A Tory rebellion in the House of Lords could thwart Michael Gove’s plans to rip up pollution laws for housebuilders in England.

If the Lords were to pass an amendment, the bill would go back to commons where the Government might seek to reinstate their original amendment. This would test Simon Jupp’s claim “I would never vote to pollute our water”. – Owl

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

The former minister Zac Goldsmith, who recently quit the government over what he termed Rishi Sunak’s “apathy” over the environment, and Sir John Randall, a former environmental adviser to No 10, have signed an amendment laid by the Duke of Wellington that would nullify the government’s plans.

Last week, Gove and the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, announced plans to amend the levelling up bill, which would undo EU-derived rules stopping housebuilders from polluting sensitive areas. It would essentially force planning officials to pretend sewage pollution from new developments does not exist when considering applications for sensitive areas such as the Norfolk Broads and Lake District.

The current rules aim to sustain “nutrient neutrality”, meaning no more nutrient pollution such as nitrates and phosphates enter important habitats in sewage from new housing. These nutrients choke rivers, filling them with algae and killing the life within.

The duke’s amendment, which will be debated in the coming days, would “delete … the requirement placed on a local authority to assume that nutrients in wastewater would not cause harm to the environment”. This would effectively undo the government’s amendment and maintain the protections for rivers.

Goldsmith is understood to be lobbying his fellow peers to back the duke’s amendment. Other signatories include the Green party’s Jenny Jones, and Kate Parminter of the Liberal Democrats.

The Office for Environmental Protection, set up to replace the EU as a watchdog for environmental regulation in the UK, has said these rules are a regression in environmental standards and asked Coffey and Gove to appear in front of the House of Commons to explain themselves. Those who hoped Labour would undo this “regression” when in power were disappointed when the then shadow levelling up secretary, Lisa Nandy, indicated she supported the government position. It is unclear whether her replacement, Angela Rayner, does too.

The Lib Dem environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, has reported the solicitor general and the prime minister to the ethics adviser for a breach of the ministerial code, claiming they have misled parliament by saying they would not degrade the environment.

Farron said: “The prime minister’s contradiction on environmental protections is not only a grave concern for the environment, but also potentially a serious breach of the ministerial code.

“Ministers are expected to provide accurate information. We need an urgent investigation into this to get to the bottom of whether the prime minister and solicitor general have knowingly misled the House of Commons.”

A government spokesperson said: “We’ve always been clear we will never compromise our high standards and we are fully committed to our ambitious and legally binding commitments on the environment. The reforms we’ve set out will see us tackle pollution at source in a way that these legacy laws never addressed through a significant package to restore waterways and leave our environment in a better state than we found it.

“This will see us more than offset the negligible impact of new homes on levels of nutrients, by doubling the investment for Natural England to tackle nutrients, bringing this to £280m, drawing up bespoke plans to restore nature in the most affected areas, and providing more support than ever to help farmers reduce pollution from essential agriculture.”

Birmingham City Council has declared itself effectively bankrupt.

The local authority – the largest in Europe – has issued a Section 114 notice preventing all but essential spending to protect core services.

What chance any levelling up now? – Owl

By Sophie Madden www.bbc.co.uk

In a joint statement, the leader and deputy leader of the Labour authority said the notice was a “necessary step as we seek to get our city back on a sound financial footing”.

Such a notice, issued in the past by councils including Croydon and Thurrock, means a local authority has judged itself to be in financial distress and can no longer balance its budget.

Opposition leader, Robert Alden, Conservative, said the council had “failed to show the proper speed and urgency needed to tackle equal pay”.

In their statement, councillors John Cotton and Sharon Thompson, leader and deputy leader respectively, said the authority was also facing financial pressures due to issues with the implementation of its Oracle IT system.

The flagship IT system, intended to streamline council payments and HR systems, was set to cost £19m but after three years of delays it was revealed in May it could cost up to £100m.

“Like local authorities across the country, it is clear that Birmingham City Council faces unprecedented financial challenges, from huge increases in adult social care demand and dramatic reductions in business rates income, to the impact of rampant inflation,” Mr Cotton and Ms Thompson said, adding local government faced “a perfect storm”.

The statement continued: “We implemented rigorous spending controls in July, and we have made a request to the Local Government Association for additional strategic support.

“[Tuesday’s] issuing of a Section 114 Notice is a necessary step as we seek to get our city back on a sound financial footing so that we can build a stronger city for our residents.

“Despite the challenges that we face, we will prioritise core services that our residents rely on, in line with our values of supporting the most vulnerable.”

Birmingham City Council has paid out almost £1.1bn in equal pay claims since a landmark case was brought against the authority in 2012.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of 174 mostly female employees – working in roles such as teaching assistants, cleaners and catering staff – who had missed out on bonuses which were given to staff in traditionally male-dominated roles such as refuse collectors and street cleaners.

