging, requiring the highest-quality political and officer leadership and a degree of luck, hoping nothing much would go wrong. Regrettably, this has not been the case over recent years,” the report says.

The report attributes a series of financial failures in recent years to incompetence and deliberate missteps on the part of officers, including overambitious borrowing, the draining of reserves, and misuse of capital receipts. “What is surprising is that no councillor seemed to notice,” the report says.

It reveals senior executives at the council spent £2.8m on consultants with little local government experience to guide a management restructuring that was supposed to deliver £4m of savings. The ill-fated plan, launched at the height of lockdown, instead ran up costs of £1m and left the council shorn of key staff.

The scheme was “totally unfit for purpose and resulted in the speedy destruction of officer capacity and competence with many remaining individuals now in posts they had no experience in and whole teams being made redundant which were essential to delivery of statutory services”, the report says.

The commissioners’ report says many of the posts that were eliminated under the plan are now having to be re-created. There is just one permanent senior director in place at the council, which is highly dependent on agency staff, not least in children’s services, which has been under special measures for eight years.

The former Slough chief executive Josie Wragg was sacked by the commissioners in March for “gross negligence and reckless behaviour.”

James Swindlehurst, the leader of Slough council, said: “The mistakes which brought us to this position are laid out clearly, but what is also clearer as we move forward is what we need to do to help put things right. We have always accepted the seriousness of our situation and the difficult decisions we have to make in the coming years.”

Cllr Jake Bonetta has been named a finalist in the Young Councillor of the Year award for the National Association of Local Councils’ (NALC) Star Council Awards 2022.

honiton.nub.news 

The 19-year-old student represents St. Michael’s Ward. He has been a councillor for just over a year. As well as being a Honiton Town Councillor, Cllr Bonetta is also a District Councillor at East Devon District Council. In November 2021 he established the charity Foodsave.

The awards celebrate the positive impact that young councillors, clerks and local councils have on the community and are the only awards in England that acknowledge the work of the local (parish and town) council sector.

In response to his nomination, Cllr Bonetta said: “”I’m honoured and humbled to be a finalist for this prestigious award, and I want to thank everyone who has supported me in my role over the last 13 months.

“This truly represents a marked shift in attitudes at our Town Council, and I am so proud to be a part of our hardworking and inclusive team.”

The finalists were decided by leading experts within the local government sector, including representatives from organisations such as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Local Government Association, the County Councils Network, the District Councils’ Network, and the Society of Local Council Clerks.

The winners will be announced later this year at an online awards ceremony. You can find out more information here.

Labour have soared to a 13-point lead in the polls as Conservatives scrap over their future leadership, according to the latest exclusive survey by Savanta for The Independent.

Andrew Woodcock www.independent.co.uk

The advantage recorded by Labour in the poll comes close to its best performance since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in 2019, and would put him on course for a comfortable overall majority in the House of Commons if repeated at the next general election.

It comes with the government reeling under the impact of the cost of living crisis, with energy bills forecast to soar to as much as £500 a month for some voters and the UK braced for a summer of strikes as workers demand pay rises to match expected inflation of 11 per cent.

Alarmingly for Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Tory leader, the prime minister’s resignation seems to have accelerated the Tory plunge in the polls rather than arrested it.

Compared to a similar poll by Savanta a month ago, Tories shed five points, tumbling from 34 to 29 per cent, while Labour gained a point to move up from 41 to 42.

The previous poll was taken on the weekend of 25/26 June in the wake of the Partygate fines and just days ahead of the resignation of deputy chief whip Christopher Pincher in the sexual harassment scandal which was the final straw for Tory MPs who wanted Mr Johnson out.

This week’s results appear to reflect voters turning away from the party amid the vicious infighting of the battle to replace the PM.

And they suggest that events surrounding Mr Johnson’s removal have undermined support among the voters who backed Tories to a landslide victory under his leadership less than three years ago.

The proportion of 2019 Conservative voters who said they would back the party again in the next election plummeted from 80 to 70 per cent in the space of a month, as one in eight of their supporters abandoned them.

Of that group, one-fifth said they would switch to Labour, one-fifth to Lib Dems and two-fifths to Reform UK, the successors to the Brexit Party.

