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Covid testing restarts as new fast-growing strain could trigger a winter wave

Random swab testing is restarting in the UK due to concerns about a new Covid-19 variant that could cause a winter surge in infections. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reports that the JN.1 variant has been the fastest-growing variant for at least eight months.

Suruchi Sharma Diwan www.inyourarea.co.uk 

According to the Mirror, the Office for National Statistics has resumed random testing amid early indications that 1.2 per cent of the population had the virus in the last week of November, up from one per cent the previous week. However, despite worries, Covid-19 rates in the UK are still low.

The UKHSA is now closely monitoring JN.1, which accounts for one in 13 cases detected. Designated as an official variant (V-23DEC-01), 302 cases of the strain have been identified in the UK so far. JN.1 has a mutation suggesting it could better evade immunity, emphasising the importance of recent vaccination for protection.

Dr Meaghan Kall, an epidemiologist at the UKHSA, tweeted: “JN.1 has been designated variant V-23DEC-01 due to increasing sequence prevalence in the UK and internationally.” She added: “With variant status, we will closely monitor JN.1. It seems likely we must now add variant pressures to the forecast of a winter Covid-19 wave.”

With a weekly growth rate advantage of 84.2 per cent, JN.1 is still a small proportion of infections. Despite this, Prof Stephen Griffin, professor of cancer virology at Leeds University, tweeted that he had ‘not seen a growth advantage like that in some time’.

The possibility of a winter Covid-19 wave, coupled with a rise in flu cases, could strain the NHS. It comes as flu cases have already started to spike, with an increase in hospitalised cases by more than half in just last week.

The Winter Coronavirus Infection Study, a scaled-back version of the previous Covid-19 Infection Survey, found 1.2 per cent of participants had the virus in the week ending November 29, with higher rates among 18 to 30-year-olds. However, this early data from lateral flow tests has not yet been ‘weighted’ to represent the demographics of the population at large.

New data also showed the percentage of hospital admissions testing positive for Covid-19 remains low at 2.9 per 100,000 patients in the week to December 3. This was up from 2.6 the previous week but the same level as a fortnight ago, according to the UKHSA.

An average of 2,343 people tested positive for Covid-19 in hospitals in England each day last week – less than half the number at this point last year. Dr Mary Ramsay, UKHSA director of public health, warned families to avoid mixing when they feel unwell.

She said: “Getting vaccinated as soon as possible will help reduce your risk of getting seriously ill with flu or Covid-19 this festive season. The vaccines can take a week or two to provide maximum protection, so get booked in now to keep your Christmas plans on track.”

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Huge power shift sparks anger in Torbay

Local Tories say they’ve been “thrown under the bus” and the electorate disrespected!

It’s all about entitlement shattered by a “coalition of the willing”. – Owl

Guy Henderson www.devonlive.com

A huge power shift on Torbay Council unfolded in a marathon meeting which stretched over five often ill-tempered hours. The Liberal Democrat, Independent and Prosper Torbay groups united to undo many of the now-minority Conservative administration’s structures.

After last May’s elections, the Tories had an overall majority and ran the council, but the defection of two of their members to form the new Prosper Torbay group last month changed the balance completely.

The Tories remain the largest party, with 17 seats, but the combined opposition now has 19 members. The meeting of the full council gave the new non-Conservative ‘team’ their first chance to challenge the administration, and they seized it.

The meeting, which ran well beyond its four-hour time limit after the opposition councillors voted to press on past 10pm, made a long list of changes to the chairmanship of council committees.

Out went a number of Conservative councillors, who found themselves sidelined in favour of the opposition, leading to angry exchanges.

“Maybe this is where the love-in stops!” said council leader David Thomas (Con, Preston), as his fellow Tories began to lose their posts.

The most heated debate centred on chairing the influential planning committee, which went to Prosper Torbay rebel Katya Maddison (Shiphay) with current chair Cllr Jackie Thomas (Con, Kings Ash) sidelined.

Cllr Adam Billings (Con, Churston with Galmpton) urged members to stick with the current chair, and said: “Planning is one of the most important committees this council has. Its decisions affect people’s lives. Why change something that at the moment is working well?”

And Cllr Jackie Thomas argued: “This is simply making change for change’s sake.”

There was also argument over chairing the harbours committee, with Cllr Andrew Strang (Con, Furzeham with Summercombe) removed in favour of Cllr Nicole Amil (Ind, Cockington with Chelston).

Cllr Strang argued that although the committee covered all of the bay’s harbours, with millions of pounds in ‘levelling up’ money to be spent on Brixham fish quay in the near future, a Brixham councillor should chair the committee.

Cllr Nick Bye (Con, Wellswood) said Brixham’s Tory councillors were being “thrown under the bus” and the opposition groups were “disrespecting the electorate.” The Conservatives took a clean sweep of Brixham’s council seats in May.

He continued: “It’s a disgrace that you are removing all responsible positions from the Brixham councillors. Of all the shoddy deals made tonight, this is the worst.”

The Conservatives warned that the council should be united when it came to securing more than £100 million pledged by the government for major projects across the bay.

But opposition members disputed the risk to the funding and said the Tories were playing “petty political parlour games.”

The wrangling had started with changes to the number of representatives of each party on various committees, to reflect the new balance of the council.

“This could herald a new way of collaborative working,” said Independent group leader Darren Cowell (Shiphay). “We need to show that we are a stable council.”

And Liberal Democrat leader Steve Darling also called for stability. “It’s about making sure we have firm foundations,” he said. “The easiest thing would be to have a revolution, but it’s important that we keep stability.

“I hope we can build on a collaborative approach.” But Cllr Bye accused the opposition group of packing his fellow Tories off to less important committees and keeping the best jobs for themselves.

“You’ve got to let us get on and do the jobs we were elected to do,” he pleaded.

Cllr David Thomas said he had offered seats on the ruling cabinet committee to the opposition, but they had declined. He went on: “This doesn’t feel very much like working together.

“We are on the edge of a precipice. We’ve got the money, the plans, the partners, the ambition and the political will to get these projects across the line, and we owe it to our communities.

“I desperately want us to deliver, and I think what we are doing tonight hinders us.”