In July, the city council stopped all non-essential spending after it revealed it still faced a bill of up to £760m.

The authority said its bill over equal pay claims was increasing at a rate of £5m to £14m per month.

It said it was in a position where it must fund the liability accrued to date but it did not have the resources to do so.

Because of the situation, it added, the council’s interim director of finance, Fiona Greenway, had issued the Section 114 notice, which confirmed there were insufficient resources to meet the equal pay expenditure and there were no other means of meeting the liability.

The leaders’ statement said: “The council’s senior officers and members are committed to dealing with the financial situation and when more information is available, it will be shared.”

Prof Tony Travers, a visiting professor in the London School of Economics’ Department of Government, a specialist in issues affecting local government, told the BBC that Birmingham had faced financial difficulties “on and off” for more than a decade due to equal pay and other challenges.

“Birmingham is a very important city within Britain and it is essential for the whole country that its services are good and that the city is seen to be motoring forward,” he said.

“The risk is that the city council’s provision of services will be trimmed further and further back and that has consequences not only to what the city looks like and feels like to live in, but also the reputational hit to the city as well.”

Mr Travers added: “People around the city don’t need to worry that their bins aren’t going to be emptied or that social care doesn’t carry on.

“It will mean that no new spending can be committed, so there’s nothing additional from here on.

“But it also points to the fact that the budget for next year, 2024/25, will be terrifically difficult and it is not a problem that is going to go away.”

Mirror and Daily Mail agree….

Rishi Sunak to overturn onshore wind farm ban amid Tory rebellion

Rishi Sunak is set to overturn the ban on building new onshore wind farms to stave off a rebellion from Tory MPs, The Telegraph can reveal.

By Nick Gutteridge, Political Correspondent www.telegraph.co.uk

Ministers are poised to unveil changes to planning rules that will free up councils to give the green light to proposed turbines where there is broad public support.

The move comes as MPs prepare to vote on the Government’s contentious Energy Bill on Tuesday after returning from their summer break.

A group of Tories is backing an amendment tabled by Sir Alok Sharma, the former Cop26 president, that would scrap the ban on new onshore wind.

It has attracted signatories from all wings of the party including Liz Truss, the former prime minister. Rebels are “confident” it is destined to pass.

Labour supports the proposal, which means only six more Tory backbenchers would need to vote in favour to overturn the Government’s majority.

The Telegraph understands ministers have been locked in talks with MPs for almost a week over a compromise deal to avoid a bruising Commons defeat.

Negotiations are set to continue on Monday as the final details are thrashed out, especially on how quickly the Government will be able to legally scrap the ban.

But plans are being drawn up for a minister to submit a written statement to the Commons this week committing to change the current planning rules.

Having secured the necessary guarantees, the rebels would then drop their amendment.

It would end the situation, which has been written into law since 2015, where an objection from just a single resident can prevent a wind farm from being built.

Government sources said the changes would allow councils to “more flexibly address the planning impacts of onshore wind projects as identified by local communities”.

One Tory MP who is supporting the amendment said No 10 had little choice but to act, given it was supported by “senior people from all wings of the party”.

Another added: “It’s great to see ministers listening to concerns and, providing local communities are happy, it will make net zero easier and cheaper too.”

The announcement will mark the second time that Mr Sunak has been forced to act on the issue after coming under pressure from his own MPs.

When he took office last October, he pledged to keep the ban in place – reversing the decision taken by Ms Truss just weeks earlier to end it.

But in the face of a sizeable rebellion from backbenchers, he performed an about-turn on that position in December and said the embargo would be lifted.

That in turn prompted a backlash from Tory MPs who oppose the construction of new onshore wind farms and wanted the moratorium to stay in force.

The Prime Minister promised them that rules would be drawn up to ensure local communities are fully consulted before any new project can be built.

Ministers also began to work on plans for people who live near new turbines to be compensated in the form of cheaper electricity.

But since then there has been little progress on the issue, prompting Tory MPs to force the issue again by tabling their amendment to the Energy Bill.

Sir Alok said: “The Government committed to change planning rules by the end of April 2023 to overturn the de facto ban on onshore wind but this has not happened to date.

“This amendment therefore seeks merely to deliver on the Government’s own promise and help to unlock investment in one of the cheapest forms of energy, and ultimately bring down household bills and improve the UK’s energy security.”

Under the current rules, councils can only approve new sites if they can show that local concerns over their construction have been “fully addressed”.

The effect of the wording is that a single objection can prevent a project from going ahead.

Ministers are set to loosen the requirements so they can be built “when it has been demonstrated that the planning impacts have been satisfactorily addressed”.

