Cllr Bell follows Cllr Owen Martin who resigned from the Allerdale Conservative Group last week
Another councillor has defected from the Conservative Party over the Downing Street parties scandal and the Prime Minister’s controversial comments about the leader of the opposition.
Councillor Carmell Bell, who represents Crummock and Derwent Valley, has left the Conservative Party but will remain on Allerdale Borough Council as an Independent.
Cllr Bell feels she can not remain in the Conservative Party due to the recent actions of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Evidence has emerged recently that Downing Street hosted a number of parties, seemingly breaching the Government’s own lockdown rules.
Cllr Bell follows Cllr Owen Martin who resigned from the Allerdale Conservative Group last week.
Councillor Bell said “For some time now I have been unhappy in the Conservative Party. The recent behaviour of the Prime Minister and the unapologetic defence of his position by many within the party has convinced me it is time to leave.”
Mr Johnson has been under further scrutiny recently after making controversial comments at the despatch box, suggesting that Labour leader Kier Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile.
Cllr Bell said: “During the pandemic I was employed as a housing support officer for a housing charity. It was my job to work with vulnerable people at risk of homelessness. This was a difficult time for many and I saw first hand the impact that lack of resources and cuts has had, not least on our stretched police and mental health services within Cumbria.
“I don’t believe the government has a handle on this situation and hearing the stories coming from Downing Street, I’m not sure they care.
“I wish my colleagues in the Allerdale Conservative group well and look forward to representing my ward as an independent over the coming months”.
Alan Williams, 78, previously financed First’s X53 service between Bridport and Weymouth in 2019 and has chosen to do so again.
This year, he has arranged for the service to be extended to Lyme Regis because he believes the route is ‘important’ to people who use it.
The amount he has paid First has not been disclosed.
Mr Williams said: “I just want to give the community their bus service and to encourage people to use it more.
“I hope it also encourages bus companies to keep such services.”
He added: “People still need to travel on Sundays. Some people have got places to be or they have to work and don’t have cars so this service is a lifeline.”
Operator First had been running four services on Sundays but these were stopped for the winter on January 16 with the service resuming in March when the summer timetable launches.
Mr Williams opted to step up and fund the service to fill the gap out his own pocket. Two services are now running each Sunday until March.
Mr Williams said: “I have seen the regulars still using the service now as well as new people.
“Public transport in general needs to be improved to get around especially now with the train timetable changes and the issues it causes with buses.
“The company have indicated they would start running the services from the March when their summer timetable starts.”
Transport lobby group West Dorset Western Area Transport Action Group (WATAG) welcomed the move.
WATAG chairman Bob Driscoll said: “The Sunday service X53 will continue, but reduced from four to two round trip journeys between Weymouth and Lyme Regis, as a result of Mr Alan Williams agreeing to support this service financially.
“First Wessex intended to withdraw the Sunday service last September with the introduction of the winter timetable.
“Mr Williams suggested that if they did he would support a service between Bridport and Weymouth as he did in 2019.
“Subsequently, First Wessex decided to run the four services until 16 January, when the service would cease.”
Mr Driscoll added: “I hope as many people as possible will use the service for a day out, thereby helping us prove the need for a bus service seven days a week all year round.”
A spokesperson for First said: “We can confirm a west Dorset resident funds a limited Sunday X53 service between January and March.
“We fund the service for the rest of the week and year. On the rare occasions where we are unable to run a service, we are always happy to work with members of local communities to find solutions to meet a community’s needs.’”
“Lesley Horn, who worked in the the Future Inn hotel in Plymouth for two months told the Guardian she feared people were being “warehoused” in temporary care hotels, which health officials have been instructed to use amid an acute shortage of care packages.”
A care worker at a hotel used to relieve pressure on NHS beds has claimed vulnerable people have been “failed”, with problems including stinking clinical waste being stored in a bathtub and a lack of accessible showers.
Lesley Horn, who worked in the the Future Inn hotel in Plymouth for two months told the Guardian she feared people were being “warehoused” in temporary care hotels, which health officials have been instructed to use amid an acute shortage of care packages.
More than 500 care homes are closed to new admissions because of outbreaks of Covid among residents and many more closed because of staff testing positive. There are also shortages of homecare workers so “care hotels” have been set up in places including Bristol, Norwich and Newquay. But there are rising concerns about their suitability.
Horn said a bathroom on the residents’ floor was periodically used as an overflow for clinical waste with bin bags filled with faeces and urine-soiled materials stacked up.
“You can imagine – you open the door and it was oh, my God, you are kidding me?” she said. “The smell. And this was not according to the infection control guidelines. It’s not on.”
Current NHS England guidance states that care hotels are supposed to be used for “days, rather than weeks” but Horn, who worked at the Plymouth hotel from late October to early January, said some residents stayed as long as two months. Care hotels are not regulated as care homes by the Care Quality Commission regulator, but they are recorded as locations where domiciliary care is being provided. CQC is currently undertaking a risk-based inspection of the Plymouth hotel.
Horn said there were only two walk-in showers for more than 30 of the residents and these were located on a different floor to their rooms. She alleged there were not always enough hospital-style beds and there was sometimes a lack of appropriate equipment such as commodes.
Devon NHS clinical commissioning group, Plymouth city council and the private operator, Abicare, defended the arrangements, said they did not agree with some of Horn’s claims and said “safety and quality of care are always our main priorities”.
