The government’s delays in implementing low-carbon building regulations have benefited housebuilders and property developers by billions of pounds over the last eight years, while UK households shoulder the cost of soaring energy bills amid the energy crisis.

Clea Skopeliti www.theguardian.com 

The sector, which is a significant Conservative donor overall, has saved at least £15bn since 2015 by building homes to old standards, without solar panels and batteries, heat pumps and effective insulation, a Guardian investigation recently found.

As a result, many Britons live in new-build homes that, despite having been constructed in the past few years, are far from futureproof. Renters and homeowners tell the Guardian about moving into brand-new properties that run on gas boilers and lack top grade insulation – leaving householders vulnerable to climbing bills and increased retrofitting costs.

‘It’s almost impossible to heat the house to a comfortable temperature’

When Natasha Cox and her family moved into their four-bed detached home in Rossendale, Lancashire, she was disappointed to find that its energy performance certificate (EPC) was B grade – a band below that for her previous home, and far from “low carbon”, despite only having been completed in March 2022. Although the home is well insulated, its B-grade windows mean you can “feel the wind on the back of your neck”, she said.

“When the temperature drops to about 10 degrees or less, the windows are soaking wet, which has ruined blinds, window ledges and walls around the windows,” said Cox, who used to work as a building surveyor. “It’s almost impossible to heat the house to a comfortable temperature.”

Cox said the only nod toward building to “low carbon” specs was an electric vehicle (EV) charging point outside the property. She would love to move away from a reliance on gas and install solar panels and a heat pump to replace their inefficient boiler, but upfront costs have so far kept them out of reach for the family of five.

She said she hoped the government would introduce legislation to ensure new homes are built to green standards: “Someone’s got to do it – housebuilders just want the cheapest thing possible.”

‘The rudimentary heating elements surprised me’

Douglas Jackson, a 45-year-old project manager, recently returned to Preston from Sweden, and moved into a new-build rental apartment block that only opened to tenants last month. So he was puzzled to find that the energy rating was “very poor” for the room heaters and electric heating, and EPC B overall. “It’s billing itself as a high-end apartment block … then to have such rudimentary heating elements surprised me,” he said.

Jackson said that in Sweden, where he had a heat pump, the awareness of building sustainably was “very different” from in the UK.

After Keir Starmer pledged that Labour would build 1.5m homes in five years, Jackson said he hoped that the party’s housebuilding plan would herald a move towards greater sustainability. “If there’s a push to do volume-built housing, it should absolutely be an opportunity to put the right systems in place. “Some costs should go down due to the volume [of building] as well.”

‘Solar panels are a no-brainer’

Yet some other properties are doing things better. When Sam Shaw, 31, and his partner moved into a brand-new three-bed semi-detached in 2021, they got a pleasant surprise: the south side of the property’s roof was kitted out with 3.5kW of solar panels, which had not been in the original plan for the EPC A-grade home.

The panels mean that despite the rise in energy prices since his move-in date, Shaw’s combined electricity and gas payment has remained at £30 monthly, as the household exports and is paid for any excess energy generated to the grid. “Solar panels are a no-brainer – costs have come down so much,” he said. The property is wired to host an EV charger, though one has not yet been installed, and Shaw said he “sees an EV in [their] future”.

But with the home connected to the gas grid, more could be done to make it low-carbon, said Shaw, a sustainable forestry auditor. “If the house had an induction hob and a heat pump we’d be able to generate almost all the power we need with solar, and our bills would be even lower.” The property can get quite warm in the summer, and an air heat pump would mean they could sustainably cool it when needed.

Shaw also said the lack of amenities near their estate encouraged car use. Despite having good bus links into central Bristol, “there are no services within the immediate area – if you need to do a big shop, you end up driving”.

‘It could have been better’

Amid the energy crisis, Luke, a 38-year-old lab technician based in Wolverhampton, was among those feeling frustrated to have to rely on the gas grid. While the insulation is good in his 2020 home, which he shares with his wife and six-month-old child, it has a gas combination boiler, no solar panels and an EPC rating of B.

The house not being low-carbon “is quite frustrating”, he said. “The energy bills compared with the average are quite low – but you just think, it could have been better.”

When Luke bought the house during construction he was surprised it “wasn’t even an option” to get solar panels. More recently, nine months ago, Luke was quoted £5,100 as the cost of installing a heat pump, including government discount, but costs can be much higher. “I don’t think many people will do that,” he said.

For Luke, it was irksome to weigh up lost savings amid the cost of living squeeze. “With the energy crisis as it was, if we had solar panels, we quite frankly would have been laughing,” he said.

“It’s really vital that [new] houses are built to much more modern standards, not just insulation, but heat pumps, not connected to the gas grid at all. It would be crazy to not put those things in.”

“They won’t need to enforce it. Local people are already doing the job for them by dobbing in owners of second-home holiday lets who don’t follow the rules.”

Owners of holiday homes in a Devon town have been warned that they face a £350 fine if paying visitors dispose of domestic rubbish in public litter bins or take it to the dump.

Tom Saunders www.thetimes.co.uk

Property owners in Salcombe, which is the most expensive place in Britain to buy a seaside home, have expressed dismay at a “bin tax” they must pay if they operate a second home as a commercial enterprise.

South Hams council has used a bin-sticker campaign and sent letters to remind owners that they must declare if they are letting their property to holidaymakers.

One second-home owner questioned how the council would know if holidaymakers were breaking the rules.

“It’s absurd. How on earth will they enforce it?” the owner told The Mail on Sunday. “Are council staff going to lurk around litter bins to check the rubbish registration status of someone chucking in a Mars Bar wrapper?