The new guidance will stress that developers must “act on concerns and suggestions” from residents and that councils can only approve them where “there is community support”.

Under the changes, local authorities will also be given more discretion to choose where new onshore wind projects can be built within their boundaries.

“One of the first things I did as chancellor, in my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10-year school re-building programme for 500 schools.

“Now that equates to about 50 schools a year, that will be refurbished or rebuilt.

“If you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done.”

Maybe, but it’s about a quarter of what was actually needed. – Owl

This government will now limp on to the the next election, fatally wounded. – Owl 

RAAC concrete crisis: Rishi Sunak blamed for school rebuilding cuts by official – education funding explained

Ralph Blackburn uk.sports.yahoo.com

Rishi Sunak refused to fully fund a programme to rebuild at risk schools while Chancellor, a former senior Department for Education official has said.

Jonathan Slater, who was permanent secretary at the DfE from May 2016 to August 2020, said that while up to 400 schools a year need to be replaced, but the department only got funding for 100, which was “frustrating”.

In an interview with the BBC, he claimed that in 2021 Rishi Sunak actually halved the funding – so only 50 schools a year would be rebuilt. This was during the midst of the Covid pandemic.

The revelation comes as thousands of pupils are facing disruption at the start of term this week, after an order to fully or partially close 104 schools because of concerns about collapse-prone reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC). This type of concrete, which was used as a common building material from the 50s until the early 90s, is reportedly “prone to collapse”.

Questions have been asked of the government as to why the announcement was made just days before the start of term. NationalWorld previously revealed that the Department for Education raised the risk level around buildings collapsing to “critical – very likely” in September 2021.

Speaking to the BBC this morning, Slater said he was “absolutely amazed” that a decision was made after he left the department to halve the school rebuilding programme.

He told Radio 4’s Today programme: “The actual ask in the Spending Review of 2021 was to double the 100 to 200 – that’s what we thought was going to be practical at first instance. I thought we’d get it, but the actual decision that the chancellor took in 2021 was to halve the size of the programme.”

Rishi Sunak said “this is completely and utterly wrong”, before confirming he gave funding to 50 schools a year. He told broadcasters: “Actually one of the first things I did as Chancellor, in my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10-year school re-building programme for 500 schools.

“Now that equates to about 50 schools a year, that will be refurbished or rebuilt. If you look at what we have been doing over the previous decade, that’s completely in line with what we have always done.”

Labour analysis of National Audit Office figures found that spending on school rebuilding dropped by 41% while Sunak was Chancellor. It said the school rebuilding budget in 2019-20 was £765 million, but after Sunak became Chancellor this dropped to £560 million in 2020-21 and as little as £416 million in 2021-22.

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said: “The defining image of thirteen years of the Conservative-run education system will be children sat under steel girders to stop the roof falling in.

“Rishi Sunak bears huge culpability for his role in this debacle: he doubled down on Michael Gove’s decision to axe Labour’s schools rebuilding programme and now the chickens have come home to roost – with yet more disruption to children’s education.

The issue of England’s ageing schools – highlighted by a NAO report which said up to 700,000 children are being taught in buildings that need replacing or major refurbishment – has become a political storm.

Just days before the start of term more than 100 schools in England were told to fully or partially close as a result of safety concerns about RAAC. The Department for Education has so far refused to say which schools are affected.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has vowed to publish a list of the schools affected by the concrete crisis this week.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We will publish the list, but I do want to double-check that the school has had the opportunity – because not all the schools are back yet – to tell all parents.”

She said three companies providing portable buildings have already been contracted to set up temporary classrooms.

“Many schools are either looking for alternative accommodation, if they’re within a multi-academy trust or within a local authority, or moving to another classroom if they’ve got spare classrooms,” she told Sky News.

“If it’s across the whole school, then that gets more difficult. So what we’re doing right now is we’ve assigned a caseworker for each one of the schools, working with the school to figure out what the mitigation plans are.”

She defended the Tories’ record on school funding, in response to Slater’s comments.

“I’ve just announced 239 school rebuilding projects,” she said, but could not indicate how many a year, saying only that they would be done “as soon as possible”.

She added: “We’ve delivered much better value for money, much more schools have been rebuilt, much more schools are going to be rebuilt, we’ve got a grip of RAAC.”

While the Prime Minister defended the timing of the announcement, saying: “New information came to light relatively recently and it’s important that once it had, that the Government acted on it as swiftly as possible.

“Of course I know the timing is frustrating, but I want to give people a sense of the scale of what we are grappling with here: there are around 22,000 schools in England and the important thing to know is that we expect that 95% of those schools won’t be impacted by this.” If 5% of schools in England are impacted, that would mean 1,100 are affected.

Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: “This bombshell revelation shows the blame for this concrete crisis lies firmly at Rishi Sunak’s door.

“He slashed funding to repair crumbling classrooms when officials said it needed to be increased. Now children and parents across the country are paying the price for this disastrously short-sighted decision.”

Unions and industry groups said they have been warning the government since 2018 over concerns around the safety of school buildings.

Cllr Kevin Bentley, senior vice-chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “Leaving this announcement until near the end of the summer holidays, rather than at the beginning, has left schools and councils with very little time to make urgent rearrangements and minimise disruption to classroom learning.

“The LGA has been warning of the risk from RAAC in schools since 2018. The government should urgently establish a taskforce, including with the LGA and councils to ensure the safety of both pupils and staff in the long term.”

Thirteen national education associations wrote to every Conservative MP in October last year warning about funding, saying they were concerned about the 2,000 schools which contained RAAC. At the time, they warned that these roofs are prone to collapse.

And in February, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) along with seven unions wrote to the DfE urging it to disclose which school buildings are most at risk and have an urgent intervention

Schools in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also being assessed for RAAC. The Scottish Government has said it is present in 35 schools, but that none poses an “immediate risk” to pupil safety.

The Welsh Government said councils and colleges have not reported any presence of RAAC.

Others “have sat on their a***s’.

So who are the “others”? – Owl

• Demolition of existing agricultural building and construction of 3 no. dwellinghouses. Orchard Farm Plymtree EX15 2LWRef. No: 23/1846/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a small single storey rear extension, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 3.93m, for which the maximum height would be 3.37m, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.42m 30 Avondale Road Exmouth Devon EX8 2NQRef. No: 23/1850/GPD | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed single storey porch to side of property 8 Vision Hill Road Budleigh Salterton Devon EX9 6EBRef. No: 23/1840/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Rear extension and extended terrace Alla Bank Frys Lane Sidford Devon EX10 9SRRef. No: 23/1841/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 2no. dormers to the northeast elevation with 1no. dormer. Coachmans Cottage Woodhouse Fields Uplyme Devon DT7 3SHRef. No: 23/1830/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Lime: reduce height by up to 4m and lateral spread by up to 2m, maximum diameter of cut (MDC) 75mm. Crown lift to 2.5m above footpath to comply with the Highways Act 1980, MDC 25mm. Beechwood 2D Cranford Avenue Exmouth Devon EX8 2HTRef. No: 23/1833/TRE | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Raise ridge and create habitable roof space. Lakeside Dalwood Devon EX13 7EHRef. No: 23/1836/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of front, rear and side extensions. 23 Springfields Colyford EX24 6RERef. No: 23/1823/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Formation of new access and associated development 21 Marpool Hill Exmouth Devon EX8 2LJRef. No: 23/1822/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Oak – reduce crown by approximately 2.5 – 3m to previous pruning points, maximum diameter cuts 50mm. Create approximately 1.5 metres of clearance from house. 45 Ivydale Exmouth EX8 4TARef. No: 23/1825/TRE | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of a detached garage with office building above (amendment to application number 22/1270/FUL) 91 Sidford High Street Sidford EX10 9SARef. No: 23/1827/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed side extension to existing property to form ground floor bedroom and sewing room. Colliers Court Plymtree EX15 2LNRef. No: 23/1826/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a side extension including interior works. Exmouth Rugby Football Club Imperial Road Exmouth Devon EX8 1DGRef. No: 23/1818/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single Storey Side Extension 47 Millhead Road Honiton EX14 1RARef. No: 23/1807/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• G1: Field Maple hedge – ongoing maintenance of a group of historic pollards to approximately 3.5m. 41 Fulford Way Woodbury EX5 1PDRef. No: 23/1816/TRE | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, oak – remove lowest first order branch on west side over garden. T2, sycamore – remove lowest first order branch on west side over garden. Springfield House West Hill Road West Hill Devon EX11 1UZRef. No: 23/1814/TRE | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition 2 [the development to be carried out in accordance with the approved plans]. Re. 23/0977/FUL – Demolition of conservatory and replacement with single storey rear extension, small single storey front extension and new windows and rooflights associated with a loft conversion. Variations to be increased extent of existing hung tiles to the South Elevation, and the second floor window on South Elevation to be changed to PPC Aluminium 7 West Lodge Rousdon DT7 3XPRef. No: 23/1811/VAR | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of single-storey rear extension, extending beyond the rear wall of the original dwelling by 5.5m, for which the maximum height would be 3.5m, and for which the height of the eaves would be 3.5m 18 Sandoe Way Exeter EX1 3WJRef. No: 23/1805/GPD | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Agricultural storage buildings for the dry storage of harvested crops, straw and machinery Chard And Burridge Farm Burridge Axminster EX13 7DFRef. No: 23/1813/AGR | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of single storey rear extension. 51 Millers Way Honiton Devon EX14 1JBRef. No: 23/1809/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Oak – remove. Castlehaye Castle Lane Woodbury EX5 1EARef. No: 23/1804/TRE | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of fire damaged garage and its replacement with new garage. 11 Withycombe Road Exmouth Devon EX8 1TFRef. No: 23/1797/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retrospective application for a static caravan for staff accommodation and re-siting of dog kennel. The Greyhound Inn Fenny Bridges Devon EX14 3BJRef. No: 23/1794/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Two storey side extension and single storey rear extension Appletree Cottage Hand And Pen Lane Whimple EX5 2PXRef. No: 23/1798/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• New bi-fold doors on the rear of the house, surrounded by decorative cladding boards set at half height across the length of the property. 19 Sweet Coppin Cranbrook EX5 7FBRef. No: 23/1780/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of non illuminated 4x wall mounted entrance signs and 7x aluminium freestanding parking signs. 2 Long Causeway Exmouth EX8 1TSRef. No: 23/1748/ADV | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Tree G: ‘tree kicker’ habitat features in the River Sid. The felled tree is winched back to its stump and secured back to its stump with 12mm steel wire rope (10 ton B/S). River Sid The Byes Water Lane SidmouthRef. No: 23/1739/TCA | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement dwelling Meadow Cottage Frogmore Road East Budleigh Devon EX9 7BBRef. No: 23/1671/FUL | Validated: Fri 25 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Removal of the existing shopfront and installation of a new shopfront to both Fore Street and New Street. H S B C Fore Street Sidmouth EX10 8AARef. No: 23/1662/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Add privacy gates for vehicles and pedestrians, and improve drainage on to drive. Keepers Cottage St Marys Lane Uplyme Devon DT7 3XHRef. No: 23/1654/FUL | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed side and rear extensions. 4 Brixington Drive Exmouth EX8 4HJRef. No: 23/1546/FUL | Validated: Thu 24 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Infill existing archway at ground floor on front and rear elevation with glass and timber structure, including new limestone flooring; rear glass arch to have double bi-fold doors and front to have double doors with fixed panels either side 1 The Stables Shute Devon EX13 7NYRef. No: 23/1523/LBC | Validated: Wed 23 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed side and rear extensions, and detached single garage South Oak Higher Metcombe EX11 1SQRef. No: 23/1493/FUL | Validated: Tue 22 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Retrospective application for a double garage. 42 East Budleigh Road Budleigh Salterton Devon EX9 6EJRef. No: 23/1428/FUL | Validated: Mon 21 Aug 2023 | Status: Awaiting decision