They conceded there had been issues with a waste contractor, but said these were now solved and patient care was unaffected. They denied equipment shortages and said it was normal for hospital patients to walk a short distance to access a shower. Long stays were only in a very few cases where, because of homelessness or safeguarding concerns, discharge was difficult.
“Feedback from the people who have used the centre has been overwhelmingly positive and staff have been touched by the many cards and messages,” said Darryn Allcorn, Devon’s lead chief nurse, and Craig McArdle, strategic director for people at the council.
“The care hotel is just one of the many measures health and care partners have put in place to support the city’s main hospital during a period of unprecedented pressure when capacity in the care sector is challenged by the effects of the pandemic.”
The need to accelerate the discharge of hospital patients has been acute. Derriford hospital in Plymouth recently declared a level 4 alert, which means patient safety could be compromised.
But domiciliary care operators have warned that “care hotels … may not be equipped to meet [the] needs” of older and disabled people.
“It should never have come to this,” said Jane Townson, the chief executive of the Homecare Association. “We call on the government to invest properly in home-based support and care, so we can enable people to live well at home … take pressure off the NHS and reduce costs for the health and care system.”
Last month the daughter of a resident at a care hotel in Bristol complained her father hadn’t been seen by a nurse for a week. Linda Slade told the BBC: “He has a stoma bag, they didn’t know anything about stoma bags or what to do.”
Kate Terroni, CQC’s chief inspector of adult social care said the regulator would “engage providers to ensure high quality care for people in these settings” and “inspect in response to concerns”.
Horn, who has worked in healthcare for 40 years, said conditions of some residents being discharged were worse than she would usually see in care settings. Health officials countered that all discharges had been deemed medically appropriate.
Horn said it felt as though people were being “warehoused” and said: “They are put in our hands to give them the best care we can and this is where I feel we were put in a corner … It was difficult for us.”
The providers said these were the opinions of one person but that they strongly disagreed with them.
Most rooms had conventional baths, which are not accessible to many people in care settings, but there were two walk-in showers on the fourth floor, one in a room stacked so high with furniture that it was impossible to turn the main light on, Horn said. It required care staff to take residents up in a lift, usher them through the darkened room and give them a shower.
“It’s horrible,” Horn said. “This isn’t the type of environment you take somebody in.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said it had made £3.3bn available to assist timely hospital discharge since the pandemic began, with funding due to continue until March.
On the same day that Michael Gove published his “Levelling Up” paper, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its first attempt at developing statistical indicators to help understand the strengths and weaknesses in local communities.
This first iteration covers a core set of indicators grouped in three broad categories (boosting living standards, spreading opportunity and improving public services, and restoring local pride). This aligns with some of the metrics selected to measure the progress of levelling-up, where data is available.
From the interactive tool, East Devon has three significant weaknesses which are interesting in the light of the article below:
Public transport or walk to large employment centre
Cycle to large employment centre
Drive to large employment centre
New greenfield housing forcing people to use cars, report finds
New greenfield housing developments are locking residents into car dependency, making everyday journeys impossible without a vehicle, a new report has found. Meanwhile, pledges for walking, cycling and public transport are often left unfulfilled.
The group Transport for New Homes (TfNH) visited 20 new housing developments in England, finding that while those on urban brownfield sites generally lived up to sustainable transport pledges, greenfield sites were often far from shops and amenities, without public transport, cycling links or even pavements, and the homes themselves were seemingly designed around car parking.
Surface transport is responsible for 22% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the Climate Change Committee says reducing demand for car travel is key to meeting emission reduction targets. Campaigners say housing pledges in the “levelling up” white paper, launched last week, will do little to achieve this and that planning reform is urgently needed. The government aims to build 300,000 new homes a year to meet growing demand.
The report, Building Car Dependency, which follows research from 2018, says greenfield housing “has become even more car-based” in recent years, adding hundreds of thousands of additional car journeys to our roads.
Steve Chambers, a campaigner at TfNH, told the Guardian: “We have found places where you can’t do anything without getting into a car; you literally cannot do anything. There is nothing within walking distance, there’s nothing within safe cycling distance, and for work, for going to the shop; for everything you can imagine, you need to get in the car.
“The impact of that is that houses are being designed around two and three parking spaces with tiny back gardens, no front gardens whatsoever, and that poor design obviously crowds out walking, cycling, and basically good homes.”
“There isn’t even the most basic public transport in a lot of places. There isn’t even a bus route, which is clearly an issue.”
The report did identify a few cases of greenfield developments with sustainable transport links, such as Hampton Park in Peterborough, Poundbury in Dorset and Derwenthorpe in York, but otherwise found “the internal road layout, the car access on to major roads with bigger junctions to take the traffic, the sheer quantity of residential car parking, all told the story”.
During the pandemic, residents of such estates reported being unable to walk anywhere because the surrounding roads lacked footpaths.
While car access was built first, TfNH say walkable elements such as a high street, a children’s centre or community facilities arrived after driving habits were formed. At Chapelford Urban Village, on a former RAF site north-west of Warrington, a new railway station finally opened in 2019, 15 years after the first homes were sold.
“Quick wins” such as footpaths to nearby shops or park-and-rides failed to link up or led nowhere. In one case, shops adjacent to a retirement home were rendered inaccessible to less mobile residents by an ankle-high fence. Some front doors opened directly on to car parking spaces. In Cranbrook New Town, near Exeter, a road was too narrow for buses to reach a new bus stop.
Exceptions were at brownfield sites like Bath Riverside and Trumpington Meadows in Cambridge, the former where “the public realm is shaped around walking” with car parking “limited and mostly out of sight”.