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 27 November

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‘Open season’ for developers in East Devon

It is “open season” for housing developers in East Devon as the council can’t show the government it has at least five years’ worth of land for new homes. 

Will Goddard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

That’s the view of local councillor Jess Bailey (Independent, West Hill and Aylesbeare), who spoke of her frustration this week. 

Because it can’t prove it has identified land for new housing for five years means the council’s policies for locating new developments are deemed out-of-date for deciding whether to grant planning permission. 

[See also this article on the Tory Poison Chalice to put the Conservative Government policy in the context of the local Conservative pro-development legacy – Owl]

Cllr Bailey said: “I am concerned that effectively East Devon is declaring an open season for developers [who think] ‘don’t worry about planning policies because we haven’t got a five-year land supply.’

“The responsibility for this state of affairs must lie with the Conservative government and its flawed algorithm, which is putting so much pressure on East Devon. 

“What I really want to focus on is what East Devon District Council can do to put in maximum effort to resist speculative development when faced with this government’s algorithm.  

“I’m certainly not saying that we start refusing everything, but what I am saying is that we draw on everything that we can to ensure that we’re in the best position to refuse applications that are not in accordance with our planning policies, regardless of the five-year land supply.” 

Most councillors at the meeting agreed with Cllr Bailey and voted to ask all Devon district councils and the Local Government Association to agree to a legal challenge to “robustly” resist speculative development and uphold councils’ policies for where new houses should be built. 

Cllr Vicky Johns (Independent, Ottery St Mary) said: “Three-quarters of our area is covered by AONB [an area of outstanding natural beauty], and yet that is not taken into account at all in any way, shape or form when we’re allocated the housing that we’re supposed to put in.  

“We’ve already built all we’re supposed to have built and yet we’re still being told we need to build more, and build more, and build more. 

“I do agree that all the councils in the area should club together… and ask the government why they’re stating we have to do this when we don’t have the capacity to do it. It’s ridiculous.” 

Cllr Olly Davey (Green, Exmouth Town) added: “It’s understood as of January 2023, nearly 40 per cent of English local authorities could not demonstrate a five-year housing land supply, so the position EDDC finds itself in is by no means uncommon.” 

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Tories facing general election wipeout with just 130 seats, says polling guru

[But help is at hand for Simon. Under a proposed “career transition” scheme he could receive free advice with tasks such as writing a CV from a designated career coach. bbc.co.uk]

Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives are facing their worst ever result at the general election and could be left with just 130 seats, according to Professor Sir John Curtice.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk 

The country’s top polling guru warned of the bleak situation faced by the Tories as they head into winter with the news dominated by infighting over the prime minister’s Rwanda deportation plan.

Prof Curtice said Mr Sunak’s party would be “lucky to win [many] more than 200 seats” and could see an even worse result if its dire poll ratings continued.

“If these patterns were to be replicated in a general election, the outcome for the Conservatives could be bleak indeed – maybe as few as 130 seats, the worst outcome in the party’s history,” he wrote for The Sunday Telegraph.

The outcome would be even worse than the 165 seats the Tories were left with in 1997, when the party, then led by John Major, was thumped by Tony Blair’s Labour – which won a landslide 179-seat majority.

With Labour enjoying a consistent polling lead of close to 20 points, Prof Curtice said voters appear to have “stopped listening” to the Tories on the big issues.

He warned Mr Sunak that his recent anti-immigration push had “not gone well”. The elections expert said it looked like the Rwanda bill “could divide the party just as [Theresa] May’s ill-fated Brexit deal did in 2019”.

On the major split currently looming in response to Mr Sunak’s plans, Prof Curtice wrote: “Divided parties rarely prosper at the polls. In pursuing their disagreements with Mr Sunak over immigration, Tory MPs should realise they are potentially playing with fire.”

He added: “Even though the polls have repeatedly indicated that the government’s Rwanda policy is relatively popular – at least among those who voted Conservative in 2019 – the first polls since this week’s developments suggest they also are unlikely to move the electoral dial.”

He continued: “We should not be surprised. Although many 2019 Conservative voters are unhappy about the level of legal and ‘illegal’ immigration, those who feel that immigration has gone up a lot are not especially likely to say they will not vote Conservative again.”

There is speculation at Westminster that Mr Sunak may be forced into a snap election in the early part of 2024 if he struggles to get his Rwanda bill through parliament.

But cabinet minister Michael Gove insisted that Mr Sunak’s government is “not contemplating” holding an early general election if the Rwanda bill is voted down. Asked if it was an option, the senior Sunak ally told Sky News: “No, we’re not contemplating that.”

A group of unnamed Tory MPs have told The Mail on Sunday that they would like to get rid of Mr Sunak – with some even keen to bring back Boris Johnson as leader.

Dubbed the “pasta plotters”, a small group of anti-Sunak MPs and strategists were said to have met at an Italian restaurant to plan “an Advent calendar of s***” for the current Tory leader over the Rwanda issue this December.

“Whatever you feel about him, one thing no one can question is [Mr Johnson]’s effectiveness as a campaigner,” one red-wall MP told the newspaper. But with Mr Johnson out of parliament, the so-called pasta plotters are said to be uncertain who could realistically replace Mr Sunak.

Damian Green – chair of the One Nation wing – offered a warning to any right-wing rebels pouncing on the Rwanda issue as a way to get rid of Mr Sunak.

“Anyone who thinks that what the Conservative Party or the country needs is a change of prime minister is either mad, or malicious, or both,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Mr Green added: “It is a very, very small number doing that [plotting to oust Mr Sunak].”

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PPE bought via ‘VIP lane’ was on average 80% more expensive, documents reveal

“The British public are sick of being ripped off under the Conservatives. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money have been squandered … when it could have been spent in our schools, hospitals and police.” – Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

PPE was on average 80% more expensive when the government bought it from firms referred through a special “VIP lane” by Conservative ministers, MPs and officials, new information has revealed.

The Good Law Project, which has long been investigating PPE deals during the Covid pandemic, said internal government documents showed that the unit price paid for items under VIP lane contracts was up to four times higher than average.

The organisation highlighted one example as being the cost of PPE delivered by Meller Designs, a fashion company at the time co-owned by the Tory donor David Meller, which was referred through the VIP lane by Michael Gove’s office. Meller Designs was awarded six PPE supply contracts worth £164m during the coronavirus pandemic.