Blame the Techbro “Beancounter”.

A self inflicted crisis by the Tories – Owl

Rishi Sunak halved the number of schools in a government rebuilding programme despite warnings that they posed a risk to pupils and teachers, a top civil servant has claimed.

Kevin Schofield www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

Jonathan Slater, who was permanent secretary at the Department for Education for four years until 2020, said it was “frustrating” that the requests were rejected by the Treasury.

His comments drag the prime minister into the growing scandal over crumbling concrete in schools.

It emerged last Thursday that more than 150 schools had been ordered to either partially or completely close because the “RAAC” concrete used to build them is at risk of collapse.

Appearing on Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, Slater said education officials had asked for funding to replaced between 300 and 400 schools a year because of the problem.

However, they were only given the green light to replace around 100 of them.

He said: “We weren’t just saying there’s a significant risk of fatality, we were saying there was a critical risk to life if this programme is not funded.

“It was frustrating. I thought we would get there in the end because of the quality of the data, the age of austerity was over, Boris Johnson had been appointed prime minister, he wanted to put more money into schools we were told.

“I actually did think we would be able this time to increase the funding for the rebuilding programme.”

However, he said that at the time of the next government spending review, the number of schools in the rebuilding programme was halved.

He said: “The spending review was completed a year after I left the department and I was absolutely amazed to see that the decision made by the government was to halve the school rebuilding programme – down from 100 a year to 50 a year.

“The actual ask in the spending review 2021 was to double to 200 … but the actual decision that the chancellor took in 2021 was to halve the size of the programme.”

Asked who the chancellor was at the time, Slater said: “Rishi Sunak.”

A former top civil servant accuses Rishi Sunak of failing to fully fund a critical schools rebuilding scheme when he was Chancellor.

Jonathan Slater tells @BBCNickRobinson 300-400 schools a year needed to be rebuilt but there was only funding for 100, which was further cut to 50

— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) September 4, 2023

Lib Dem education spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “This bombshell revelation shows the blame for this concrete crisis lies firmly at Rishi Sunak’s door.