Steve Gooding, chair of the steering group for Transport for New Homes, told the Guardian: “There’s no evidence coming through in the report that at scale we’re managing to deploy new housing in a way that really promotes the government’s parallel objectives of promoting active travel, public transport and alternatives to the private car. And unless we do that, then it shouldn’t surprise any of us that the car is going to be the default choice for the vast majority of trips that people make.”
Among the report’s recommendations are that new housing is “recast around sustainable travel”, with compact, mixed-use developments such as European-style apartments above business premises. In addition, less parking per home would reduce sprawl and make use for pavements, green space and a network of Dutch-style cycle routes. Authors also want devolved powers for things like local rail and bus rapid transit systems, with funding diverted from road-building to provide walking and cycling links.
Chambers added: “We’ve found everything from developers planning applications, through to the local plans of local authorities, right up to the National Planning Policy Framework have incredibly warm words about walking, cycling, public transport, and ‘creating vibrant walkable places’, and what we have shown through our visits and our documentary evidence, hundreds of photographs, it simply isn’t being delivered.
“There’s no reason to believe that what’s presented in the levelling up white paper – which make no changes to the planning system, and crucially includes no new funding whatsoever – will have different outcomes.”
Rosie Pearson, chair of the Community Planning Alliance, said: “Developers are building in the wrong place, with the wrong design and the wrong layout. This locks in car dependency from the outset, leading to persistent traffic jams, dangerous conditions for pedestrians and cyclists, and air pollution. It’s time for change.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “We welcome this report and agree that new development should be less dependent on cars. By 2030, we want half of all journeys in towns and cities to be walked or cycled and are investing £3bn into bus services.
“National Planning Policy is clear that significant development should give priority to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, and we will be updating guidance later this year to promote street design that favours walkways and cycle paths over motor traffic.”
A review is being carried out by East Devon District Council (EDDC) on how the people of Colyford are represented.
And it could see the village gain its own parish council, which would have the power to collect money from the council tax to spend on local schemes.
Now, anyone living in the area covered by Colyton Parish Council is being asked to share their views on the draft proposals before a deadline of 5pm on May 4.
The aim of the ‘Community Governance Review’, which was requested by the Colyford Village Residents Association, is to find the most suitable arrangement to represent the village.
Once EDDC has received responses, it will consider the results of the consultation and publish a proposal in spring 2022, which will then be subject to further consultation.
If a separate parish council is set up for Colyford the aim is that it would be in place in time for elections to take place in May 2023.
Councillor Sarah Jackson, EDDC’s portfolio holder for democracy, transparency and communications, said: “It is important that different communities are able to operate with autonomy to decide how best to make use of their resident’s council tax and ensure that decision making is both democratic and in the interest of their particular community.
“It is important that you feel properly represented by the parish you live within. In this instance, Colyford may well have a different set of requirements and separate identity from Colyton.
“Separating the area into two parishes could well be in the best interest of both communities, but we need to hear from you first to understand if this is indeed the prevailing view.
“If you are a resident living in Colyton Parish I encourage you to engage with the consultation and to take this opportunity to tell EDDC what you think.”
Town and parish councils are the most local tier of government and have two roles; community representation and local administration.
People registered to vote within the Colyton Parish Council area will soon receive a consultation pack in the post, including a short questionnaire inviting residents to have their say.
If you’re not on the electoral register and need a copy of the consultation on paper or in any other format email colyford@eastdevon.gov.uk or call 01395 517569.
Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, is one of a growing list of Tory MPs who have criticised Mr Johnson as he has battled claims of lockdown busting parties in Downing Street. At the end of last month he became the first Tory MP to declare publicly he would be throw his hat in the ring for the leadership of the party if Mr Johnson was ousted or stepped down.
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement over the weekend that Cabinet Office Minister Steve Barclay had been appointed his new chief of staff and Guto Harri would take up the role of Director of Communications, the MP for Tonbridge and Malling said he should be given time to see “what the changes are”.
But, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “The last two and a half years….have been really really difficult on many, many people and we need to be offering a vision of the future that gives people options to rebuild their lives and to restart in new ways.
“This is a time when we need to be really focused on what politics is actually here for and that is serving others and not getting into some sort of personal psychodrama.”
Asked whether the easiest way to end that would be to remove Mr Johnson from office, he replied: “It depends how the reset goes…because going into a leadership election is hardly ending a psychodrama. He has just appointed a whole new team, let’s see how he gets on and I’m very much hoping that what we are going to see is the kind of Conservative administration that people voted for in 2019.”
Despite his attempts to reset his team at No 10, Mr Johnson could still be in danger if the chairman of the 1922 backbench committee Sir Graham Brady receives 54 letters from Tory MPs calling for a vote of no confidence.
Mr Tugendhat said: “The Prime Minister has just done his reset, let’s see what No 10 brings out. There’s an awful lot of talent going in, there’s a lot of talent coming out. Let’s see what the changes are.
“This is a decision for 360 or so members of Parliament and let’s see where it goes to. I think the point remains we have got to be looking at the future, we’ve got to be looking at what’s best for the British people and focused on how we achieve the results that we really need for this country.”
In a move which may help win support among colleagues in a future leadership contest, Mr Tugendhat also argued for the Prime Minister to rethink the looming National Insurance rise which will raise £36billion over the next three years to clear the NHS backlog and help reform social care.
Many Tory MPs oppose the 1.25 percentage point tax hike, insisting it is ‘un-Conservative’ and will place struggling households under even greater pressure as they face soaring inflation and a spike in energy bills from April.