In three of these contracts with Meller Designs, the government paid between 1.2 and 2.2 times the average unit price. The average price for medical gowns was £5.87 but the gowns bought from Meller Designs cost £12.64. About £8.46m worth of the equipment supplied by Meller Designs was later found to be not used in an NHS setting.

A spokesperson for Meller Designs said: “Meller Designs approached the government in March 2020 and offered to supply PPE for the NHS and other essential public services.

“We are extremely proud of the role we played at the height of the Covid-19 crisis and managed to secure more than 100m items of PPE – including masks, sanitiser, coveralls and gloves direct from the manufacturers – at a time when they were most needed. This PPE was used in hospitals and by emergency services throughout the country.

“In responding to the national emergency, we were able to rely on our many years’ experience of sourcing, testing and quality control of a wide range of products.

“As a company Meller Designs has been in business for more than 100 years but we can honestly say this was one of the most difficult and important contracts we have ever been asked to respond to and we would like to thank all our colleagues who worked so hard to make it happen.”

Responding to the PPE figures, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said: “The British public are sick of being ripped off under the Conservatives. Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money have been squandered … when it could have been spent in our schools, hospitals and police.

“That is why Labour will appoint a [commissioner] to go through pandemic contracts line by line and whenever they have failed to deliver, we will clawback every pound we can for the public.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said its priority throughout the pandemic “was to save lives and we acted swiftly to procure PPE at the height of the pandemic, competing in an overheated global market where demand massively outstripped supply”.

“Due diligence was carried out on all companies and every company was subjected to the same checks,” the spokesperson said.

Separately, the Conservative peer Michelle Mone said she was wrong to publicly deny involvement in a PPE firm now under investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Lady Mone released a YouTube documentary in which she and her husband, Douglas Barrowman, launched a fightback “because we have done nothing wrong”.

Mone had lobbied ministers, including the communities secretary, Michael Gove, and officials for PPE Medpro to win contracts and it went on to obtain £200m in deals to supply masks and medical gowns. Her lawyers subsequently denied to the Guardian repeatedly that she was involved in the firm.

The DHSC is suing PPE Medpro for the full return of the £122m it paid for the surgical gowns but never used, claiming they were unsafe for use in the NHS. The company is defending the claim.

The NCA has been conducting an investigation into PPE Medpro since May 2021, which is continuing.

Gove said he could not comment on matters under NCA investigation but insisted it was wrong for anyone to suggest that ministers were doing favours for their contacts.

He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday: “Ministers did not take individual decisions about who should receive contracts … teams of civil servants assessed the worthiness of any contracts put forward.

“The suggestion that somehow ministers were seeking to deliberately do favours for or line the pockets of other individuals is totally unjustified because the decisions were only taken after a proper coherent and fair procurement process.”

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Housing crisis poses threat to survival of rural communities – CPRE Report

www.cpre.org.uk

An affordable, healthy home is the foundation for a decent life. But our new report shows that rural communities in England are facing an existential threat from an acute and overlooked shortage of genuinely affordable housing.

The report, entitled ‘Unraveling a crisis: the state of rural affordable housing in England’, launched today and lays bare the impact of this crisis on real people, along with what is needed to fix it.

Read the report

‘Chronic shortage’ of affordable housing

A chronic shortage of genuinely affordable housing is creating huge social housing waiting lists and forcing people out of the communities they know and love. This worrying crisis is being fed by record house prices, stagnating wages and an increasing number of second homes and short term lets.

The countryside, where levels of homelessness have leapt 40% in just five years, is being drained of skills, economic activity and vital public services.

There is an extreme disparity between rural house prices, which are higher than those in other parts of the country, and rural wages, which are much lower. House prices in the countryside increased at close to twice the rate of those in urban areas in the five years to 2022. While the average cost of a home jumped 29% and is now £419,000, rural earnings increased by just 19% to a total of £25,600.

89-year waiting lists

More than 300,000 people are on waiting lists for social rented housing in rural England, an increase of over 10% since 2018. At the current rate of construction, it would take 89 years to offer a home to everyone on the waiting list. Current planning policies allow for the building of new ‘affordable’ housing costing anything up to 80% of market value. This means that in many rural areas the ‘affordable homes’ being provided are often anything but.

Local authorities have not replaced social housing at the rate properties have been sold under the Right to Buy policy, leading to a chronic shortage of housing for people who need it most.

Damaging short-term lets and second homes

In Cornwall, where more than 15,000 families are on social housing waiting lists, the number of properties for short-term let, (at much higher prices than social rents), grew by 661% in the five years to 2021. Half of the families on social housing waiting lists in South Lakeland could be accommodated in local properties available exclusively as holiday rentals. Devon has seen 4,000 homes taken off the private rental market and 11,000 new short-term listings since 2016.

The government has legal powers to protect council housing purchased under the Right to Buy scheme from being sold off at market rates or as second homes. Our research is the first published study to look at the overall coverage of these so-called ‘Section 157’ powers.

We found that these powers only apply to half of all rural parishes in England. They exclude whole counties such as Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, and also large towns. There are several large towns, particularly in south west England, where there is a particular lack of affordable housing.

‘Decades of inaction’

CPRE’s Chief Executive Roger Mortlock said:

‘Decades of inaction have led to an affordable housing crisis that is ripping the soul from our rural communities. Solutions do exist and the next government must set and deliver ambitious targets for new, genuinely affordable and social rented rural housing, curbing the boom of second homes and short-term lets.

‘Record house prices and huge waiting lists for social housing are driving people out of rural communities, contributing to soaring levels of often hidden rural homelessness. We need urgent change to ensure we don’t end up with rural communities that are pricing out the very people needed to keep them vibrant.’

Urgent recommendations

The report contains a list of recommendations that CPRE believes will help to solve the severe housing crisis in the countryside. It includes calls for the government to:

  • Redefine ‘affordable housing’ to directly link to average local incomes
  • Increase the minimum amount of genuinely affordable housing required by national planning policy and implement ambitious targets for the construction of social rented homes.
  • Support local communities to deliver small-scale developments of genuinely affordable housing and make it easier for councils to purchase land at reasonable prices, enabling the construction of social housing and vital infrastructure.
  • Introduce a register of second homes and short-term lets, with new powers for local authorities to levy additional council tax on second homes.
  • Extend restrictions on the resale of ‘affordable housing’ to all parishes with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants to ensure local workers can continue to use properties, rather then allowing them to become second homes or holiday lets.

