The greatest stitch-up since the Birth of Venus

More than 1,000 new homes could be built on the edge of Cranbrook, if plans for a new mixed-use community are given the go ahead. 

Dan Wilkins www.midweekherald.co.uk

Proposals have been submitted to East Devon District Council, on behalf of Redrow Homes and Carden Group, for up to 1,035 homes, a neighbourhood centre, a primary school, public open space, a sports hub and employment land at Treasbeare Farm, Cranbrook. 

The site would also include 15 per cent affordable homes, which works out at up to 156 dwellings, with 39 allocated as ‘first homes’ and 52 for affordable rent. 

The 91.28ha site is just south of the existing Cranbrook expansion zone and is arable land with hedgerows, trees and field drainage ditches. 

It sites within the Cranbrook Plan area, as defined by the existing East Devon Local Plan. 

The applicant is seeking outline permission for the principle of development and access only at this stage, with a reserved matters planning application to iron out the finer details in the future. 

In the planning support statement, the applicants said there is scope for the development within the number of homes which East Devon needs to build in the Cranbrook Plan area. 

The statement said: “(It’s) identified in the adopted East Devon Local Plan as being within the Cranbrook Plan area but was not allocated to meet the initial requirements of Cranbrook. 

“However, the Local Plan requires the provision of an additional 1,550 dwellings, associated jobs, social, community and education facilities and infrastructure, which is to be provided within the Cranbrook Plan Area, but outside the allocations made within the Plan and the designated Neighbourhood Plan Areas of Rockbeare, Broadclyst and Clyst Honiton.” 

Plans for the site at this early stage include: 

• A variety of housing types; 
• A mixed-use neighbourhood centre 
• Employment opportunities 
• A landscape structure building on and enhancing existing assets
• Allowance for pedestrian, cycle and public transport networks to be fully integrated 

The application also proposes several access changes including a new signal-controlled junction to the proposed employment area on the site, a mini-roundabout replacing the existing Younghayes Road roundabout and a ‘notional’ improvement to the Parsons Lane roundabout. There would also be a new priority T-junction onto the B3174. 

The deadline for comments is Tuesday, August 30. East Devon Disrict Council will make the final decision on the application. 

The proposal is available to view by going to https://planning.eastdevon.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=REUO6NGH09100  

Promises, promises.

Liz Truss says she will make £11bn savings from cuts in Whitehall staff in sums that don’t add up (the total bill is only £9bn); and Rishi Sunak promises to cut income tax from 20% to 16% on the back of rapid economic growth (remember the promise of our Local Enterprise Partnership, HotSW, to double economic growth in 20 years which hasn’t gone anywhere?) 

But it seems the electorate isn’t that impressed:

Exeter voters unimpressed with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss

Olivier Vergnault www.devonlive.com

Voters in Devon have been left less than impressed with the choice of candidates battling it out to replace ousted Boris Johnson in 10 Downing Street. Residents in Exeter made no secret of how little respect Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss inspire in them as the two candidates prepared to have it out at a husting in the city.

As reported by The Mirror, punters in the city didn’t hold back when describing the two candidates, with many saying both of them represent a ‘poor choice for Britain’. Rachel Hartland, 72, was scathing when she said: “It’s an absolute bottom-of-the-barrel choice of people. I really feel that both of them have already served in the Cabinet and they have been found wanting. They shouldn’t be there, we should have more options.”

The art gallery owner added: “Rishi Sunak is insubstantial in his entire presence, he’s too flimsy. Liz Truss is trying to be like Margaret Thatcher but if she comes into power we will go to war with Russia.”

Terry Hibberd, 56, who works in John Lewis, said he was not keen on either of them as he didn’t feel they have the interests of the peoeple at heart. He added: “They are careerists – all politicians are careerists. Out of the two of them, it’s a really hard choice. I would probably go for the lady but only because I don’t know so much about her. I wasn’t a Boris fan but he was good for entertainment value, but it’s a serious position to be in so you can’t have a joker.”

Rebecca Nisbet, 19, a gap year student due to study biology at Newcastle University, said the whole saga with Boris Johnson and the leadershhip race had been a shambles. She added: “Rishi Sunak’s out of touch with real people because he’s so wealthy and he has seemed really quite arrogant. I don’t like Liz Truss because she’s very ‘quick fix’ – say this, say that because that will get her where she wants to be.

“People say she’s experienced but when I think of statesmen-like people in the past, there were so many good people – Tories, Labour, the Lib Dems – and now we’ve got this lot.”