As an alternative Mr Tugendhat said the Government should encourage the development of a private insurance market which could help people cover the cost of social care.
He said: “What we are seeing now is the state subsidising areas through taxing and spending. That’s a perfectly reasonable way of doing it but my suggestion is to look at other ways of doing it. We are relying an awful lot on today’s taxpayers to pay for today’s social care needs and the reality is on one level it’s fantastic we should be focused on that…what I am concerned about is that there are an awful lot of parts of the country – particularly those areas where we talk about levelling up – which are likely to find themselves paying the tax but not getting the benefit.”
“There are many ways in which the state can provide assistance to the private sector…there’s various ways in which you can create a market under which the insurance company, the insurance market to grow in and cover the risk.”
Construction of a raised patio 4 Albert Close Ottery St Mary Devon EX11 1GRRef. No: 22/0056/FUL | Validated: Tue 25 Jan 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
A majority of Conservative voters want their party to deliver more affordable housing and let councils buy up empty properties, according to new polling which suggests that public frustration with the housing crisis is now more evenly spread across the political divide.
Two-thirds of Tories in the UK want new-build developments to include more affordable homes and 68% want higher taxes on second homes and empty properties, according to YouGov polling shared with the Guardian.
The research comes after the levelling up white paper disappointed some housing campaigners in England by failing to set targets for increasing the supply of low-rent homes, which is seen by many as a key weapon in the fight against the cost of living crisis.
A large minority of Conservative voters – 39% – support giving private renters indefinite tenancies which can only be ended when a tenant wants to move or in cases of criminal damage or severe rent arrears. Such a policy would go much further than the ban on no-fault evictions that Michael Gove, the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, last week said he would deliver.
Matt Downie, the chief executive of Crisis, a charity for homeless people, said: “If there is clear cross-party support for making sure that people on lower or no incomes have somewhere stable to live, we’d urge the government to take action on that and start to unravel the enormous housing crisis facing this country.
“One of the most obvious ways we can tackle the cost of living crisis is to bring down housing costs.”
A study by Heriot-Watt University estimated that 90,000 more social homes needed to be built in England every year to meet demand.
But in the year 2020-21, housing associations built 26,010 new homes in England, which was the lowest level since 2016-17, while only 1,650 council homes were built – the fewest since 2014-15. The official figures mean affordable homes accounted for just 18% of new housebuilding. Home ownership among 25- to 34-year-olds has fallen from 51% in 1989 to 28% in 2019, according to the Resolution Foundation.
Downie said it was “heartening” that there was such support for increasing the amount of social housing built as part of new developments, which he said was “shockingly low despite there being an obligation [on developers] in theory”.
Many developers are able to argue that their schemes would not be financially viable if they had to build large numbers of affordable homes, meaning that local authorities are obliged to dilute their targets for cheap housing.
“There is support among both Labour and Conservative voters for almost all the policies we asked about,” said a spokesperson for YouGov. “While Labour voters tend to be more strongly in favour of these policies, foreign investment in the UK house market is more unpopular with Conservatives – 56% of Tory voters would support an end to non-domiciled property ownership, compared with 45% of Labour voters.”
Owl has been looking into the incentive scheme Ofwat has devised for water companies, or “Outcome Delivery Incentives”, as it’s called. This is a scheme whereby water companies are fined or paid a bonus for meeting targets.
It leaves Owl worrying about the prospect of the triple whammy as water companies charge us more to meet the targets and “guess who” underwrites Ofwat’s handouts for meeting them; justifying even greater Bosses’ Bonuses to boot.
It will need careful adjustment of the scheme to avoid this. But in a monopoly market you have to ask whether such schemes are ever likely to work to the consumers’ advantage.
The latest figures show Ofwat “in profit” to the tune of £67m to be applied during 2022 – 2023. This covers the 17 water and waste companies in England and Wales.
The biggest bonus payment is to United Utilities (operating in the North West) £20.5m, followed by Anglian Water £11.7m. The three biggest losers are: Thames Water -£53.2m, Southern Water -£46.0m and South West Water -£15.4m
A housing developer has been knocked back after trying to remove a condition requiring 78 new homes to be sold to the over 55s.
Taylor Wimpey was granted permission back in 2016 to build 1,040 new homes on land to the east of Clitheroe off Pendle Road.
One of the conditions in granting planning permission required 7.5 per cent of the new homes – 78, to be sold to the over 55s but the developer submitted an application to Ribble Valley Borough Council in November requesting that the condition, known as a Section 106, be varied.
The application has now been rejected with council officers stating Taylor Wimpey’s argument is “not acceptable”.
In a report explaining its decision the council said: “The applicant has explained that they have consulted with local market experts and when mortgage lenders take into consideration affordability they will consider the applicants age and the term that the mortgage can be taken out over. They consider that in the current climate the over 55s clause will severely limit the number of lenders willing to lend on the properties and the saleability of them.
This is not considered to be an acceptable argument. There is a clear need for over 55s housing in the borough and this strategic site is expected to make a significant contribution to this.
“This argument would suggest that persons over 55 would find it difficult to purchase a property in any scenario. Furthermore, the proposal seeks to remove the requirement to build homes to a lifetime standard which would also remove a contribution of this type of home to housing supply in the borough.
“The amendments proposed will affect the delivery of a significant number of lifetime homes and homes restricted to over 55s for which there is a demonstrated need in the borough. The justification offered is not considered to be convincing and as such the modifications are considered unacceptable.