Read the full report

Read our 2023 affordable housing report here. We’ve also created a jargon-busting explainer, to help readers interpret the report and understand some of the key policy mechanisms.

An affordable housing scheme in Cornwall Kevin Britland / Alamy Stock Photo

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Rishi Sunak has no purpose. It’s time to call an election  

He is an unelected prime minister with no mandate, no coherent agenda and no answer to the profound challenges facing the country, from sluggish productivity and poor growth, to the dire state of social care, to the climate crisis. Devoid of substance, and fearful of the country’s likely verdict on his party’s increasingly wretched period in office, he is determined to make reducing migration a key election battleground.

Observer editorial www.theguardian.com 

Another week, another crisis in the Conservative party. This time, it was prompted by the resignation of the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, who claimed that Rishi Sunak’s emergency legislation to enact his plan to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda was a “triumph of hope over experience”. Rival Tory factions reportedly spent the rest of the week plotting opposing amendments to the bill for when it is introduced to the Commons on Tuesday. It is the latest manifestation of the weakness of a government riven by internal division, led by a prime minister with no strategic purpose save holding his party and his premiership together.

This is a crisis of Sunak’s own making. He is an unelected prime minister with no mandate, no coherent agenda and no answer to the profound challenges facing the country, from sluggish productivity and poor growth, to the dire state of social care, to the climate crisis. Devoid of substance, and fearful of the country’s likely verdict on his party’s increasingly wretched period in office, he is determined to make reducing migration a key election battleground.

There are two aspects to this: first, record net migration levels are the product of Sunak’s own policies. Migration is high mainly because after Brexit, the government significantly liberalised the migration regime for people coming to work in the UK on skilled worker visas, reducing salary thresholds and skill requirements, particularly for shortage jobs such as care work. Four in 10 skilled worker visas now go to care workers; six in 10 to workers in the health sector more broadly.

Instead of investing in the skills, qualification levels and pay of the domestic health and social care workforce to reduce staff shortages, the government is simply looking to reverse its own policy and make it harder for people to come here to fill those gaps; last week, the home secretary James Cleverly announced the government will significantly increase the minimum salary threshold for skilled worker visas, with the exemption of those for health and social care, prevent people coming to the UK to work in health and social care from bringing their children with them, and also, significantly, double the minimum income that British citizens need to earn in order to sponsor their spouses or children for family visas. These policies will depress net migration, but at what human cost? None of this gets to the heart of the British economy’s fundamental problems: medium-term skill shortages but also an ageing population that, in the long run, creates a choice between higher tax rates for working-age citizens or expanding the working population through migration.

The second thrust of Sunak’s migration agenda addresses asylum seekers: Sunak has pledged to “stop” the small boats carrying people across the Channel to claim refuge in the UK. These movements are notoriously difficult to prevent; if he was really interested in reducing the tragic loss of life in the Channel, he could try to negotiate a returns agreement with France in exchange for taking an agreed number of their asylum seekers.

Instead, he has inexplicably hitched his fortunes to a scheme to detain every asylum seeker on arrival in the UK, and deport them to a third safe country in an attempt to deter people from making the crossing in the first place, despite evidence suggesting any deterrent effect would be minimal. The only country the government struck a deal with was Rwanda; but last month, the supreme court ruled it would be unlawful to deport asylum seekers there because there would be a danger of them being returned to their home countries where they would face persecution or inhumane treatment.

Sunak’s hare-brained plan to get round the supreme court is an emergency bill that designates Rwanda as safe despite the judgment of the British courts, and disapplies the Human Rights Act for the purposes of the legislation. Legal experts still think it would be in breach of international law, and so subject to challenge in the European Court of Human Rights. But the bill allows ministers to ignore any interim measures issued by the EHCR as a matter of domestic law.

This is a dishonest fudge, which not only undermines the separation of powers between parliament and the courts, but is contingent on the UK breaching its obligations under international law. All for a scheme that even if it came off, and it seems highly unlikely the bill will survive passage through the Lords before an election, would lead to at most a handful of vulnerable people being deported even as the government has to permanently detain tens of thousands of asylum seekers at great expense to the taxpayer.

It beggars belief that Sunak has made this a defining pledge of his premiership. It has divided his party, between those like Jenrick and former home secretary Suella Braverman who want the bill to go even further in closing off any form of challenge to deportation, and those on its more moderate wing rightly appalled at its disregard for the UK’s international obligations. It is a manufactured row over something that will make no substantive difference to the UK, or the wellbeing of its citizens: political posturing by the same old Conservative party that imploded over a hard Brexit, which has permanently damaged Britain’s economic potential. This is a rotten government led by a prime minister incapable of governing and wholly unsuited to confronting the huge challenges we face. The country can ill afford to wait any longer for a general election.

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Tories shelve pledge for everyone in UK to live 15 minutes from a green space

The broken pledge: “I am particularly pleased by our pledge in this plan to bring access to a green or blue space within 15 minutes’ walk of everyone’s homes – whether that be through parks, canals, rivers, countryside or coast,” Thérèse Coffey.

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

The UK government has no plans to meet its target for everyone to live within a 15-minute walk of a green space, the Guardian can reveal.

Ministers have also scrapped an idea to make the target for access to nature legally binding, a freedom of information request submitted by the Right to Roam campaign shows.

Launching the plans earlier this year, the then-environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, congratulated herself for the idea: “I am particularly pleased by our pledge in this plan to bring access to a green or blue space within 15 minutes’ walk of everyone’s homes – whether that be through parks, canals, rivers, countryside or coast,” she said.

But in response to a freedom of information request, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “No assessment has yet gone to ministers on options for how to progress towards the commitment.”

At the moment, according to government data, 38% of the country live more than a 15-minute walk from a green or blue space. The data provided to ministers also states that “in the 200 most disadvantaged lower super output areas in urban settings with the lowest levels of green space, 97% have no access to green space within 15 minutes’ walk from home”.