Ben Laes, 40, a teacher, said he would like Rishi Sunak to win because he feels his policies make a bit more sense than Liz Truss’s, who he thinks has ‘gone for the populist approach, not necessarily backed up with the evidence’. He added: “I still think they [the Conservatives] will win the next election though, whoever wins. I don’t think Keir Starmer has got enough to sway enough voters.”

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are the ‘two worst’ candidates for leader, Young Tories say

Chloe Chaplain inews.co.uk (Extract)

Tory MPs are “out of touch” with party membership and voter base and choosing Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss as finalists will damage the party’s chances in next election, young Conservatives have said.

A group of young activists discussed their views on the Conservative party leadership race and credentials of the candidates on offer so far and told i they feared losing the next election was inevitable.

Some said they were disappointed with final two in the leadership race because – having served in senior Cabinet positions – they are both too close to Boris Johnson, whom they warned is killing the traditional Tory vote.

And they condemned “embarrassing” public swipes Tory MPs in rival camps have been having with each other…….

South West Water wasn’t singled out in the recent press reports on the shortcomings of the water companies. The reason seems to be that, in absolute terms, its leakage rate of around 127 million litres a day is not as large as say Severn Trent or United Utilities (both more than 400 million litres a day), but its performance is bad.

Owl thinks a more useful measure for comparative purposes would be percentage loss through leakage of water supplied. Unfortunately this is not a metric easily discoverable. The latest South West Water Summary Performance Report 2021 only records losses but nothing about how much water was supplied in total.

To get an estimate of water supply Owl has had to turn to South West Water’s Fact Sheet.

This states:

“We deliver over 340 million litres of water each day through some 15,000km of water mains to 800,000 homes and 70,000 businesses in the South West. About 95% of the water we supply is returned to us for treatment and disposal. We do this through some 14,995km of sewers, around 800 sewage pumping stations and over 600 treatment works, many of which serve a population of less than 1,000 people.”

How should we interpret this delivery figure?

Is this the volume of water that leaves the treatment plants and enters the delivery system?

Or is it the water estimated to have been delivered to customers’ taps after leakage? 

I.e. Is it the measure of input or output?

The Performance Report records that for 2020/21 leakage average was 126.8 million litres a day against a target of 120.5 for which South West Water received a penalty of £3.875m.

The 127 million litres per day leakage represents 37% of the total under the first interpretation and 27% of the (340+127=467) million litres a day under the second. 

Either way the leakage is colossal. Who is to blame?

What they say is:

“The network was challenged throughout the year with increased demand due to changes in customer behaviour during the multiple lockdown periods and a higher than normal regional population given the significant proportion of second home ownership in our region.

As a result, increased pumping has been required to more rural areas. There was a record number of bursts in early 2021 and our teams responded well to this increase, however as a consequence of these factors, leakage rose resulting in our three year average leakage target not being met.”

“Unfortunately, we are below the industry average for our leakage performance this year.“

Underperforming water utilities have been in the news in the past week.

Owl reviews a number of news articles, and in a separate post, looks at South West Water’s performance.

Up to £40bn to plug leaks in coming decades

From www.theguardian.com

A national hosepipe ban should be implemented as a national priority along with compulsory water metering across the UK by the end of the decade.

That is the key message that infrastructure advisers have given the government as the nation braces itself for a drought that is threatening major disruption to the nation. Failure to act now would leave Britain facing a future of queueing for emergency bottled water “from the back of lorries”.

The government was warned four years ago by the National Infrastructure Committee (NIC) that considerable new investment would have to be made in the nation’s water supply equipment by the 2030s. Although some improvements have been made by water firms, nearly 3billion litres of water is still lost every day.

Plugging these leaks will require an investment of around £20bn, Sir John Armitt, chair of the committee, told the Observer this weekend. Failure to invest now will mean, he added, that more than twice as much will have to be spent on distributing bottled water to UK residents by lorry as increasingly frequent droughts grip the nation.

“You have to pay for it, one way or another,” he said. “That could be investing in new reservoirs or moving water around the country, as well as stopping leaks.” Water metering is considered by the industry as the best tool for cutting water use – the UK has the highest usage in Europe. It is estimated that water meters have been installed in only about half of households in England and Wales, but these customers use 33 litres a day less than the national average, of 141 litres a day.

Who are the big leakers?

 From: www.thetimes.co.uk

The country’s nine water companies are leaking almost 2.4 billion litres of water every day while paying their chief executives large bonuses…

In the past two years the chief executives of England’s water companies were paid a total of £24.3 million.

Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the public accounts committee (PAC), said: “It sticks in the craw that the chief executives are earning telephone-number salaries while their businesses are leaking billions of litres of water.”