According to the Electoral Calculus prediction website, the figures recorded by Savanta could result in an overall Labour majority of around 70 seats, with Tories losing around 180 MPs to finish with a tally below 200 for the first time since 2005.

Among seats which could fall are Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where the PM has a 7,210 majority over Labour, and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab’s Esher and Walton, which is one of the blue- wall constituencies under assault from Liberal Democrats.

Red-wall seats in the north and Midlands which would return to Labour after falling to Tories in 2019, on an even swing, could include Workington, Bolsover, Redcar and Bishop Auckland, as well as two seats each in Blackpool. Bolton, Bury and Leeds.

And other prominent Tories who could risk losing their seats could include Grant Shapps, Steve Baker, Anne Marie Trevelyan and even Jacob Rees-Mogg in North East Somerset.

The Lib Dems put on two points compared to last month to reach 12 per cent in the new poll.

Savanta questioned 2,272 British adults on 23-24 July and the results relate to those who said they were likely to vote in the next general election.

The new strategy aims to strengthen, promote and grow arts and culture in East Devon, offering high quality creative opportunities, accessible to people of all ages, in all communities.

Dan Wilkins www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Over the last four months, people, places, organisations and activities have been mapped revealing what is already happening across East Devon and how it is currently funded.

The public were consulted by East Devon District Council (EDDC) widely, through interviews, workshops and a public survey which received nearly 500 responses.

Around 98 per cent of survey respondents thought it was important that East Devon had a strong cultural offer and 61 per cent confirmed that a lack of local provision was a big barrier to taking part in culture in East Devon.

There are eight core themes to the strategy. Key themes include strengthening and supporting community-led culture organisations to enhance the quality of life and wellbeing in East Devon’s towns and villages, protecting and enhancing the environment, growing cultural tourism alongside the new Tourism Strategy, as well as supporting new places of culture to ensure East Devon residents, especially children and young people, can experience high quality culture in their local areas.

Cllr Nick Hookway, portfolio holder for culture and tourism, said: “The Culture Strategy has identified the extraordinary range of cultural activities that take place across East Devon.

“Such activities not only help to define our district, they also help it to cope with the challenges of living in the 21st Century.  

“I’m very grateful to everyone who has helped to inform and shape this strategy.

“I am delighted that we have an ambitious and practical framework for culture and look forward to working with many local residents and organisations to shape an exciting, creative future for East Devon.”

The Council’s priority is now to start implementing the strategy by putting in place partnerships and resources to achieve these cultural ambitions.

This includes the appointment of a Cultural Producer, who will be a linchpin for coordination, communications, advocacy and fundraising .

They will also lead the ACED (Arts and Culture East Devon) network which will be a vital engine for driving the strategy and all the opportunities it can bring.

Read the full East Devon Cultural Strategy. It is also available to view at eastdevon.gov.uk/arts-and-culture.

Local authorities in England are grappling with a £2.4bn “funding black hole” for special educational needs, according to new analysis, with councils warning the impact on young people could be “catastrophic”.

Rachel Hall www.theguardian.com 

Rising demand has resulted in councils’ SEN deficits growing six-fold since 2018, according to analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN) and the Society of County Treasurers. A third more children have become eligible for extra funding support over the past three years and the number now stands at 473,000 children.

The CCN is warning that the government’s planned SEN reforms later this year – which will try to reduce the “postcode lottery” in services and make the system less adversarial – will not be enough to plug the deficit that could rise to £3.6bn without action.

Keith Glazier, a councillor and spokesperson for children’s services at CCN, said many council leaders viewed the debts as “unmanageable”.

Glazier said: “Over the last five years, councils have not shirked from taking hard decisions on SEN support in order to try to make services financially sustainable, but we are swimming against the tide. Rising demand each year has meant our deficits have increased six-fold since 2018.”

The CCN is calling for the government to write off the deficit to avoid councils being forced to make “catastrophic financial decisions” or face possible insolvency once the government lifts its current temporary ringfencing of SEN deficits, potentially in a year’s time. This would give local authorities time for the reforms to be implemented, enabling them to start on “a blank slate”, Glazier added.