“I’ve owned a place in Salcombe for 20 years and this is the first I’ve heard of it. They just want to wring more money out of people already facing big increases in council tax or business rates.”

Under the Controlled Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 holiday lets are classified as businesses and therefore disallowed from using local council household bin collections.

South Hams’s letter warns owners that they must pay a commercial rate of £350 a year or arrange private collection. It states: “These properties are not permitted to use the domestic service funded by the taxpayer. This includes . . . recycling banks, litter bins and household recycling centres.”

It has placed stickers on bins marked: “No holiday home waste.”

Permanent residents in Salcombe said that the laws were enforceable.

Pete Ford, 32, a shop manager, said: “They won’t need to enforce it. Local people are already doing the job for them by dobbing in owners of second-home holiday lets who don’t follow the rules.

“I know a couple of places where this has happened. Residents spot renters slipping out with bags of rubbish and report it to the council. Next thing, you see a commercial waste bin appears outside the property.

“Of course, Salcombe needs second homes and visitors who rent them. But these places are being run for profit. Owners should pay to have commercial waste collected, like all businesses.”

Mike Wrigley, 61, a boatbuilder, said: “If you run a business you pay into the system. I see some holiday-home visitors heading on to the street with armfuls of rubbish to dump in litter bins. They don’t want it in their car as they head back up the motorway.”

Richard Toomer, the executive director of Tourism Alliance, said that councils should be careful to avoid penalising second-home owners.

“Holidaymakers are hugely important in many local destinations, including South Hams, and they contribute significantly to the local economy and support jobs.

“Additional costs will undoubtedly be passed on to holidaymakers who are already really feeling the pinch of this cost of living crisis.”

South Hams council said: “Commercial waste produced by a short-term holiday let business should not be disposed of via these methods. Each business must have an arrangement in place to remove the waste and recycling from the property.”

Young people leaving the care system in East Devon are to be granted a council tax exemption after councillors voted in favour of the move.

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

The policy, which has been retrospectively implemented from the start of October, will mean youngsters leaving care at 18 will get a discount of up to 100 per cent until their 25th birthday.

East Devon District Council’s cabinet waved through the proposal, which will support those individuals who have been under the care of Devon County Council but live in East Devon.

Other Devon districts operate similar schemes, and efforts have been made in recent months by the Devon District Forum, which comprises council leaders, to develop a consistent approach across the county.

East Devon’s cabinet meeting this week heard the policy would impact just 15 people right now, with the cost for the remainder of this financial year being £7,000 to £8,000. This would rise to £15,000 for a full year, provided the policy continued to apply to just 15 individuals.

Councillor Marianne Rixson (Lib Dem, Sidmouth Sidford) called the policy a “no brainer”

She said: “Fortunately, very few people are affected [by this policy] but it is a huge undertaking for those adjusting to life outside the care system, so I fully support this move,” she said.

Offering his vote of support, Councillor Olly Davey (Green Party, Exmouth Town) said the policy is “a simple thing we can do to help these young people.”

A report for councillors suggested the cost could be reduced in future if it was implemented through the Local Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme.

Such a move would mean the support is funded through a scheme that receives all of Devon’s districts’ collected council tax, not solely through East Devon coffers as is the case now.

However, the report acknowledged that unlike care-leavers’ support,  CTR is a means-based scheme and any changes to its it would need to be put to public consultation, which would take time.
 

Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty has now earned more than the combined parliamentary salaries of all Labour MPs in 2023 as she is poised to collect another £6.8 million dividend.

Simon Hunt www.standard.co.uk 

Murty, who has a stake in family-owned tech firm Infosys worth just over half a billion pounds, is set to receive the cash after the firm today announced a 18 rupee (17p) dividend to shareholders following a year of strong growth.

The fresh payout takes her total dividend income for the year to £13.5 million after she collected a seven-figure dividend in April. MPs are paid a parliamentary salary of £86,584, amounting to a combined wage bill of £12.8 million for Labour’s 197 MPs at this point in the calendar year.

The top rate of dividend tax, at 39.35%, is lower than that for income tax. In October last year Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cancelled a proposed 1.25% reduction on dividend tax rates.

Murty’s wealth has come under the spotlight since her husband Rishi Sunak first ran to be leader of the Conservative Party in July last year, and was earlier this year the subject of an attack ad run by the Labour party.

The advert, which concentrates on her non-dom tax status, asks: “Do you think it’s right to raise taxes for working people when your family benefited from a tax loophole? Rishi Sunak does.”

Murty last year renounced her non-dom status, which gave her preferential tax treatment on income earned outside the UK, after it appeared to jeopardise Sunak’s chances at becoming party leader. The abolition of non-dom tax breaks would raise more than £3 billion in additional government revenues per year, according to a study by the London School of Economics.

Akshata’s father Narayana Murty founded Infosys, which provides IT outsourcing services, in 1981. It has since grown to have a market cap of £59 billion, giving him a wealth of $4.4 billion (£3.6 billion) according to Forbes.

Infosys today said it delivered £3.8 billion in revenues in the quarter to the end of September, up 6.7% on the previous year, while profits rose 3.2% to top £600 million. But the firm cut its sales forecast for the rest of the year in signs its customers were paring back spending on software and IT.

Murty and Sunak, who married in 2009, own a string of luxury properties worth an estimated £15 million, from a Pacific Ocean facing penthouse apartment in celebrity enclave Santa Monica, to a rambling Georgian manor house in North Yorkshire.

In London, they own two properties including a five-bedroom mews house in Kensington and pied-à-terre apartment in South Kensington’s Old Brompton Road.

Not car park charges, Simon, that are a significant factor, along with online /out of town shopping, in killing off the high street.