“The proposal would be contrary to policies H2 and H3 of the Core Strategy, which aim to ensure that there is a suitable mix of housing to meet the housing needs and demands for the borough and ensure that properties are available to accommodate the changing needs of occupants. Therefore it is recommended accordingly.”
A spokesperson for Taylor Wimpey said the developer “understood” the council’s decision.
“We recognise there is a need for housing for the over 55s in the area and we are committed to delivering new homes that meet local requirements,” the spokesperson said.
“We understand and accept the council’s decision regarding our proposed S106 amendment and will continue to deliver homes in line with the approved planning documents.”
Levelling up secretary Michael Gove last week unveiled the government’s long-delayed plans to address regional and social inequalities, but cash-strapped councils across England are having to plan heavy cuts to frontline services after more than a decade of ongoing austerity. Recent funding increases have not undone £15bn of cuts in central government grants to local authorities between 2010 and 2020, and councils wrestling with the impact of Covid are set to pass a succession of savings measures plus widespread council tax increases. Several local authorities are facing votes on service cuts in the coming weeks.
Nottingham is planning cuts to youth services, with all play schemes axed and a move toward targeted rather than universal provision. Its Early Help service would see a reduction in staffing and early intervention for families. Funding for its Base 51 youth centre, which provides services including counselling and crisis support, would be axed. Six of the city’s nine children’s centres would close from 2023.
Sandwell in the West Midlands is reviewing the respite support it provides, to allow unpaid carers such as family members a much-needed break while the person they care for is looked after by someone else. Sandwell plans to halve this from 56 days a year to 28, which the council admits “will reduce the level of service offered”. It is also planning to increase the amount adult care users pay for non-residential care.
Kent is planning to cut more than £2m from subsidised bus services, with some contracts potentially terminating. The cost of a school bus discount pass will rise by £80 a year, and by £30 for children receiving free school meals. The council is also planning to cut travel concessions for those accompanying disabled people.
Liverpool is planning to cut funding for community organisations that run three libraries: they took these over from the council in 2015 to save them from closure.
Hartlepool is planning to end free home-to-school transport for 16- to 19-year-olds with special education needs and disabilities (Send). Support may be axed for current students or perhaps just for new starters.
A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said the government was increasing councils’ “core spending power” by 4% and “providing the largest cash-terms increase in grant funding in 10 years”.
Boris’ wasted call, the “Cream Tea Plot” looks to have gone full “Doom Bar” as Johnny Mercer gives his enthusiastic support to the hospitality sector. – Owl
Johnny Mercer had spent afternoon watching FA Cup and Six Nations contests, according to his partner
A Tory MP was “so p****d” following an afternoon watching sport he “couldn’t remember what was said” when Boris Johnson called him on the phone, according to his wife.
Felicity Cornelius-Mercer shared a photo on social media on Saturday of her husband, Plymouth Moor View MP Johnny Mercer, sitting on a sofa with his head thrown back, apparently in a deep sleep.
She said the prime minister had called Mr Mercer after he had spent the day following his local side Plymouth Argyle’s narrow defeat to Premier League side Chelsea and England’s rugby team loss to Scotland in the Six Nations.
“So..funny story…the Prime Minister rang tonight directly after an afternoon of FA Cup football and England rugby..and @JohnnyMercerUK was so p****d he can’t remember what was said,” Ms Cornelius-Mercer wrote.
She joked that she was thinking of “winding him up” the next day, and asked her Twitter followers for suggestions of what to tell him he had discussed with the PM.
Some people suggested that she should tell her husband he had agreed to do an early-morning round of media interviews.
Others suggested she say that Mr Johnson offered him a new job, whether in Downing Street or his Cabinet.
Earlier in the evening, Mr Mercer quote-tweeted Plymouth Argyle’s tweet about the match and wrote: “Heartbreak. So proud – of fans and team.”
A number of crises have embroiled the prime minister recently, but Mr Mercer has not said whether he would submit a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson or not, according to PlymouthLive.
When asked by the local news outlet if he had plans to submit a letter of no confidence, Mr Mercer said he would not comment– and when asked why he would not comment, he replied: “Ha Ha.”
The “Levelling Up” White Paper puts great emphasis on recreating a modern day “Renaissance”.
Owl quotes from the paper (page xiv):
“The Renaissance flourished in Italian city states that combined innovation in finance with technological breakthroughs, the cultivation of learning, ground-breaking artistic endeavour, a beautiful built environment and strong civic leadership. And the first Industrial Revolution in Britain came about through the interplay of innovative financial instruments, sharper rewards for enterprise, new institutions of learning, improvements in transportation and rivalrous emulation between local leaders and entrepreneurs. Those same concerted forces are needed to drive productivity, innovation and growth across the UK today.
This contemporary Medici model, our twenty-first century recipe for a new Industrial Revolution, depends on harnessing an array of interventions and catalysing a range of sectors. Levelling up will require us to:
a. boost productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging;
b. spread opportunities and improve public services, especially in those places where they are weakest;
c. restore a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost; and
d. empower local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency.”
Here are members of the Great South West Team presenting a regional growth prospectus to the Minister for Local Growth, Rt Hon Jake Berry MP, in January 2020. They then briefed him on ambitions to deliver £45 billion of economic benefit and 190,000 new jobs over the next 15 years. We’ve not heard much since.
Who, if any, of our local leaders deserves the accolade of a contemporary Medici?
Here’s what you are looking for:
The role models: Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici
Could it be Devon County Council Leader John Hart?