The documents reveal that the government rejected the idea of making the target legally binding, meaning it does not have to fulfil its promise.

Notes show that the former environment secretary George Eustice “queried the idea of a top-down target”, while Defra officials noted there were “challenges associated with setting a legally binding target”.

Guy Shrubsole, from the Right to Roam campaign, said: “A year after making their access commitment, ministers still have no idea how on earth to meet it. And having rejected setting a legal target for increasing access, the government is clearly only interested in spinning good headlines rather than improving the nation’s health and wellbeing.

“The next government needs to be bold and give the public a default right of responsible access with sensible exceptions. Without this, meeting the 15 minutes goal will prove impossible.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “We are increasing access to nature and just last week we announced an ambitious package of measures, including a search for a new national park and funding to help more children get outdoors and into the countryside, making our green spaces accessible for all communities.

“Work is ongoing to develop an approach to monitoring and evaluating our vital commitment that every household should be within a 15-minute walk of a green space or water.”

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£5m toilet upgrades in East Devon

And it will cost you 40p a pee

Questions have been raised at East Devon District Council over why it is spending £5 million upgrading 15 of its public toilets.

[Because the Tories didn’t invest in maintenance/upgrades – Owl]

Will Goddard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

That’s an average of £333,333 per loo; about the same as an average semi-detached house in the area

Councillors have voted to start a new group to look at the plans and estimated costs of the improvements. 

In 2021, the council divided its WCs into three categories: A, B and C.   

Category A conveniences, of which there are 15, will be refurbished or rebuilt at an estimated cost of £5 million. Previously this amount was £3.4 million, but building inflation has added an extra £1.6 million to the bill. It will cost users 40p each time, which has to be met with a contactless payment card or phone.

Category B and C toilets, of which there are 12, have been offered for commercial operators to repurpose them into cafes, takeaways or community hubs – although the public must still be able to go to the loo there – and also to town and parish councils to run in place of East Devon District Council, which can no longer afford them. 

Cllr Ian Barlow (Independent, Sidmouth Town) pointed out that more money was being spent on upgrading the council’s category A loos than planned maintenance for its more than 4,000 social homes, although he did realise the funds came from different places.  

Cllr Paul Hayward (Independent, Axminster) said in response: “This council recognises that spending on the maintenance of our housing stock can only come forward via the ring-fenced housing revenue account, whereas targeted spending on… the modernisation of our no-longer-fit-for-purpose WC assets is proposed to come from our revenue budgets and capital expenditure allocations, a wholly different and legally distinct pot of money.” 

Cllr Barlow also questioned whether the council was getting good prices for the loo upgrades.  “Refurbishment of Seaton toilets is going to cost £30,000. To put up new toilets in Exmouth is going to cost £408,000,” he said.

“I’m not into cutting toilets. I really am not. I want more toilets. 

“But at the end of the day, the amount we’re spending is not value for money.” 

Cllr Eleanor Rylance (Lib Dem, Broadclyst) responded: “I really very much trust our officers to do due diligence on any contracts that they commission.  

“I don’t think we can judge in this chamber whether or not something is value for money in that respect. We’ve had several examples though of how procurement at the lowest possible price can go very badly wrong.”  

East Devon’s public toilets are ranked as follows:  

Category A  

West Street Car Park, Axminster 
Cliff Path (West End/Steamer), Budleigh Salterton 
East End (Lime Kiln), Budleigh Salterton 
Jubilee Gardens, Beer 
Foxholes Car Park, Exmouth 
Magnolia Centre (London Inn), Exmouth  
Manor Gardens, Exmouth 
Phear Park, Exmouth 
Queens Drive, Exmouth 
Lace Walk, Honiton 
West Walk, Seaton 
Connaught Gardens, Sidmouth 
Triangle, Sidmouth 
Market Place, Sidmouth 
Ham car park (new site), Sidmouth 
Categories B and C  

Orcombe Point, Exmouth 
The Maer, Exmouth 
Imperial Road, Exmouth 
Jarvis Close, Exmouth 
Seaton Hole, Seaton 
Harbour Road, Seaton 
Marsh Road, Seaton 
Brook Road, Budleigh Salterton 
Station Road, Budleigh Salterton 
Dolphin Street, Colyton 
King Street, Honiton 
Port Royal, Sidmouth
 

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Johnny Mercer Gets Burned Twice In A Row By George Monbiot On BBC Question Time

Tory minister Johnny Mercer faced a withering response – twice – after clashing with writer and activist George Monbiot on BBC Question Time over the government’s record on climate change.

Graeme Demianyk www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

Appearing on the broadcaster’s flagship politics show, which this week came from Petersfield, the pair clashed amid recent questions over Rishi Sunak’s commitment to the environment.

The prime minister was criticised for spending just 11 hours at the COP28 climate conference, though he argued the UK has a better track record than any other major economy in decarbonising.

Yet he has faced a backlash for scaling back a host of pledges designed to help the UK reach net zero by 2050 and vowed to “max out” the UK’s oil and gas reserves by granting new North Sea drilling licences.

After facing criticism on the BBC show, Conservative MP Mercer claimed that the government had made “extraordinary progress” on climate change.

But Monbiot responded: “No, extraordinary progress has not been made under this government. It has deliberately trashed some of the progress even that was made under Boris Johnson’s government.

“There are such simple things we could do. For example, the government is currently spending £78 billion across two years in subsidising people’s energy bills. But for £8 billion it could insulate the three million homes most in need. Greatly cutting people’s bills and greatly cutting our emissions.

“We now have a situation where renewables are much cheaper than fossil fuels but the government is deliberately trying to lock us into fossil fuels, not for the sake of the people of this country, not to cut our bills, it does exactly the opposite, for the sake of the oil and gas industry. The Tory party has taken £3.5 million in donations from polluting industries. This is the quid pro quo.”

Mercer then asked: “Do you honestly sit there and think that in Number 10 every day, the prime minister and the government wake up and think, we are just going to torch the world?”

Monbiot replied: “Yes, roughly.”

He added: “They just don’t care. The fact is they don’t care. Sunak flew to COP28 in a 200-seater jet, but he was the only minister who flew in that jet. Other ministers flew in a separate private jets.