Strange timing to return to this old canard just as EDDC reduces car parking for the winter.

Surely there is something more positive you could be doing such as lobbying for a reversal of the Tory funding cuts imposed on councils? That might be a better way of achieving your aim than continually whinging. – Owl

From Simon Jupp’s facebook page

Councillors at East Devon District Council (EDDC) will be asked to ratify a decision by its Cabinet to progress a way forward for the Seaton Jurassic site.

eastdevon.gov.uk

Following a recent decision by EDDC’s cabinet to agree to the freehold disposal of the Jurassic Centre to Seaton Tramway. At its Full Council meeting on Wednesday 18 October 2023, councillors will be asked to ensure the capital receipt received by the council is reinvested in Seaton in projects relating to the natural environment and links between Jurassic Discovery and those other sites ensuring that the town benefits.

Jenny Nunn, CEO of Seaton Tramway said:

“We welcome the decision made by the EDDC cabinet which if agreed by councillors at the council will give visitors and local people the attraction the area deserves bringing in much needed revenue and job creation to the local economy. The Jurassic Discovery will also accommodate a Dino themed soft play area as well as a visitor experience that will give visitors a snapshot of life 100 million years ago picking up the global story of the dinosaurs and why they became extinct with a mix of modern technology and animatronic exhibits from the Natural History Museum. It will also offer the chance to reflect on earth’s timeline and the issues we face today whilst highlighting the Jurassic Coast with a free to view area pointing to fun things to explore at our local Jurassic coastal centres. With Seaton Tramway as the new owners, we will build on our success as a top visitor attraction expanding on our existing offer with community and educational projects alongside our new initiatives for the exciting, new, and fun vision we have for Jurassic Discovery.”

Councillor Paul Arnott, Leader of East Devon District Council added: 

“We are delighted that the long and winding road to turn around this flagship centre for Seaton, the Axe Valley, and East Devon has brought us to where we are now. I have had the great privilege of engaging personally with the Tramway organisation to secure this viable outcome. We are very fortunate to have such a brilliant organisation both able and willing to take the building on to a fresh start as the Jurassic Discovery Centre. I wish Jenny and her terrific team all the best for the future and thank them for their commitment in helping achieve this outcome.”

The centre had closed in September 2021 when the original operator Devon Wildlife Trust withdrew from the site. Since then, the original volunteers involved in the project, other stakeholders in the centre, Devon County Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund have come together and worked collaboratively to develop a way forward for the benefit of Seaton and the wider area.

Following completion of the sale in the next few months it is hoped that the new Jurassic Discovery will re-open ready for the 2024 visitor season.

If the Bibby Stockholm is reopened will it be used to hold active tuberculosis patients (see report from Oxfordshire below)? – Owl

Diane Taylor www.theguardian.com 

Dorset council is facing an urgent high court challenge by one of its local mayors about the use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers in Portland.

The case has reached the high court in two days and is the first time the council has been challenged directly in the high court in relation to the barge. It comes days before the Home Office is due to return people to the barge, which has been empty for more than two months after deadly legionella bacteria was discovered onboard.

The Home Office has issued notices to asylum seekers saying they will be returned to the barge on 19 October. The Guardian understands that 29 of the original 39 people who spent just under five days onboard from 7-11 August are due to return. Others have made arrangements to stay with relatives or have been granted leave to remain.

Individual legal challenges against returning to the barge are under way by some people.

The Home Office has issued fresh guidance called Failure to travel to the Bibby Stockholm vessel, saying that support will be terminated for those who “fail to take up the offer of accommodation on the vessel”.

The high court on Wednesday rejected a challenge by the mayor of Portland, Carralyn Parkes, acting in a personal capacity, against the Home Office, claiming its use of the Bibby Stockholm to accommodate asylum seekers there breaches planning rules. In that case, government lawyers argued that Dorset council, the local planning authority, had no planning jurisdiction over the barge.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Holgate, suggested that any claim about a planning contravention needed to be directed against the council rather than the Home Office so Parkes swiftly launched a case against Dorset council and issued proceedings in the high court on Thursday.

In her latest case, Parkes is seeking a decision by the high court that the council has erred in law in determining it cannot take planning enforcement action against the use and stationing of the Bibby Stockholm barge connected to a finger pier and access road in Portland harbour. She claims this failure of the council to take enforcement action is enabling the Home Office to push through its plan to house approximately 500 asylum seekers on the barge, circumventing the proper planning process.

If a judge decides the council can take planning enforcement action against the Home Office for use of the barge this could be another roadblock in government efforts to accommodate asylum seekers there.

The siting of the barge in Portland has attracted criticism from those who support people seeking asylum and those who do not. Far-right activity in the area has increased since the arrival of the barge.

Parkes said: “I have been really reluctant to take my local authority to court. Although I am acting as a private individual, as an elected town councillor I recognise the difficult position that the home secretary has put Dorset council in. However, I also strongly disagree with Dorset council’s ongoing determination that it does not have jurisdiction over the Bibby Stockholm barge.

“I feel very strongly that the decision to accommodate people in this way in Portland has been imposed upon us, as the local community, without any consultation. I am very concerned about the risks to the vulnerable people who will shortly again be accommodated on the barge.”

In the case earlier this week, Dorset council was an interested party and made written submissions to the high court that while it does not consider the area of water where the barge sits to be within its planning jurisdiction, areas onshore “remain under active review and consideration including as to possible planning enforcement action”.

A Dorset council spokesperson said: “Dorset council is very disappointed at Ms Parkes’s decision to issue a judicial review proceedings claim against the council. She will be aware that, after much consideration and having taken advice from king’s counsel, Dorset council decided it was not appropriate to use public funds to actively pursue legal action against the home secretary regarding the siting of the Bibby Stockholm at Portland Port.