“He slashed funding to repair crumbling classrooms when officials said it needed to be increased. Now children and parents across the country are paying the price for this disastrously short-sighted decision.

“The government must publish the evidence that was provided by officials at the time, and Rishi Sunak must come before parliament today and explain why this potential threat to pupil’s safety was ignored.

“Families seeing their return to school ruined deserve full transparency from the prime minister about his role in this scandal.”

No, not Rishi Sunak 2023 but Boris Johnson 2020. In fact Rishi Sunak  halved the budget in 2021.

500 new schools to be built by 2030 but by July 2023 only 4 completed.

Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street 2020 www.gov.uk

Schools across England are set for a transformative ten-year rebuilding programme under radical plans to be set out by the Prime Minister today [Monday 29 June].

Representing the first major rebuilding programme to be launched since 2014, schools will benefit from substantial additional investment. Schools and colleges will also receive funding this year to refurbish buildings in order to continue raising standards across the country.

The rebuilding programme will start in 2020-21 with the first 50 projects, supported by over £1 billion in funding. Further details of the new, multi-wave ten-year construction programme will be set out at the next Spending Review.

Investment will be targeted at school buildings in the worst condition across England – including substantial investment in the North and the Midlands – as part of the Prime Minister’s plan to level up opportunity for all.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

All children deserve the best possible start in life – regardless of their background or where they live.

As we bounce back from the pandemic, it’s important we lay the foundations for a country where everyone has the opportunity to succeed, with our younger generations front and centre of this mission.

This major new investment will make sure our schools and colleges are fit for the future, with better facilities and brand new buildings so that every child gets a world-class education.

He will commit:

• Over £1bn to fund the first 50 projects of a new, ten-year school rebuilding programme, starting from 2020-21. These projects will be confirmed in the autumn, and construction on the first sites will begin from September 2021.
• £560m and £200m for repairs and upgrades to schools and FE colleges respectively this year.

Rebuilding projects will be greener, helping meet the government’s net zero target, and will focus on modern construction methods to create highly skilled jobs and boost the construction sector.

Investment in schools will be prioritised on the basis of buildings’ condition and further details of the programme, including the approach to eligibility will be confirmed following the Spending Review.

The £560m for school repairs and upgrades comes on top of over £1.4bn in school condition funding already committed in 2020-21.

The £200m for FE colleges this year brings forward plans announced by the Chancellor at Spring Budget this year for £1.5bn of investment over five years to transform the FE college estate.

This fast tracked activity will further support the government’s wider plans to protect jobs and incomes and drive forward the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

Later this year government will launch a competition for further funding to ensure that all of England is covered by Institutes of Technology, making sure everyone has the chance to gain higher technical skills and helping unlock growth across the country.

Earlier this month, the Education Secretary announced a £1bn Covid catch-up plan to tackle the impact of lost teaching time.

This included new measures to help primary and secondary pupils catch up, including £650m for state schools to lift educational outcomes and a £350m tutoring scheme specifically for the most disadvantaged

This one-off grant to support pupils in state education during the 2020/21 academic year recognises that these young people have lost time in education as a result of the pandemic, regardless of their income or background.

In his first months in office, the Prime Minister announced an extra £14.4 billion in funding for schools over three years. That translates to £135 million a week and means that every secondary school will receive at least £5,000 a year for each pupil, and primaries at least £4,000 a year.

Education ‘in complete chaos’ as Labour plans to ramp up pressure in parliament

Pressure is mounting over the Rishi Sunak government to spell the scale of crisis to the British parents as Labour accused the education department of being in “complete chaos”.

www.independent.co.uk 

Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said it is “vital” that the government publish the list of all RAAC-constructed buildings that are dangerous “as soon as possible”.

It comes as education secretary Gillian Keegan is set to face the morning broadcast round this morning for the first time since a crumbling concrete crisis and the parliament returns from recess.

Meanwhile, the Treasury has said there is “no extra cash” to fix classrooms prone to collapse, despite Jeremy Hunt’s promises to “spend what it takes” to make classrooms safe.

Speaking on the BBC, Mr Hunt would not speculate on the potential cost of fixing the problem, but said: “We will spend what it takes to make sure children can go to school safely, yes.”

However, Whitehall sources reported that additional costs for headteachers, including transport to alternative schools and catering, will not be covered by central government, according to reports in The Guardian.

Scientists warned last month that the UK was nearly “flying blind” when it comes to Covid, because many of the surveillance programmes that were in place at the height of the pandemic have been wound down.