“He doesn’t care. He treats this whole country like a flyover state, going backwards and forwards in his helicopters and private jets.”

Monbiot also picked apart the “sadistic” government’s Rwanda deportation policy, arguing the driving force was to “performatively beat up some of the most vulnerable and traumatised people on earth”.

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East Devon councillors get 20 per cent pay rise

But it’s the first in 15 years.

“We really need to encourage younger people to come forward to stand for election regardless of their political affiliations. This is a move I believe in the right democratic direction.” Eileen Wragg

Another legacy problem tackled. – Owl

East Devon councillors have given themselves a 20 per cent pay rise. 

Will Goddard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

They are called ‘allowances’, not salaries, and the basic annual rate has gone up for the first time since 2008 from £4,360 to £5,260. 

Additional payments for special responsibilities have also risen, such as the council leader’s allowance on top of the basic rate, which is up £56 to £14,477, and the leader of the opposition’s, which has risen by £907 to £4,928.  

Cabinet portfolio holders will also see a rise of £726 to £6,910 to their special responsibility allowance and the chair of the overview committee a rise of £1,787 to £3,797, amongst others. 

Councillors voted to accept the figures suggested by an independent panel this week. 

Every council relies on a remuneration panel, completely independent of the council, to work out how much members get. 

Cllr Alasdair Bruce (Independent, Feniton) was worried about how the public would see the rises.  He said: “I think we all know realistically this is going to be a hard sell and it’s partly our own fault because we’ve let this slide for so long.” 

Cllr Eileen Wragg (Lib Dem, Exmouth Town) was pleased with the increases. 

She said these changes are long overdue. “I think what a lot of members of the public don’t realise [is] that we are actually taxed on these allowances and they are allowances. They’re not salaries, they’re not wages.  

“We really need to encourage younger people to come forward to stand for election regardless of their political affiliations. This is a move I believe in the right democratic direction.” 

But Cllr Roy Collins (Liberal Party, Honiton St Michael’s) was concerned younger people would not be able to afford to serve as a councillor.  

He said: “I’m the Liberal Party nomination officer for the south west. I wouldn’t dream about trying to get working people to stand for this council for such a low amount of money. 

“My son, if you wanted him to stand for the council, he couldn’t survive on that little pittance. He’d want at least minimum wage. 

“I’ve studied this council since it was formed. And in the early days we had… lots of business people, factory owners, several hoteliers were on this council. I don’t believe there’s any now. 

“Half the council was made of farmers. I’m the only farmer left. Farmers can’t afford it. I’m struggling to come here. I was paying a man £60 to milk the cows so I could come here.” 

The basic allowance rise will be backdated to last May’s election, and the special responsibilities allowances to 1 June 2023.  

From next year, the allowances will go up annually and will be reviewed every four years. 

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A correspondent remembers Zephaniah

A Correspondent remembers Benjamin Zephaniah:

The British


Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.

Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.

Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.


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Does this “internal NHS market” produce sensible decisions? 

On March 9, 2020, days after Prof Chris Witty told MPs that we can no longer contain Covid-19 and must move into the delay phase, Owl reported Claire Wright’s concerns over:  “More deep cuts loom as Devon’s NHS must save over £400m by 2024”.

Now we have:

Health bosses to offload Okehampton’s empty hospital ward (as well as Seaton)

It could save £215,000 a year.

[Owl questions the use of the word “Save” in this context – this is an internal transfer between two parts of the NHS in budget deficit.]

Devon’s health bosses want to hand back an empty ward at Okehampton hospital to its landlords after claiming it has cost the local NHS more than £1 million over six years.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

A report by the Devon Integrated Care Board suggests the county’s NHS could save around £215,000 per year by returning the ward to NHS Property Services, which owns the health service’s properties and rents them back to local trusts.

With Devon’s NHS ending the most recent financial year with a £46 million deficit, the trust’s bosses are desperately searching for ways to save money.

The county’s health board is in special measures, meaning Devon gets intensive support from NHS England.

The NHS in Devon has a £212 million savings plan, but its December board papers show it is £32.5 million adrift from where it expected to be.

The plan to jettison the Okehampton ward comes shortly after it emerged that the NHS in Devon is also seeking to hand back a ward at Seaton Community Hospital.

However, local opposition there has been vocal, with Richard Foord MP (Lib Dem, Tiverton and Honiton) raising the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions in parliament.

Beds at the ward in Okehampton were removed in 2017 when the clinical commissioning group agreed to retain inpatient beds at Sidmouth, Exmouth and Tiverton community hospitals, but to close them in the West Devon town, as well as at Seaton, Whipton and Honiton.

Around the same time, ownership of the hospitals moved to NHS Property Services, which charges a market rent even on empty space.

Devon’s NHS said a consultation at the time about the changes to these hospitals, entitled Your Future Care, involved 70 events and public meetings attended by more than 2,000 people. It received more than 1,500 responses  to it survey, along with 650 letters, but didn’t indicate the balance of views expressed, meaning it is unclear whether people supported or opposed the plans.

The report said the NHS in Devon hadn’t received a viable scheme so beds could return to the Okehampton ward, and the cost of bringing it back into a usable condition would be significant.

“Faced with ongoing stark financial challenges, we have started the process of surrendering this space so we can save the money being wasted,” the report said.

“On 28 November, we took a decision which effectively means we are in the process of handing the former ward area – made up of the empty ward, associated link corridors and ancillary space – back to the owner of the building, NHS Property Services.

“Based on local discussions and our experience, we do not anticipate that local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations would be able to take on the ward space.”

It added that it would still be talking to local organisations to confirm they were not able to take on the space, and would also be consulting them on how best to use the rest of the hospital that remains in use now.
 

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‘Significant work’ for Devon’s health service to exit special measures

Devon’s health leaders aren’t confident they can get out of special measures by the target date they have been set.

Bradley Gerrard www.midweekherald.co.uk

The county’s leading health professionals told the Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) that it could “not provide assurance of meeting the target exit date by Q1 2024/25”.

At its December meeting, the ICB, chaired by doctor and former Totnes MP Sarah Wollaston, heard that Devon’s health and care sector is on target to meet just two of nine criteria it has to hit to exit the NHS Oversight Framework, or NOF.