“The council continues to stand by the decision it made in July this year that the Bibby Stockholm is outside of its planning jurisdiction and so does not have planning enforcement powers.”

Oxfordshire asylum seeker ‘being moving to Bibby Stockholm’ www.oxfordmail.co.uk 11 August

An asylum seeker with tuberculosis in Oxfordshire has been told by the Home Office they are going to be moved onto the Bibby Stockholm barge, according to national reports. 

Dr Dominik Metz, a GP for more than 250 asylum seekers in Oxfordshire, says he is trying to prevent the move and has warned of a “public health catastrophe in the making”.

He told the i newspaper that one in 10 of his patients have received letters from the Home Office saying they would be moved to the barge including one who is under “active treatment” for latent tuberculosis (TB), which could pose a public health risk if it became active and spread.

It’s all going pear shaped: headlines and the gist of the stories over just two days. – Owl

Rishi Sunak left thousands of Afghans eligible for UK stranded in Pakistan ‘to save money’

Rishi Sunak left thousands of Afghans eligible to come to the UK stranded in Pakistan hotels in a bid to save money, the High Court has heard.

Around 2,300 Afghans who worked alongside British armed forces have been stuck in hotels in Islamabad for months after the UK stopped chartering flights last November and insisted families must find their own place to live in Britain before relocation. www.independent.co.uk 12 October

Growing number of people face 18-month waits for NHS care in England

The number of people waiting longer than 18 months for NHS treatment in England is growing, figures show, despite ministers vowing to have eliminated such long waits six months ago.

The government promised to end all waits of a year and a half by April this year. Figures published on Thursday show 8,998 people were waiting more than 18 months for treatment at the end of August, up from 7,289 at the end of July.

Overall NHS waiting lists have hit a record high. NHS England figures show 7.75 million people were waiting at the end of August, up from 7.68 million in July. It is the highest number since records began in August 2007. www.theguardian.com  12 October

Just 557 prison spaces left as jailed population hits new all-time high

[The National Audit Office raised the alarm in a report published in February 2020 – while Rishi Sunak was chancellor – saying that without intervention demand for prison places was on course to exceed supply sometime between October 2022 and June 2023.]

The average length of prison sentences increased by a third in the decade to 2019 as governments sought to appear tough on crime, while recent efforts to bolster police numbers and chaos in the court system have seen the backlog of trials hit an all-time peak of more than 65,000.

Consequently, there are more suspects than ever awaiting trial behind bars, some trapped for more than five years, while the backlog of rape cases involving bailed defendants has also hit a new high to reach more than double the average between 2014 and 2019, The Independent revealed last week.

Overcrowding has led to prisoners being kept in harrowing conditions, with some doubled up in cells and kept locked inside for 23 hours a day, forced to choose between exercising, showering or calling loved ones, with little access to rehabilitation programmes. www.independent.co.uk 13 October

“I’m not even sure what he [Boris Johnson] means – bollocks to the science or does he mean bollocks to the patients?” Prof Chris Brightling.

The UK’s most senior civil servant, Simon Case, described the government as looking like a “terrible, tragic joke” in its handling of the Covid pandemic in expletive-laden WhatsApp messages handed to the Covid inquiry.

Diane Taylor www.theguardian.com 

The messages – which are likely to prompt questions over Case’s professionalism – also lamented that Boris Johnson’s wife, Carrie, appeared to be “the real person in charge” at Downing Street.

Case, who had been permanent secretary at 10 Downing Street and was appointed as head of the civil service in September 2020, expressed frustration at the government’s handling of the pandemic, writing in one message: “not sure I can cope”.

In messages read to the inquiry on Friday, Case said: “The government doesn’t have the credibility needed to be imposing stuff within only days of deciding not too [sic]. We look like a terrible, tragic joke. If we were going hard, that decision was needed weeks ago. I cannot cope with this I cannot cope with this.”

Lee Cain, who was Johnson’s director of communications until November 2020, said Carrie “doesn’t know wtf she is talking about”.

The messages appeared on the screen during today’s session of the inquiry which is focusing on core UK decision-making and political governance. They are thought to have been from 14 October 2020.

A letter from Dominic Cummings contained an email dated 13 July 2020 about “the problems of the No 10/CabOff (Cabinet Office) set up that is relevant to the inquiry”.

He said it was copied to the PM “but he never engaged seriously”.

Case wrote: “Am not sure I can cope with today. Might just go home. Matt just called, having spoken to PM. According to Matt (so aim off, obvs), PM has asked Matt to work up regional circuit breakers for the North (as per Northern Ireland) today – and to bring recommendations. I am going to scream …”

Cain asked: “Wtf are we talking about.”

To which Case replied: “Whatever Carrie cares about, I guess.

“I was always told that Dom [Dominic Cummings] was the secret PM. How wrong they are. I look forward to telling select cttee tomorrow – ‘oh, fuck no, don’t worry about Dom, the real person in charge is Carrie’”, Case added.

A witness to the inquiry Alex Thomas, formerly at the Cabinet Office and now at the Institute for Government, described some of the language in the messages as “unfortunate”.

“It’s clear to me that the consistency of decision-making was something that could be criticised and be a cause for concern,” he said. “They are not comfortable to read. If you are a victim or related to someone who suffered or died from Covid this is appalling to read. It should be called out as regrettable.”

Prof Chris Brightling and Dr Rachael Evans, both experts in long Covid, also gave evidence to the inquiry, which was attended by members of various long Covid support groups.