Consequences of a Government that knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing. – Owl

Nicola Davis www.theguardian.com 

Coronavirus testing and monitoring are set to be scaled up for the winter, the UK’s public health agency has said, as pressures on the health service are expected to rise in the coming months.

Scientists warned last month that the UK was nearly “flying blind” when it comes to Covid, because many of the surveillance programmes that were in place at the height of the pandemic have been wound down.

Now the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed that it is planning to boost testing and surveillance as winter approaches.

The announcement has been made as schools and universities prepare for the return of students this week after the summer break, employees head back to work and indoor gatherings become more common – factors that are known to increase the risk of respiratory infections, including Covid, spreading.

Prof Steven Riley, the director general of data, analytics and surveillance at the UKHSA, said: “Planned scaling up of testing and community surveillance for the winter season, when health pressures usually rise, is in progress and UKHSA will make a further announcement regarding community surveillance plans for this winter shortly.

“Protecting the public from Covid-19 remains one of our top priorities. We continue to monitor the threat posed by Covid-19 through our range of surveillance systems and genomics capabilities, which report on infection rates, hospitalisations and the risks posed by new variants.’’

The UKHSA announced last week that the autumn Covid and flu vaccination programme in England was being brought forward to September to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected as the winter draws near.

A new variant, BA.2.86, which has been detected in a number of countries around the world including the UK, the US and Denmark, is probably behind the shift. The variant is being closely monitored because it contains a large number of mutations that might help it to evade immune defences – although experts say little is currently known about how big an impact it may have.

Prof John Edmunds of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the discovery of the variant in a number of countries in a short space of time was one reason for concern. Another is the large number of genetic differences compared with other Omicron subvariants.

“It is definitely concerning, there’s no question about that,” he said. “The good news is we haven’t seen it suddenly take off anywhere.”.

Edmunds said there were still many unknowns about the variant, making it difficult to assess how much of a risk it posed – including whether it would cause more severe disease than other variants in circulation.

One reason for that, he said, is that there was less data available.

“Our surveillance has been much reduced so we are slightly blinded compared to where we have been in the past,” he said. “If you compare it to where we were with Omicron, it’s really very different in terms of just the quality of our surveillance.”

Dr Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Berne and the University of Geneva, agreed, adding that time was needed to see how the situation progresses.

“If the ‘slow start’ is real, it may eventually fade away, could linger on at a low frequency, or further mutations could enhance transmission and lead to faster spread,” she said.

Hodcroft said at the moment there was no cause for undue worry about the coming months. But she added:“We should be realistic that we often see waves and that for many people, immunity has waned as they haven’t been boosted or infected in a while.

“At the same time, we have the return from holidays, restart of schools, and resumption of a lot of business travel and meetings – all things we know contribute to respiratory viruses being able to get around.”

Edmunds said Covid had yet to follow seasonal patterns, with cases rising rather than falling over the summer. A key driver in waves so far had been changes to the virus itself, he said.

According to the latest data from UKHSA, largely covering the period between 21 August and 27 August, both the increase in Covid case rates, picked up through testing in hospitals, and the recent rise in Covid hospital admissions in England have stabilised.

Restrictions have been lifted as part of the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, but Dr Mary Ramsay, the head of immunisation at the UKHSA, said people with any symptoms of respiratory illness should avoid mixing with others.

Edmunds agreed. “I doubt whether we’ll see much of a return to a mask-wearing and hand-washing, but those things can help reduce spread as well,” he said.

‘No Way To Run A Whelk Stall’: Jeremy Hunt Savaged Over Shambolic Tory Record

Jeremy Hunt was left squirming on live TV as he was savaged over the Tories’ chaotic record in government.

Kevin Schofield www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The chancellor was shown a list of the astonishing number of cabinet jobs given to senior Conservative MPs since the last general election in 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi tops the lost with an incredible nine positions, while Oliver Dowden and Lucy Frazer have seven each, followed by Dominic Raab and Steve Barclay on six.

Appearing on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Hunt was told: “One cabinet minister who’s not even in the cabinet any more [Zahawi] had nine jobs.

“This is a higher turnover of even a Premier League manager. You and I support the same team, Chelsea. A Chelsea manager feels safer than a cabinet minister.

“This is no way to run a whelk stall, is it, let alone a government?”

Hunt replied: “We have had turbulence caused by things like the pandemic [and] big changes in our economic model.

“What I would say is that since Rishi Sunak has become prime minister that has changed, and he has made only the most limited changes.

“The most recent change, the defence secretary, was caused by a personal decision by Ben Wallace to step down.

“What Rishi Sunak is interested in is not the personalities, but who is going to get the job done and when people get the job done, he backs them.”

propping up the Government until the election.