Devon is under NOF4, the most serious level, also referred to as being in special measures.

Bill Shields, interim chief executive and chief financial officer of NHS Devon, told the meeting at County Hall in Exeter that the health system had a “significant amount of work that needs to be done”.

“If you look at the current financial performance, we are not where we need to be,” he said.

He noted that this year had been challenging for a variety of reasons, including industrial action by junior doctors, and that next year will be similarly challenging for the whole NHS.

A report by Mr Shields showed Devon’s health service reporting a year-to-date deficit of £75 million against a planned deficit of £39 million, up nearly three-quarters compared to the previous month.

Stubborn costs, industrial action, a shortfall in pay award funding, and a year-to-date overspend on drugs at some hospitals were listed as some of the reasons.

Devon NHS has made nearly £90 million in efficiency savings in the current financial year, but it is targeting a total of £212 million.

Mr Shields said NHS Devon is moving to a single central office at Exeter’s Pynes Hill this month, which will help reduce annual running costs by approximately £500,000.

He added that all non-clinical posts would “not be filled by default”, but that a detailed process could be conducted if a case is made for a post to be filled.

Allison Williams, system improvement director for NHS Devon, welcomed the ICB’s commitment to helping improve the situation.

“The seriousness with which the board needs to take this is well understood,” she said.

“As part of the reset, it is timely to remind ourselves of the reason why I’m here as part of mandated support.”

The ICB is made up of members from the NHS Devon executive as well as non-executive members, and members from other organisations, such as Devon County Council’s leader Donna Manson.

Its purpose is to ensure high quality heath services and robust financial management.

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Devon hit with dozens of pollution alerts

Devon has been hit with dozens of sewage pollution warnings today (Thursday, December 7). An interactive map published by environmental action group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) claims 26 of Devon’s beaches could be contaminated with sewage.

What about the rivers?  – Owl

Molly Seaman www.devonlive.com

South West based SAS monitors the water quality across 47 beaches in Devon, meaning roughly 55 per cent could be polluted. According to SAS, a pollution alert means “storm sewage has been discharged from a sewer overflow in this location within the past 48 hours”.

The current warnings in place affect the south and east coast of Devon, with Torbay, Exmouth and Plymouth the worst affected. Around Woolacombe there is some pollution too, but the north coast seems to be faring better than the south.

The main contributing factor to polluted beaches is urban runoff, which sees fertilisers, pesticides, oil, and untreated human and animal waste all entering waterways, such as rivers. These harmful contaminants then eventually end up at our beaches. South West Water and other water companies are allowed to let their combined storm overflows (CSO), which combine household sewage with surface run-off, open into the sea when overwhelmed by heavy rain.

Swallowing water that could be contaminated with poo could lead to gastroenteritis, hepatitis, giardiasis, skin rashes, amoebic dysentery, nose, ear, and throat problems, pink eye, and other respiratory illnesses. Symptoms to look out for include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, cramps, inflamed stomach and intestines.

Devon beaches hit with sewage alerts:

  • Seaton
  • Beer
  • Sidmouth Town
  • Budleigh Salterton
  • Sandy Bay
  • Exmouth
  • Dawlish Town
  • Dawlish Coryton Cove
  • Teignmouth Holcombe
  • Shaldon
  • Meadfoot
  • Beacon Cove
  • Torre Abbey
  • Paignton Preston Sands
  • Goodrington
  • St Marys Bay
  • Dartmouth Castle and Sugary Cove
  • Mill Bay
  • Salcombe South Sands
  • Thurlestone South
  • Mothercombe
  • Wembury
  • Firestone Bay
  • Plymouth Hoe East
  • Plymouth Hoe West
  • Woolacombe Village
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‘Bring it on’: Labour vows to fight Tories’ ‘degradation’ of nature in race for No 10

Labour will take on vested interests from water companies to housebuilders and farmers in an effort to restore the UK’s degraded natural environment, the party’s environment chief has said.

Fiona Harvey www.theguardian.com 

Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, said: “If the Tories want to have an election fight over that, bring it on, because the British people care about the countryside, they care about nature. They care about living in a beautiful country. They value their access to the countryside. The Conservatives are on the wrong side of all that, and to many, many voters that will tip their votes.”

Vested interests had provoked a sewage crisis in the UK’s waterways, he said. “The government has formed a coalition between the Conservative party and rogue water bosses.

“They are allowing these companies to illegally exploit our waterways by filling them up with record levels of sewage, illegal discharges of sewage, in order to boost their profits. Then the water bosses take huge levels of bonuses as a result of these boosted profits.”

The Tory approach to housebuilders also verged on corruption, he added. Labour exposed this when the government tried to weaken nutrient neutrality rules in August, in plans that would have given housebuilders carte blanche to build without considering the impact of sewage from new houses.

“[They have] a cosy relationship with developers, who became the biggest source of donations to the Conservative party. And then, frankly some decisions … where planning permission was granted for inappropriate developments when the developer was donating to the Conservative party.”

Labour would take a firm line with all vested interests, he said. “We’re not only going to stop that from happening in future but we will go back and get some of that money [for instance from Covid contracts], as much of that money back as we can so that we can invest it. Public money should be spent for the public good, not private gain.”

Protecting nature is not just essential, it is a vote winner, Reed believes.

“The Conservatives have increasingly been positioning themselves against nature. They have not just tolerated but encouraged the degradation of nature,” he told the Guardian in his first high-profile interview since his appointment by Keir Starmer in September.

“They are on the wrong side of the public, as well as the wrong side of history. When it comes to nature, we are the conservers, not the Conservatives.”

Reed is acutely aware that Labour must make huge gains in rural and semi-rural constituencies if it is to win a majority at the general election, expected next year.

Tony Blair won a landslide in 1997 by taking a majority for the first time for Labour in rural, semi-rural and coastal seats, and again in 2001, but since then the party’s support in such areas has waned.

The Liberal Democrats have made big byelection gains, overturning huge Tory majorities largely through a strong focus on green issues such as the pollution of waterways.

Labour has been viewed by many political observers as quieter on nature issues, and conservation groups have been pushing the party for more action.