In notes that appeared on the inquiry screen Johnson scribbled “bollocks” on one and on another said: “Do we really believe in long Covid. Why can’t we hedge it more. I bet it is complete Gulf War Syndrome.”

Brightling said: “I’m deeply saddened and extremely angry at the same time. I’m not even sure what he means – bollocks to the science or does he mean bollocks to the patients?”

Evans said of Johnson’s comments: “It’s just another unbelievable thing. It’s shocking and beyond disappointing. We have people here living through this absolutely dreadful illness and to see your own prime minister has written something like this …”

The inquiry continues.

Police have made referrals for 24 fines over a lockdown-busting party at Tory headquarters during the coronavirus pandemic.

David Hughes www.independent.co.uk

The fixed-penalty notices related to a “jingle and mingle” event in December 2020 at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) for activists on behalf of Shaun Bailey’s unsuccessful effort to be London mayor.

Lord Bailey, who received a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours, has previously apologised “unreservedly” for the event organised by his campaign team, and said it was a “serious error of judgment”.

Both Lord Bailey and Tory aide Ben Mallett – who became an OBE in Mr Johnson’s honours list – attended the gathering at Matthew Parker Street on December 14, 2020 – when Covid restrictions were in force.

The investigation into the party was reopened in July this year after a video clip published by the Mirror showed staff appearing to dance, drink and joke about Covid restrictions.

The BBC also published an invitation, revealing the event was called “jingle and mingle”.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “Having assessed that new evidence, the Met has made 24 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for breaches of Covid-19 regulations.”

Lord Bailey has been contacted for comment.

At the time of the event London was under Tier-2 restrictions which banned indoor socialising between people from different households.

But on the day the party was held, concern about rising cases led to the announcement that London would move to even stricter Tier 3 restrictions on December 16.

A Conservative Party spokesman said the gathering was “unauthorised”.

“Senior CCHQ staff became aware of an unauthorised social gathering in the basement of Matthew Parker Street organised by the Bailey campaign on the evening of 14 December 2020,” the spokesman said.

“Formal disciplinary action was taken against the four CCHQ staff who were seconded to the Bailey campaign.”

The Met added that a second investigation into a gathering in Parliament on December 8 2020 continues.

The December 8 gathering, said to have been arranged by Commons Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing, was cited by Mr Johnson in a scathing statement accusing Sir Bernard Jenkin of “monstrous hypocrisy” for allegedly attending the event before sitting on the cross-party panel which found the former prime minister had lied to MPs with his partygate denials.

Private equity’s sweetheart deal with tax authorities was always a ‘charade’ – Good Law Project

goodlawproject.org 

Documents released to Good Law Project show how Norman Lamont and Nigel Lawson pushed Inland Revenue officials to give private equity fund managers special treatment.

For more than 35 years, managers of private equity funds have been taxed as if they were making investments.

But most private equity funds aren’t vehicles for managers to invest in startups. Instead they allow managers to borrow money, buy companies, strip out their assets and then resell.

The managers of these “buyout” funds aren’t investing – they are trading – but they still pay tax at a sweetheart rate of 28% rather than the 47% they should pay.

All of this dates back to a shady deal that the private equity industry cut with the Inland Revenue – now HMRC – back in 1987, a story we can now tell, thanks to a cache of documents released when Good Law Project helped Dale Vince to challenge this outrageous practice.

The industry had been preparing the ground with Norman Lamont, a former investment banker serving as Financial Secretary, since July 1986. When they met with the Revenue in September, they outlined their demand: that private equity income “must be taxed as capital”.

The civil servants were wary, with one official calling the arrangements a “charade”, but under pressure from Lamont and the Chancellor Nigel Lawson they eventually understood that the Government was “anxious to help” the industry and caved in.

The deal has continued for 36 years, at a cost to the Exchequer, in the last year for which we have data, of around £420m a year – enough to pay the salary of 16,000 nurses.

“HMRC has now conceded the key argument raised by Vince and Good Law Project, accepting that the money managers receive from buyout funds – known in the trade as their “carried interest” –where appropriate “would be taxable as trading income in the hands of UK tax resident individuals. HMRC would expect such individuals to file their self-assessment returns accordingly.”

This admission means the policy can now be reversed – collecting back taxes – without the need for any legislation. But with a Government in hock to wealthy bankers there’s little prospect of any immediate change.

• Good Law Project only exists thanks to donations from people across the UK. Any support you can give will help us make positive change.

The former Bovey Tracey Hospital, a purpose-built two-story purpose-built cottage hospital constructed in 1931, has remained closed since 2017

Daniel Clark www.devonlive.com

A former Devon hospital which was controversially closed in 2017 is set to go up for auction. The former Bovey Tracey Hospital, a purpose-built two-story purpose-built cottage hospital constructed in 1931, has remained closed since 2017 due to the reconfiguration of NHS services in the South-West.

The property has been the subject of various development proposals in recent years. Initial plans submitted to build six self-build and custom houses were rejected in 2020. These plans were subsequently revised to propose four houses but were ultimately rejected upon appeal.

Teignbridge District Council has indicated that they would consider proposals for the conversion of the existing building into a residential dwelling/s, presenting a unique opportunity for potential buyers. The property also previously underwent a failed Asset of Community Value (ACV) attempt and the moratorium period expired in April 2017.

Now, Charles Darrow Auctions, a leading Devon-based auction house, have been instructed by the Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust to conduct a public auction for the former Bovey Tracey Hospital with a guide price of £350,000+. The auction is scheduled to take place on November 2, 2023.

The Former Bovey Tracey Hospital, situated on an overall site area of approximately 0.64 acres, includes a plot of land/garden to the road frontage of approximately 0.2 acres, making it an attractive proposition for various commercial uses.