The reason for the deficit is that more children became eligible for education, health and care plans after legislative changes in 2014, at the same time as support for SEN pupils in mainstream schools has fallen and specialist schools have closed, hitting rural councils especially hard, said the CCN.

In its response to the government consultation on planned reforms to the SEN system, the CCN said the proposals could help with the pressures councils are facing due to increased demand, but these would not be “an overnight fix” and would not erase the deficits that have built up over the last five years.

The government’s reforms package includes £1.4bn for councils to pay for new SEN school places and improve existing provision, and £70m for broader reforms aimed at standardising support across the UK. It also includes funding for councils to help decrease their deficits, but CCN said this programme only covers 55 out of 151 councils and should be expanded further.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Councils are responsible for providing the right support for children in their areas but we know there is variation in how the system works, which is why proposals in our special educational needs and disability (Send) and alternative provision green paper will create a fairer, more inclusive system that also drives value for money.

“We are putting unprecedented investment into the high needs budget, meaning it will be worth £9.7bn by 2023-24, as well as creating tens of thousands of new school places for children with Send, or who require alternative provision over the next three years. We are also providing new guidance and research to help councils target their funding effectively so that young people in their area are supported.”

The complicity of silence – Owl

Eileen Wragg writes in the Exmouth Journal

During the last year there have been serious concerns arising from the conviction and sentencing of former Exmouth Mayor and EDDC Councillor John Humphreys for sexual assaults on two young boys. Among the concerns was the fact that he was allowed to continue holding his position as an Exmouth Town and East Devon District Councillor, despite having been arrested in 2015, even campaigning in the 2019 General Election, being photographed at Exmouth Community College with one of the parliamentary candidates and others.

Disturbingly, following a question from Devon County Councillor Jess Bailey at a Full County Council meeting recently, it was revealed that the National Society for the Protection of Children (NSPCC) had informed DCC of the investigation in 2014, yet he was allowed to stay in office, continue to stand for election, and unbelievably was nominated to be an EDDC Honorary Alderman in December 2019! A statement has recently been made by DCC admitting that action should have been taken.

I was made aware that Humphreys was being investigated for these crimes about five years ago, but with no evidence, I was unable to disclose that information. If I, as a Member of the opposition at the time at EDDC was aware, it is inconceivable that Members of the Conservative party had not been informed. Last week’s Full Council meeting at EDDC was presented with a Notice of Motion calling on MP Simon Jupp, who had according to a Conservative Councillor, stayed in a property owned by Humphreys for around two months in 2019, to ask for the questions asked to be investigated by the Conservative party and to give reassurance to the Council. Incredibly, the Conservative Councillors abstained from the requested recorded vote, and from voting on the Notice of Motion. Several, in fact, left the meeting before the vote was taken. It has been reported that a meeting had been called at Blackdown House prior to the meeting, and that they had been whipped into abstaining from the vote.

This raises grave concerns that there was something that they didn’t want known. My view, expressed during Full Council, was that political purposes were put ahead of the safeguarding of children. Devon County Council should be hanging its head in shame along with those who refused to vote last week. Humphreys is serving a twenty one year sentence, one of his victims is serving a life sentence. A recording of last week’s Council meeting can be viewed via EDDC’s website.

[The discussion on Humphreys starts at around 1Hr and 12 mins into the recording of the Full Council Meeting of 20 July which can be found here. Or watch below]

An online petition has been launched on Change.org and the town council is considering taking up the matter with Stagecoach. 

Philippa Davies www.sidmouthherald.co.uk

From Sunday, July 31, a new 44 service will be covering Exeter – Cranbrook – Ottery St Mary – Honiton – Axminster.  There will be a two-hourly service from Axminster and a combination of one to two services in the hour from Honiton.   

There is particular concern that the last bus from Exeter to Ottery will be at 18.40 and there will no longer be a service from Ottery to Honiton at 21.51. 

An online petition has been launched by a local resident who says: “The new timetables will be a nightmare for anyone wishing to go out to Exeter for an evening or for those that need to use the buses to get home from work.” 

Ottery’s mayor, Cllr Vicky Johns, said: “As a Councillor and resident of Ottery I am dismayed that Stagecoach have reduced their service to our town and the outlying villages.  