Devon County Council (DCC) has revealed that out of the 317 care homes in the county, currently around half have two or more linked cases of Covid among staff and residents.
Last month, Devon Live reported how Covid outbreaks in Devon’s care homes had reached their highest level since the pandemic began.
Figures presented to the county council’s health and adult care scrutiny committee revealed that, as of 10 January, there were 160 such outbreaks in care settings across Devon.
The number was far higher than the previous peak of just over 90 a year ago, with the total number of active outbreaks tripling in less than a month.
Sadly the situation has not improved going into February. DCC has assured care homes are working hard to manage infection, mitigate risk, and to protect their residents and staff from coronavirus.
Where there are outbreaks – two or more linked positive cases – those care homes are said to be working even more closely with Public Health Devon to follow temporary additional measures to reduce risk.
Recently the government has changed its guidance over care home visiting rules to allow more visits.
Due to the high Covid numbers currently affecting Devon’s care homes, the relaxation of the rules is causing great concern to many care home providers in the region. It is feared that opening up to visitors right now will put residents and staff at greater risk of infection.
Under the new national rules, care home visitors are asked to make arrangements with care homes in advance of their visit, so that care home providers can manage the number of people attending at any one time, to ensure safety for residents and staff.
Steve Brown, Devon’s director of public health, said: “Visiting loved ones and friends who live in care homes is vitally important to the resident’s wellbeing.
“We want there to come a time soon when additional restrictions will not be needed, but while cases in Devon care homes remain high, we ask visitors to make arrangements with their care home in advance of their visit, so that the care home can manage risk of infection to residents and staff.
“We also ask that visitors follow the care home’s own policy, through careful hand hygiene, wearing of appropriate personal protective equipment, and using lateral flow device tests prior to visiting.”
“..lessons from previous efforts are not being learnt, claim critics. And the focus should be on people rather than “shiny new buildings”, says the former head of a flagship scheme in Newcastle.”
This week the government published its eagerly awaited White Paper, setting out plans to reduce regional inequality. Levelling up aims to revitalise communities in places like Rhyl, where BBC News has been tracking progress of this key policy.
But lessons from previous efforts are not being learnt, claim critics. And the focus should be on people rather than “shiny new buildings”, says the former head of a flagship scheme in Newcastle.
Florist Carol Parr clips the ends of flower stems on a bouquet as she explains the dilemma she faced. “I had a little battle with myself. Do I stay? Do I commit to Rhyl?” she says. “Not many people say good things about Rhyl, which I can understand based on crime, there’s a lot of trouble.”
Despite that, Carol opted to move into a larger shop on the high street three years ago. “I’m very optimistic and over the last two or three years I have seen a change in Rhyl. I think it’s an up-and-coming town again.”
Such optimism is not always evident in the seaside town, which was struggling long before its economy was pounded by the pandemic. But Carol’s act of faith may be repaid.
The local MP and the county council want to transform the town centre and recently prepared a £10m bid from the UK government’s levelling up fund.
Money from the £4.8bn fund aims to narrow the gap between richer and poorer parts of the UK. It will allow overlooked and undervalued communities to take back control of their destiny, the levelling up minister, Michael Gove, told parliament on Wednesday. But there are concerns that vital lessons from the past are being ignored.
Lessons from Newcastle
A generation ago, West Newcastle was undergoing a radical plan for change. It was one of 39 English communities that received funds under Labour’s New Deal for Communities (NDC). Within a few years levels of deprivation fell.
Graeme Williams ran the scheme and on a freezing cold January afternoon he gives us a tour of the area. We walk in shadows cast by the tower blocks of Cruddas Park, not far from the city centre. Twenty years ago “they looked awful”, says Mr Williams. “They were awful.”
Some of the blocks were refurbished, others demolished as part of the £55m spent in West Newcastle during a decade of regeneration. But most of the money didn’t go on capital projects, such as buildings.
His team appointed eight people who knew the area well to work with residents to prioritise what changes were needed. Decisions were taken by a management board made up mostly of residents.
The emphasis was “around training, education and supporting people to move into employment”, says Mr Williams. “People recognised they had agency where they could actually generate change.” It gave them hope.
An independent assessment of the New Deal for Communities by academics at Sheffield Hallam University concluded “in many respects these neighbourhoods have been transformed”. It said: “The biggest improvements were for indicators of people’s feelings about their neighbourhoods.”
Mr Williams still works in the city. He is now a director of the Centre West charity. And while proud of some of his achievements, he says a lot of work was “undone by austerity” which “hammered areas like the west end of Newcastle”.
“It’s massively disheartening and incredibly frustrating because we seem to take two steps forward and then two or three steps back as far as urban regeneration is concerned,” he says. “There’s an awful lot of really good evaluation work that’s been done to identify what works and how we can do things better and it’s not being used. “
Levelling up “might produce some nice shiny new buildings. But I don’t think it will necessarily improve the lives and prospects of people living in them communities”.
Supporters of what the Labour government policy achieved include a former Tory speech writer for Theresa May. Will Tanner, now director of the Onward think tank, assessed 60 years of regeneration projects by previous governments. “This isn’t a party-political point. This is just about the right policy based on the evidence,” he says.
He said putting power in the hands of communities worked best, “so they are pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps, rather than relying on a top-down government programme”.
He says the government is right to want to change the economic geography of the UK and is supportive of its plans. But adds: “The most important thing for the levelling up fund to do is to let go of power from Whitehall and to empower community organisations right down at the hyper-local level.”