The property’s gross internal floor area of approximately 9,000 sq. Ft. allows a great deal of flexibility for potential use as a hostel, guest house, holiday cottages, veterinary surgery, dental practice, activity/play centre, children’s day nursery, kennels, business centre, secure storage, and more, subject to planning permission. It is equally suitable for owner-occupiers, developers, or investors.

The property boasts a convenient location with a good-sized car park and easy access to the A382. It is strategically situated just 7 miles from Newton Abbot and 16 miles from Exeter, making it accessible to a wide range of potential businesses or residential uses. Additionally, it is located just outside the boundary of Dartmoor National Park, offering stunning moorland views from the first floor.

Paul Heather, director of Charles Darrow Auctions, said: “The sale presents an exceptional opportunity for prospective buyers to acquire a property with vast potential for redevelopment or other commercial uses.”

Hiding £400m from taxman – slap on wrist and extra fine he can easily afford.  Make a £1 error on your Universal Credit – benefits stopped.

Oh brave new world that has such people in it. – Owl

Commercial property bought by Torbay Council in far-flung places across the country are earning the council millions of pounds in rent, but have lost £37 million in value since they were bought.

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Over the past few years, the bay has bought a pasty factory in Cornwall, a cinema in Somerset and a warehouse for Amazon in Exeter as part of a large portfolio of property it acquired to make money to compensate for dwindling financial support from the government.

Critics at the time said it was a high-risk strategy and accused the council of ‘playing Monopoly’ with council taxpayers’ cash.

The practice was outlawed by Westminster early in 2020, preventing any new purchases, but Torbay’s faraway holdings – worth almost £175 million – continue to make money.

The portfolio spans the south and west of England and was started in 2017 as a so-called ‘debt for yield’ project using discounted loans to buy property and collect rents from them.

The council’s scrutiny committee has been given a report on how the portfolio is doing in a ‘volatile’ market hit by inflation and rising costs.

Income from rents in the last year topped £13.5 million, nearly £800,000 more than when the properties were first bought. However, a number of tenants’ leases expire in the coming years, and the council is prepared to use its reserves to offer companies incentives to stay.

When the properties were bought, the total value of the portfolio stood at £212 million, but changes in the market mean it is now worth much less – with £174.5 million the latest figure published.

Officers partly blame the drop on the pandemic, with more people working from home and fewer using offices. A slump in the retail market and global economic issues are also blamed.

There was a suggestion that the council might sell some of the properties, but cabinet member for finance Cllr Alan Tyerman (Con, Churston with Galmpton) told the meeting: “Offloading them at a time in which capital values have fallen doesn’t seem a very sensible thing to do.

“When they were purchased, the idea was that we might want to sell, but the changes in the regulations mean that if we sell, we can’t replace that revenue.”

Cllr Chris Lewis (Con, Preston) added: “These investments bring in millions of pounds a year. If we hadn’t bought them we would have had to cut services by millions.

“This has been a real benefit to the bay.”

And Cllr Darren Cowell (Independent, Shiphay) said: “Without that money plugging the hole left by the reduction in government grant, some of Torbay’s services would be in a dire state.”

The contents of the property portfolio currently include: Wren Park retail centre at Torquay; shopping centre run by Tesco at Ferndown, Dorset; Gadeon House office block near the M5 at Exeter, let to EDF Energy; Fugro House office block at Wallingford, Oxfordshire; distribution warehouse London Medway in Kent; new Travelodge hotel at Chippenham, Wiltshire; Twyver House office block, Gloucester, let to the government; Woodwater House, Exeter, offices let to solicitors Michelmores; The Range, Torquay; food factory let to Proper Cornish Ltd in Bodmin, Cornwall; industrial warehouse occupied by Crown Records at Marsh Barton, Exeter; the national distribution centre for Chef Direct at Didcot in Oxfordshire; Amazon warehouse near Exeter and Odeon Cinema, Taunton.
 

Developers are offering to pay buyers’ mortgages as they resist reducing the prices of their homes. 

By Madeleine Ross, www.telegraph.co.uk

One housebuilder, Fairview New Homes, is offering cash sums of up to £30,000 equivalent to a discount on mortgage rates of 2.5pc for two years. 

The developer says buyers can use the savings to cover the cost of buying a new car, having their groceries covered for up to two years or holidays.

This comes after the developer launched its “Buddy Up” scheme, which offers £2,000 for legal fees and advice and either a 5pc deposit boost and a £5,000 John Lewis voucher or a Stamp Duty grant and a £5,000 furniture pack for those buying with friends.  

Another firm, Stonebond, promises discounted mortgage rate of 3pc for two years, compared to rate of of around 5-6pc available at high-street lenders.

On a £500,000 property with a 25pc deposit, the developer says it will pay up to £16,875 to take a mortgage rate of 5.25pc down to 3pc. The incentive will be paid as an allowance when the sale is completed.

Hayfield Homes recently advertised a Tesla, worth £40,000 to £60,000, for the buyer of a £660,000 four-bedroom home at a development in Bromham, Bedfordshire.

Other incentives being launched by housebuilders include so-called “Rent to buy” schemes, in which a tenant pays rent to the developer for a set period which constitutes their deposit, before applying for a mortgage.

Large developer Barratt Developments has launched a pilot program which allows buyers to put down just a 2.5pc deposit upfront, before using six months’ rent to form the other half of their 5pc deposit.

Adrian MacDiarmid, head of mortgages at Barratt, said: “Instead of paying private rent that eats up all their savings, they [buyers] can put that money to good use as part of their deposit, all while they are enjoying living in their new home.”