“We have residents who rely on the public transport to get them to their work places and home again, to get them to their places of education and home again and to generally get them around safely.  

“As a country we have declared a climate emergency and whereas most areas are increasing their public transport ours is decreasing, where does this make sense? I would hope that Stagecoach would look again at their new timetable and take into account what their customers actually require.” 

Ottery Town Council will be discussing the issue at their next meeting on Monday, August 1. 

The MP for East Devon Simon Jupp said he is seeking a meeting with Stagecoach over the cuts. He said: “The reduction of bus services in Ottery St Mary and East Devon comes as a bitter blow. We should be encouraging people back on to public transport, yet have a council who have doubled the price of parking across our district. It’s time for some joined-up thinking and that is why I am sitting down with Stagecoach bosses to express local feedback about where the timetable cuts go too far.”

The Herald reported on the reduced bus service earlier this month, when the county councillor for the Otter Valley, Jess Bailey, raised her concerns. She is calling for Devon County Council to press Stagecoach to reinstate the existing service. 

Stagecoach says the changes are aimed at ‘providing a sustainable bus network now so that we can grow services over the long term’. 

The company says it needs to concentrate resources on the services where demand is greatest, to make sure vital journeys and connections are maintained, and that it will work with national and local government to attract more people to use its bus services. 

Exclusive: Exeter hosting Tory leadership hustings on Monday

Very exclusive: Only “qualifying” Tory “True Blue Badge Holder” may attend either in person or online!

Exclusive, maybe secret: At the moment, the venue has not been made public.

[However, previous hustings during elections have been staged at Exeter Cathedral.

Other possible venues include the Corn Exchange, Exeter University and Sandy Park’s Conference Centre.]

Alternatively, East Devon Watch readers may prefer to watch the “Real Deal” here.

“We have an impotent zombie government with a Prime Minister who’s already checked out of the job, at a time when people are calling for help. This simply isn’t good enough.”

Richard Foord MP www.devonlive.com

When I was elected just over a month ago, I had little idea just how much UK politics was about to change. In just over four weeks we’ve seen the ungracious downfall of a Prime Minister, and an increasingly scrappy contest to replace him. Yet there is also much continuity.

During my first weeks in Parliament, I’ve been stunned by how many of the long-standing traditions remain. Aside from the maze of winding corridors and the customs that date back centuries, the character of politics as carried on within the Houses of Parliament feels quite removed for our present challenges.

Everything is prefaced with formality and niceties, everyone is referred to by titles and constituency names, and the Government has almost total control over what the House of Commons can discuss.

It’s clear that we do need change. We need to ground our politics in the present and the future, and focus on working collaboratively to get things done. I will bang the drum for our part of Devon, but I will try to engage constructively to deliver for local communities.

What is also clear is that whoever is our next Prime Minister is going to have a big job on their hands. We are facing a climate emergency, war in Ukraine, and a cost-of-living crisis. The cost of the weekly shop and filling up the car are skyrocketing, leaving many unsure how they’re going to pay their bills.

Yet at this critical time we’ve seen Conservative Ministers focus on tearing each other apart in the quest to become the next party leader, rather than tackling these huge problems. To a new MP like me, it’s been astonishing to see senior Cabinet ministers tearing apart the same policies they supported just weeks ago.

Take taxes for example. The Conservatives have voted to increase taxes on hard working people 15 times – yet now they line up to decry those taxes and suggest they really didn’t want to increase them at all.

If they cared so much at the time, they would have taken a stand and resigned from Government. But, once again, we see career ambitions taking precedence over their promises.

At the recent Tiverton and Honiton by-election, voters sent a clear message that we’re fed up with being taken for granted. But it seems that the Conservative Government in London hasn’t got the message.

We have an impotent zombie government with a Prime Minister who’s already checked out of the job, at a time when people are calling for help. This simply isn’t good enough.

Liberal Democrats want to see real action to support those struggling – including a cut to VAT to put £600 back in your pocket, and a cap on the cost of heating oil to keep off-grid energy prices down.

These are measures the Government could bring in right now that would deliver real help, but instead the Conservative Party is spending weeks talking only to itself. I will continue to demand better for our communities and fight to make your voice heard in Westminster.