The White Paper acknowledges the importance of local decision-making and promises more regional mayors. It isn’t yet clear what role will be played by people at a neighbourhood level.
Bricks and mortar
Back in Rhyl, we stroll around the town centre with Conservative MP James Davies, walking past boarded up and shuttered shops. He agrees. “Just building things, bricks and mortar is not the answer. It needs to be a cleverly thought through scheme that’s going to boost economic activity.”
We pause outside the derelict Queen’s Market, which is being bulldozed. It’s hoped a new food hall with flats and offices will be developed on the site through a mix of funding from the Welsh government, Denbighshire County Council, the levelling up fund and private businesses.
The plans would also see the town reconnected to the seafront. Incredibly, though an expansive sandy beach is just yards away, you can’t see it from the high street. Mr Davies says there is local backing. A master plan went out to consultation and has “the support of local councils, residents, businesses”.
But a potential obstacle is the number of high street shops owned by absentee landlords. A sample of Land Registry documents seen by BBC News show only five out of 25 High Street properties are owned by people local to Rhyl.
“That’s a real challenge,” Mr Davies acknowledges. “All you can do is invest in the areas that the local authority and willing partners own as a priority. And then you hope that economic activity will encourage others to follow over time.”
How do locals out and about on a beautiful, bright winter’s morning feel about their town centre and the plans to regenerate it?
“I’m not quite sure how to put this. It’s appalling,” says a man who moved to Rhyl seven years ago. “Shops closing, shutting arcades. Rhyl just isn’t what it used to be. I don’t think it will ever come back.”
But octogenarian former mayor, Diana Hannan, out on her mobility scooter, loves the town so much she moved back after emigrating to Australia. “We’ve got the best seaside resort in Wales,” she says.
“We get all this negative press about drugs and alcohol and all the rest of it, but we’ve got a lovely community living here. Rhyl is going to boom. You wait until all of these stores go up.”
On the road out of town we stop off at a food bank run out of the back of the Wellspring church. Amid shelves straining under the weight of tins of baked beans, pastor Mark Jones explains how Rhyl is full of “fabulous people”. But he says “there’s a lack of energy, a lack of enthusiasm”. “There’s this sense of hopelessness amongst the people. If you walk down the high street, you can just see it in people’s eyes.”
Mr Jones, who has lived in the town for more than 40 years, supports the levelling up plans but says the proposals “need to show the people of Rhyl that there is a hope and a future for them”.
“It’s OK to invest,” he says. “But you also need to inspire.”
Last week Exeter-based Midas, one of the country’s biggest privately owned construction and property service companies, filed a notice of intention to go into administration.
Together with its construction arm Midas Construction and housing division Mi-Space, the group has a turnover of almost £300 million and 500 people working directly for it, with many more employed through subcontractors.
But the company recently posted a loss of over £2 million for its last financial year, blaming its troubles on the pandemic, ongoing shortages of materials and labour, and a significant rise in costs because of inflation.
Midas’ projects in the county currently include contracts with Torbay Council to build an £11 million Premier Inn, improvements to a school in Torquay and nine affordable homes in Paignton.
A spokesperson for Torbay Council said: “We are saddened to hear the news about Midas and their notice of intent to enter administration. We are continuing to work with Midas to identify issues and solutions and any further implications that might need attention in the future.
On the hotel, they added the council “remains committed to the scheme which will not only generate new employment opportunities but will complement existing hotel accommodation in Torquay that will attract thousands of guests each year, boosting our local tourism economy by more than £3 million.”
The Lib Dem leaders of Torbay, Teignbridge, North Devon councils have sent out a call to the secretary of state for levelling up, Michael Gove, asking for Westminster to step in to help the company.
Councillor Steve Darling, leader of Torbay Council said: “Midas filing it’s notice of intention to appoint administrators is a grave concern for us.
“We are becoming aware of the millions that are owed to subcontractors and are aware that this could significantly impact on thousands of jobs and businesses in the south west.
“If the government is serious about their levelling up agenda, then the secretary of state must step in to stop this engine of regeneration from collapsing and sending the south west’s economy in to reverse.”
While neighbouring Cornwall Council also has a number of contracts with the company for schemes which include homes, schools and workspace projects, Devon County Council said it has no current projects with Midas.
Exeter City Council and Mid Devon District Council say they currently have no live contracts with the firm, which has offices in Exeter and Newton Abbot as well as elsewhere in the south west.
However, Midas is Teignbridge District Council’s main contractor for work currently taking place to decarbonise its Forde House headquarters.
A spokesperson for that council added: “While they are in the current phase of appointing an administrator, we are investigating alternative options to progress with the works.”
In a statement to confirm its intention to go into administration last week, Midas said: “the company continues to operate, while the directors work to explore all available options to achieve the best outcome for the business and our people, our customers, supply chain partners and all our stakeholders.
“Midas is committed to pursuing an outcome that will achieve continuity for our live contracts and asks all our valued stakeholders to remain supportive of the group at this time.”
Clyst St Mary Residents wait with bated breath for the recommendation by East Devon Planners
On 40 four-storey apartments in Zone D at Winslade Park
Many Clyst Valley Road residents, living adjacent to this inappropriate proposal, are holding their breath in anxiety, uncertainty and dread to see whether such an incongruous, urban design (which many have likened to an inner-city car park), opposite a historic Grade II* Listed Manor House in the rural village of Clyst St Mary, will be recommended for approval by East Devon Planners when the Reserved Matters Application (21/2217/MRES) is judged by the Planning Committee in the near future.