The tricks of the trade to keep prices high

Emma Fildes, a buying agent in London, said developers were using all the tricks of the trade to keep prices high.

“It looks better land register-wise,” she said, adding that buyers must disclose any incentives they are offered to their mortgage brokers.

The agent said smaller companies were more likely to bring down their prices as offering more significant incentives, including carpeting and fittings, was more difficult for them.

She said: “The key to wearing them down is your position and being able to move at speed and incentivise them in that way that you got the money you can do this, and then chip accordingly.”

Buying agent Alex Mosley, of Perrygate in London, said buyers who are offered incentives should be aware that the property price might not offer a fair value.

“Always try to understand a new build’s premium against the second hand market before making an offer.”

New builds are often sold at a premium compared to second hand homes but the average agreed sales price of a new build dropped 9pc between March and July this year, according to market analysts TwentyCi.

The Government unveiled a housebuilding target of 300,000 new homes annually in its 2019 election manifesto.

In July the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee said it was unlikely to hit this target.

But the committee conceded that the government might still hit its target of 1m new homes by the end of 2024.

Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings’s secret Covid WhatsApp messages revealed

Eye-opening messages sent between Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings about the government’s handling of the start of the pandemic have been released for the first time.

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

In a WhatsApp exchange between the former prime minister and his then chief of staff, released by the Covid inquiry, Mr Cummings described the Cabinet Office as “terrifyingly s***”, and said it had no proper plans in place for lockdowns.

The messages also revealed that Mr Cummings told his boss that some civil servants wanted to delay ordering people to stay at home as they “haven’t done the work and don’t work weekends“.

The shocking messages also reveal Mr Johnson thought it was “wrong” for the prime minister to meet Scotland’s leader Nicola Sturgeon and Wales’s first minister Mark Drakeford regularly during the pandemic.

Mr Drakeford had been frustrated by what he saw as a lack of meetings with Mr Johnson’s government, but the PM believed working closely with the heads of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland would leave the UK looking like a “mini-EU of four nations”.

“That is not, in my view, how devolution is supposed to work,” he said.

In his witness statement to the Covid inquiry, Mr Johnson added that he often left Michael Gove to chair four-nation Cobra meetings, partly because he was a “target of nationalist ire” and did not want to provoke the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Mr Johnson said: “It is optically wrong, in the first place, for the UK prime minister to hold regular meetings with other DA [devolved administration] first ministers, as though the UK were a kind of mini EU of four nations and we were meeting as a ‘council’ in a federal structure.

“That is not, in my view, how devolution is meant to work. More importantly, I am afraid I was conscious that I tended to be a particular target of nationalist ire. Rather than provoking the SNP, I wanted to mollify and gain consent. I believed Michael would do a good job.”

As well as claiming civil servants wanted to delay the government making a stay-at-home announcement, Mr Cummings said the then civil service chief Sir Mark Sedwill “hasn’t a scooby” what was happening.

Mr Cummings said: “Mark is out to lunch – hasn’t a scooby what’s going on and his own officials know he doesn’t. We must announce TODAY – not next week – ‘if feel ill with cold/flu stay home’.

“Some CABOFF want delay cos haven’t done the work and don’t work weekends. We must force the pace today. We are looking at 100-500 thousand deaths between optimistic/pessimistic scenarios. 1918 was 250k for comparison.”

In a message on the morning of 12 March 2020, the day Britain moved from a contain phase to a delay phase in the fight against Covid, Mr Cummings said: “We got big problems coming. CABOFF is terrifyingly s***, no plans, totally behind pace.”

He added that political advisors including Lee Cain and James Slack were having to “drive and direct” the response.

The comments on civil servants’ working patterns sparked a row, with the head of the FDA union for senior civil servants hitting back. Dave Penman said: “The only lazy thing here is Cummings’ tired old tropes, self-aggrandising as the only saviour of the country.

“Our evidence shows a quarter of senior civil servants work more than 16 hours unpaid every week and more than 80 per cent work an extra day unpaid each week.”

Simon Jupp was a Special Adviser to  First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, in 2019, before he was selected as a candidate for the East Devon constituency

Dominic Raab quit Rishi Sunak’s cabinet over bullying claims in May and subsequently announced that he would not stand for parliament at the next election.

In May Simon said he was “Very sorry” his former boss was going to stand down at the next election.

Was his earlier tweet an example of dual standards? – Owl

And the election may be a year away.

Link

The post refers to disputed claims of bullying made in 2021, which now need to be read in the context  of the last Chapter in the Changing of the Guard and the allegations reported by the BBC.

[More on the 2023 background to that can be found by simply typing Verita into the EDW search box]

This elicited this string of replies:

Owls advice to Simon Jupp is to beware of innuendo 

Chris Collman www.eastdevon.radio 

In an open letter to MPs, East Devon District Council’s Leader, and the Portfolio Holder for Strategic Planning, express the Strategic Planning Committee’s concerns about the pressures imposed by new houses.

The letter to Mel Stride, MP for Central Devon, Richard Foord, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, and Simon Jupp, MP for East Devon, reads:

Dear Mel, Richard and Simon,

Standard Method for Calculating Housing Need

We are writing on behalf of East Devon District Council following a debate at a meeting of the Council’s Strategic Planning Committee on the 5th September in which Members agreed to write to all of our local MP’s asking for your support in seeking a review of the standard methodology for calculating housing need and a more positive approach to solving the housing crisis.