Thames Water, England’s largest water company, was the biggest culprit, leaking 605 million litres of water a day, based on a three-year average. The company, which serves areas including Greater London, the Thames Valley, Surrey and Gloucestershire, said it was leaking 24 per cent of its supply. Sarah Bentley, its chief executive, received £3.2 million in the past two years.

Severn Trent Water, which serves the Midlands, leaked the second most, with a three-year average of 446 million litres a day. Liv Garfield, its chief executive, has earned almost £7 million since 2020, making her the highest-paid executive in England’s water industry.

United Utilities, which serves northwest England, leaked the third highest amount, with 413 million litres of water a day. Steve Mogford, its chief executive, earned almost £3.2 million in the past year, including almost £2.2 million in bonuses and incentives.

In 2020 the PAC published a report that warned Britain could run out of drinking water by 2040 if more were not done to protect resources. Hillier told The Times: “This amount of leakage is unacceptable. We know it does not happen overnight but these companies should be doing more.”

According to the PAC report, the industry regulator Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have “taken their eye off the ball” on reducing water loss and repairing leaks, with “two decades of inaction” responsible for the impending crisis.

The committee said it remained unconvinced that enough would be done to address the problem. Ofwat said: “We have really pushed companies to cut leakage and set a target of 16 per cent reduction for all companies. While progress is being made, companies have to go further.”

Water UK, which represents the industry, said reducing leakage was a huge challenge: “Water companies are committed to doing everything they can to radically reduce leakage over the coming years and decades with plans in place to halve leakage by 2050.”

Thames Water declined to comment. Severn Trent said: “We’re committed to reducing leakage by 15 per cent by 2025 — the biggest reduction ever in a five-year period — and we’re making good progress.”

United Utilities said: “We have the lowest ever levels of leakage in the northwest and have met our target for the 16th year running. Between 2020 and 2025 we are reducing leakage by a further 15 per cent.”

Failing to meet targets, including South West Water

From: www.thetimes.co.uk

A quarter of water companies in England and Wales have failed to meet targets for reducing wasteful mains leakage as millions of Britons face a hosepipe ban amid the driest conditions for decades.

The latest findings by Ofwat, the regulator, show that, while leakage has come down by 11 per cent in five years, only three quarters of water companies are meeting their individual leakage targets, which were brought in because a fifth of mains water was being lost daily.

[Including South West Water which admits “we are below the industry average for our leakage performance this year” – see separate post on how bad it is – Owl]

The watchdog insisted that “progress has been made” on leaks but admitted “there is more that can be done”.

The underperforming utilities companies will be named later in the year and could be penalised financially. David Black, Ofwat’s chief executive, said: “We welcome the improvements companies have made in reducing leakage and it’s encouraging to see things heading in the right direction…

Debt-ridden water giants at risk from rate rises

www.thetimes.co.uk

Heavily indebted water utilities are at greater risk of collapse as interest rates rise, the industry regulator has warned….

“As interest rates rise … we tend to see the cost of poor investment grade debt, or poor-quality debt, go up faster than the cost of higher-rated debt,” Black said. “So water companies that are in a poor financial position will experience escalating costs of debt faster than better-financed companies.”

Water companies have attracted widespread criticism for loading up on debt while paying large dividends to their shareholders — many of them based overseas — but failing to get on top of leaks or sewage spills. Last week, Ofwat revealed plans to limit dividend payouts for companies with the lowest credit ratings.

Black said concern over the burden of higher rates was one factor in introducing the tighter controls: “We’re always concerned about the risk of a company failing and costs coming back onto customers.

“We want to make sure that the focus of company boards is on running these businesses well, and not on clever financing structures.”

His warnings raise the prospect of a similar failure in the water industry to that of Bulb Energy, the supplier that collapsed last November. Bulb went through a “special administration”, where the taxpayer provides funding to keep it going before a buyer is found. If a water company failed, it would also go through a similar process. Bulb’s collapse is expected to cost the taxpayer as much as £3 billion.

Net debt in the water sector topped £56 billion last year, according to Ofwat. One of the most indebted firms, Thames Water, took steps to shore up its finances last month with the injection of £1.5 billion of fresh equity from shareholders…

Debt written off in 1989

[When Margaret Thatcher sold off the water industry in 1989, the government wrote off all its debts. Since then, the nine privatised companies in England have run up debts of nearly £52 billion. Meanwhile, they have paid shareholders a total of £61.8 billion in dividends, an average of £2 billion a year.]

Tory dogma “working for us” – Owl

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.