This Zone D proposal by Burrington Estates (New Homes) Limited, (alongside a further 39 homes on a green field at the entrance to Winslade Park – Zone A) was approved by East Devon District Council (EDDC) Planners on 2nd December 2020 merely in outline, under a hybrid application which included full planning permission for the refurbishment of the vast Winslade Park Office complex because the entire masterplan was deemed of significant economic value to East Devon but resulted in other pivotal planning issues being disregarded.
In December 2020, EDDC elected Councillors were advised by their Development Manager that the outline approval was only permitting the basic, foundational principles for residential development in both Zones A and D and Burringtons’ subsequent Reserved Matters applications would provide the crucial details regarding design, height, massing, access etc, which would take into account consultations from professional consultees and local contributors and could be challenged and amended to ultimately achieve the most desirable design resolutions.
Planning Committee Councillors (including the District Councillor for Clyst St Mary) recommended that the Zone D outline proposals for three-storeys should be lowered to two-storeys and that Burringtons should consult with local people, before their submission of Reserved Matters, to ensure that their designs were compatible with the Neighbourhood Plan and did not encroach on adjoining homes creating any local detrimental issues.(See the U-Tube recording on EDDC Planning Portal for Planning Committee on 2nd December 2020 for Application No. 20/1001/MOUT).
Unfortunately, Burringtons failed to provide a full consultation with the majority of the community (as advised by EDDC) preferring to restrict their consultation, at very short notice, to around 21 selected residents over a two day period! Sadly, this limited consultation has resulted in none of the comments made by any residents being included in Zone D amendments and to date no amended proposals for Zone A are published. However, instead of lowering the 40 apartment blocks to two storeys (recommended by Planners in December 2020), Burringtonsincreased them to four-storeys and also raised the entire ground level by approximately 2 metres for both the apartments and the access road (presumably to avoid potential ground-floor flooding in their proposed flats resulting from them building in a recognised flood-vulnerable zone)?
Although Burringtons have named Zone D ‘Woodland Villas’ – the truth is that their proposals include significant felling/thinning of mature trees in a woodland protected by a Tree Preservation Order, with removal of up to 18m tall early mature oak, ash, lime and cherry and young holly, hazel, field maple, cherry laurel and sycamores in the under-storey, purely to facilitate the access road and additional parking necessary for these 40 four-storey flats. Furthermore this woodland is primarily deciduous and so will not provide sufficient screening for the existing traditional two-storey Clyst Valley Road homes during 6 months of the year – because the proposed raised four-storey flats will overlook and encroach on existing indoor home spaces and cause detrimental issues of noise, light and air pollution from the towering flats and the raised access road and boundary parking.
Worryingly, the lack of safe pedestrian access at the bottom of Winslade Park Avenue for this entire Winslade Park development appears to have been ignored, despite extreme concerns from local residents that there are no pavements or lighting approaching a blind bend that seem crucial for 79 new homes and the commercial development to enable safe pedestrian access to the village amenities of the school, shop, post office etc?
Although the Developers have agreed financial contributions towards a footpath (that is yet to be provided) between the Village Hall car park and the school, this footpath is on the other side of the A3052 from Zones A and D! The Development Manager emphasised (on 2nd December 2020 at the outline planning meeting) the safety issues that were of concern in Winslade Park Avenue – but suggested that prospective residents of Zones A and D could drive to the Village Hall car park to access a safe footpath to be provided there in the future. However, many residents would, surely, rather walk the short 100 metres distance from Zone A to access the village facilities? To date, there appears to be no plans to clarify this unsustainable situation?
Surely, ‘the elephants in the room’ are the inappropriate design for 40 four-storey towering apartments in a small, rural village opposite a historic asset, the overlooking of local residents’ indoor home spaces, the lack of safe pedestrian access to and from two large residential sites, the loss of protected trees and the exacerbation of flooding in a vulnerable flood risk area?
Hopefully these matters will be addressed before any further decisions have to be made by East Devon’s Planning Committee in the near future – but the public perception is that economic benefits should not override the social and environmental issues and perhaps the Developers should be encouraged to submit proposals that will work for the people and not just generate profits for themselves?
The bottom of Winslade Park Avenue where there is no footpath or lighting
Pie, a fictional news correspondent portrayed by actor and comedian Tom Walker, kicked off his US segment by explaining the Patygate scandal that has rocked the Boris Johnson administration to viewers.
Dubbing the prime minister a “liar” – a term ‘banned’ in UK political discourse – he said “Trumpian is the ease with which he tells porkies”.
Discussing the Patygate scandal Pie said Downing Street hosted “16 separate p*ss-ups” in breach of its own lockdown rules, including two that happened the night before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
The comedian said Boris’s lies “are no secret” as he listed off all the things he’s fibbed about.
“He essentially lied to the Queen when he illegally shut down parliament, he lied to the country when he said Brexit would be good for farming, and fishing, and trade deals, and the economy.
“He’s been fired twice for lying. He was fired as a journalist for the Times newspaper for simply just making stuff up, and he was fired for lying about shagging someone behind his wife’s back.”
Pie went on to explain what shagging means, as well as other unfamiliar terms such as ‘scotch egg’, ‘pub’ and ‘Eton’.
Watch the hilarious clip in full HEREor on twitterHERE
11 St Andrews Close Feniton Honiton EX14 3DZRef. No: 22/0190/FUL | Validated: Fri 28 Jan 2022 | Status: Awaiting decision
East Devon Watch 