The standard methodology is a crude and blunt instrument designed to deliver the government’s target of 300,000 homes a year. Using a mathematical equation to determine how many homes are built and where is a fundamentally flawed approach that pays no regard to key factors such as land availability and environmental constraints that need to be taken into account. The result is a housing need figure for East Devon that can only be met through harming our attractive landscape areas including two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB’s) and areas where development has been shown to have a significant detrimental impact on designated wildlife habitats. Between them these areas make up well over 90% of East Devon. We have next to no brownfield sites to develop and so housing has to be built on attractive green field sites to the detriment of the landscape and wildlife. The natural environment is what attracts people to East Devon and makes it such a wonderful place to live but the standard method means that we have to sacrifice that to satisfy a housing need generated by a flawed algorithm.

The main input into the standard method is household growth projections but these projections are based on past trends. The impact of this on the housing need figure is massive and yet all that this means is that growth is directed to the locations that have historically seen growth. As a result those areas of the country that have historically done as successive governments have asked and accommodated growth are punished by ever increasing housing need figures. This is because growth leads to a growing population which in turn increases household growth projections thereby creating a need for even more homes.

East Devon has accepted huge amounts of growth in recent times through Cranbrook new town, large housing developments of thousands of homes on the edge of Exeter and urban extensions of many of our market towns. The number of homes delivered in east Devon per year has grown from around 700 a year less than 10 years ago to well over a 1000 in 2019. These developments have however used up the available land and led to a pattern of population and household growth that under the standard method fuels a supposed need for more and more homes in the future. These levels of growth are unsustainable and harmful to the environment and communities of East Devon.

As a district we have huge infrastructure requirements which are largely going unmet due to lack of funding. Our Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) shows that we have a funding shortfall of over £70million just for priority 1 projects and that is based on 2017 prices. Hospitals and GP practices are oversubscribed, and schools are over-capacity in some areas and have substandard and insufficient accommodation and facilities. The main roads in and out of Exeter are heavily congested at peak times while public transport is infrequent, un-co-ordinated and does not serve many rural areas. We have substantial problems with the drainage system with foul drainage running down the streets in some villages after storm events as the combined sewers cannot cope while to deal with the excess flows Southwest Water discharge sewage off the coast causing massive environmental damage. All of these issues and more need to be addressed but at the moment the government simply wants to see more homes built which put more and more pressure on our failing infrastructure.

The standard method approach is disconnected from government policy in that it distributes housing numbers across the country with no regard to key government objectives around sustainability, climate change, bio-diversity, the ability of infrastructure to cope and the levelling up agenda. There is a desperate need to look to allocate new housing based on future needs and aspirations, the ability of locations to accommodate the growth and to protect the environment rather than based on past trends. To do this we need a joined up approach that looks at the ability of different areas to deliver growth that best meets the government’s national planning policies and aligns with the levelling up agenda. This could be achieved through a national housing strategy or through other mechanisms that use sound planning principles to determine where new homes are accommodated rather than maths.

Michael Gove announced at the end of last year changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) that would have given local authorities greater flexibility in terms of housing numbers and yet these changes have not come forward. Urgent action is needed before the character of East Devon is irreparably eroded to make way for new housing that is unaffordable to local people and cannot be accommodated without significant environmental harm.

East Devon District Council is calling on you to press the government to find a more positive approach to solving the housing crisis and a move away from algorithms that pay no regard to the consequences of new housing numbers on the environment and the communities affected by growth. We look forward to hearing from you.

Mark Williams, Chief Executive, East Devon District Council (EDDC) has announced his resignation, after 21 years, through the EDDC press office, see below.

Mark Williams was not only Chief Executive and Head of Paid Services, a combination of roles quite common in local government, but unusually he was also Head of Development Management (under the new guard labelled Planning). 

Last night BBC Spotlight presented his resignation alongside unconfirmed reports that he was facing a formal complaint about his conduct. 

BBC Spotlight reported that allegations had been made in a formal complaint that he had “intimidated and browbeaten” the conduct of an independent investigation into child sex abuse allegations. This refers to the Verita  investigation into “who knew what and when” concerning the police investigation into John Humphreys, following his arrest, leading to safeguarding issues.

On Wednesday last week an Extraordinary Council Meeting was called to discuss “Confidential Staffing Issues”. Spotlight reported that it understood these included discussions of a severance package exceeding £100K.

EDDC has neither confirmed nor denied these reports and Mark Williams has declined to comment.

Last November EDDC agreed the formal procedures on how to conduct investigations into “Protected Officers” (CEO, Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial Officer).

According to the EDDC web site, until a new CEO is appointed, the vacancy will be covered by Simon Davey (Director Finance), Melanie Wellman (Director of Governance with electoral role responsibilities) and Tracy Hendren (Director of Housing), 

This can be considered the final chapter in the “Changing of the Guard” in EDDC. 

Mark Williams has announced his retirement as Chief Executive of East Devon District Council

eastdevon.gov.uk 11 October 2023

Mark joined the Council as Assistant Chief Executive in August 2000 and was promoted to the position of Chief Executive two years later.

During his 21-year career as Chief Executive, the Council has achieved national recognition as one delivering high quality and value for money services. During this period the Council has contributed to the growth of the local economy and the enhancement of the natural environment, whilst ensuring that the quality of life of local residents has been at the forefront in thinking and action within the Council. Mark is particularly proud of the Council’s strong financial position and the achievement of the highest level Investors in People accreditation.

Mark retires as the longest serving district Chief Executive in England and Wales. He also served for five years as the Chief Executive of the former South Somerset District Council.

In his own time Mark volunteered for ten years as a lifeboatman with the Sidmouth Lifeboat and for six years as a trustee of Devon Air Ambulance.

Mark said “I would like to thank all the wonderful people I have worked with over the years. A captain is only as good as their team, and I have been blessed to have great support from councillors and officers alike. The Council is facing significant future challenges and the time is now right to pass the baton.”