Reed said nature protection was the “opposite side of the same coin” as the climate crisis and net zero. Viewed in parliament as an attacking politician, his instincts are to bring the fight to the Tories. He was said to be instrumental in controversial ads attacking Rishi Sunak this year, and his appointment was widely seen as a sign that Starmer was attempting not to cede the initiative to the Lib Dems on green issues such as sewage, nature and housebuilding.

“Keir wants us to make a bigger offer on nature and coastal issues,” he said. “Labour’s path to victory runs through rural communities. We need them to win, then govern effectively. But this is not just a political case, it’s a moral one.”

He takes it personally, he makes clear. “We shouldn’t be totally dispassionate in politics, I think you’ve got a right to be angry,” he said. “You’ve got to channel it into making a better offer for how our country can meet the aspirations that the British people have for it, that these Conservatives have totally abandoned.”

Rural people face some of the worst poverty and deprivation in the country, he noted, but it is rarely considered. Rural areas frequently lack transport, broadband, access to healthcare and other basic amenities that cities take for granted, and a lack of jobs, investment and affordable housing has held people back, Reed argues.

“We must expose the horror that the Conservatives have inflicted on our rural communities. They have left working families who live in the countryside facing low pay and rising poverty, inadequate public transport and the destruction of good local jobs,” he said.

Some of Reed’s positions are likely to bring him into conflict with farmers. British rivers are dying not just because water companies fill them with sewage, but also because of pollution by farmers, who the Guardian has revealed are barely inspected owing to savage budget cuts at the Environment Agency.

Conservationists are also likely to object to Labour plans to build on the green belt, though Natural England chief Tony Juniper told the Guardian last month that it was possible to build on green belt land and improve conditions for wildlife and nature.

While Labour has announced plans to deny bonuses to water bosses over sewage, promised support for farmers and set out plans for a new Clean Air Act, important policy areas are still blank or lacking in detail. Pledges such as improving the UK’s flood defences and planting trees will need to be backed up with new cash.

Reed has also little to say yet on rewilding and species reintroduction, and has not yet taken a view on whether to restrict or ban wood-burning stoves, which are now responsible for about a third of the UK’s air pollution despite being owned by only 8% of households.

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Cornwall faces crisis as Brexit replacement cash runs out

The Conservative’s promise to match EU funding post-Brexit has been exposed as a ruse after Cornwall Council said it has been left with a “devastating” shortfall that will communities reeling.

Jack Peat www.thelondoneconomic.com 

The money the council receives from the government to replace EU grants lost following the split with Europe is set to run out in under a month’s time, it has been reported, leaving more than millions of pounds worth of fund applications by communities and businesses unmet.

In 2021, the government confirmed that “total funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) will at a minimum match the size of EU funds in each nation and in Cornwall each year” and it was estimated that “no worse off” equated to an average of £100 million a year for the Duchy until 2025, with an additional three years to complete the spend of the investment.

In reality, Cornwall has received around £43 million a year.

“Devastating”

Speaking to the BBC, Tim Dwelly, Cornwall Council’s shadow cabinet member for economy, described the expected shortfall as “devastating”.

“The applications from Cornish community groups and businesses were for almost three times the amount Cornwall got”, he added.

Independent councillor and former leader of Cornwall Council Julian German said: “It’s very sad that this isn’t happening as it will harm people’s prospects and the vitality of our communities.”

Conservative councillor Linda Taylor, leader of Cornwall Council, said she had written to the government to highlight the importance of an extension to the SPF programme beyond 2025.

A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: “We await confirmation from the government of how and when the next tranche of funding after 2025 will be delivered, and we will continue to push for a fair deal for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”

Council finances

Councils at large have warned that the risk of financial failure has increased due to the Government’s lack of support in the autumn statement, while others said they may not be able to fulfil their legal duties.

With Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove due to give evidence to MPs on council finances on Wednesday, two surveys of senior local government figures suggest the sector is on the brink of escalating operational distress.

A survey by the Labour-led Local Government Association (LGA) found one in five council leaders and chief executives believe it is very or fairly likely that their chief finance officer will need to issue a section 114 notice this year or next, in an admission that the annual budget cannot be balanced as required by law.

Half of respondents said they are not confident they will have enough funding to meet their legal duties after no further money was provided by the Chancellor.

This includes statutory services such as social care and support for the homeless.

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Mixed progress on Hospital in meetings with Sarah Wollaston and NHS Devon

The Seaton Hospital Steering Committee had a private meeting with NHS Devon yesterday

Martin Shaw seatonmatters.org /

Kirstine House, the CEO of the League of Friends, Cllr Paul Arnott, Leader of EDDC, Jack Rowland and I met with Dr Sarah Wollaston and her colleagues from the NHS Devon’s Integrated Care Board yesterday. 

  • They are proceeding with the transfer of the wing to NHS Property Services on 31 December, but it may take up to 2 years for Property Services to come to a final decision, giving us time to work up our plans.
  • Dr Wollaston accepted that they still have a “moral responsibility” for the future of the hospital and the threatened wing – I think all those letters you wrote had an effect.
  • NHS Devon agreed an action plan with us in which, in addition to giving us the practical and financial information that we have asked for, they will work with us to facilitate our negotiations with Property Services. 

We presented our petitions to NHS Devon at their public Board meeting this morning:

We gathered an incredible 9,150 signatures in barely 3 weeks from a local population of under 15,000. I presented them to Dr Wollaston at County Hall today – Spotlight and ITV West Country News were there, so watch tonight! Thanks to all who signed and, especially, those who leafleted, collected signatures and gave their time to come to Exeter. Dr Wollaston acknowledged the huge community feeling which we have shown in recent weeks.

  • I also asked questions and commented at their Board meeting: watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-NRi1_6f0M (first 4 minutes).
  • Dr W publicly stated: “we will definitely be working with you as we work with NHS Property Services”.

Next steps: (1) Our Steering Committee will be meeting on Thursday 14th December to discuss how to develop our plan for the space in question. (2) Supporters are invited to a Christmas social evening at the Old Picture House, Harbour Road, at 6.30 on Wednesday 13th December – please email me if you are thinking of coming, so that we have an idea of the numbers. (3) The issue comes back to the Devon Health and Adult Care Scrutiny Committee on 24th January, which should receive reports from NHS Devon and Property Services.