“When making the relevant decision, the competent authority must assume that nutrients in urban wastewater from the potential development . . . will not adversely affect the relevant site,” The government amendment to the levelling-up and Regeneration Bill says.

An “adverse effect” from these nutrients “is not a ground for the competent authority to determine” that the development (basically, new housing) will add to pollution, “even if a finding . . . to the contrary is made”.

Welcome to Alice Through the Looking Glass!

Matthew Parris www.thetimes.co.uk (Extract)

Early this year The Times dedicated itself to a Clean It Up campaign to restore Britain’s rivers and waterways to ecological health. How are ministers doing in response? I hate to bother you with the actual wording of a piece of proposed legislation but don’t worry, I’m not asking you to make sense of it. I’m inviting you to take note of weird syntax, tortured logic and opaque intentions, then smell a big, fat rat.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill has suddenly, weeks after most of it has gone through parliament, been landed with a late clause governing the impact of housebuilding on natural habitats. “When making the relevant decision, the competent authority must assume that nutrients in urban wastewater from the potential development . . . will not adversely affect the relevant site,” it reads.

Nutrients are what you flush down the lavatory, which can wreck the ecology of our rivers. So put in the language we are pleased to call English, this paragraph means that when considering an application to build, the authorities must assume that what poisons rivers does not poison rivers.

The clause goes on to deem that any concern about an “adverse effect” from these nutrients “is not a ground for the competent authority to determine” that the development (basically, new housing) will add to pollution, “even if a finding . . . to the contrary is made”. Thus, any finding that extra sewage will pollute rivers cannot be grounds for finding it will pollute rivers.

This is pure Alice Through the Looking Glass. In plain language, it means that if a new housing development will add to what’s tipped into our rivers, planning authorities must assume it won’t. And that is what the two responsible secretaries of state, Michael Gove and Thérèse Coffey, now want parliament to lay down. Clearly the big housebuilding companies have got at the prime minister; and the prime minister has got at Gove and Coffey; and Gove and Coffey have now executed a complete U-turn on a piece of environmental law that nibbled at the edge of big housebuilders’ profits……

……..Farewell, then, to this perhaps last of the once-famous Brexit dividends: that we’d be free to frame our own, enhanced, environmental protections. Farewell to the 2021 Environment Act, whose stipulation that the act “will not have the effect of reducing the level of protection provided for by existing environmental law” must urgently be removed by parliament if the government is not to be massacred at judicial review. In keeping with the new drafting style, the stipulation could be left in place but an amendment brought in providing that anything found to be a reduction in environmental protection must be assumed not to be a reduction.

Farewell, too, to the Rishi Sunak who as a young MP sat on the environment, food and rural affairs select committee. Farewell to the Michael Gove whose 2017 post-referendum speech (a fine speech: “The Unfrozen Moment — Delivering a Green Brexit”) quoted Philip Larkin, waxed lyrical and declared that “I have no intention of weakening the environmental protections that we have put in place while in the European Union”.

“We live on the same planet,” he said. “The only one we know which can sustain human life . . . Again and again, societies and civilisations have been gripped by hubris, by the belief that this time is different, that the cycles of the past have been broken.”

I plead guilty to hubris. I have believed that Gove would be different, that the cycle of ministers making promises and then forgetting them would be broken. I still cannot quite believe he is acquiescing in
this retreat.That Larkin poem lamented the approaching despoilation of our country. It bears the title Going, Going and includes the line: “And that will be England gone.” Gove should re-read it.

A new analysis by The Independent reveals the prime minister is being forced to rely on a dwindling pool of donors, as support for the Conservatives drains away and opinion polls show the party is on course to be booted out at the next election.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk

An astonishing four-fifths of all individual donations made to the Conservative Party since Mr Sunak entered Downing Street have come from just 10 wealthy people, according to an analysis by The Independent.

The 10 super-rich backers have given a combined sum of £10.6m to the Tories since Mr Sunak became PM – accounting for 83 per cent of the £12.7m received from individuals since he took charge.

That figure was much lower under his predecessors Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron – and suggests the party is becoming more “heavily reliant” on a small group of supporters under Mr Sunak than under other recent Tory prime ministers.

Egyptian-born billionaire Mohamed Mansour, a former minister in Hosni Mubarak’s government, is the biggest single backer of the Sunak era. The UK-based retail magnate said he gave £5m in May because the PM “understands how growth is generated”.

Others in the top 10 donors list for the Sunak era include long-time Tory backers such as Lubov Chernukhin – wife of the former Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin – who gave £136,000. Her lawyer has insisted that her donations “have never been tainted by Kremlin or any other influence”.

Here are the top Tory donors since Rishi Sunak became PM

£5m – Mohamed Mansour

The Egyptian-born billionaire – a former minister under the Hosni Mubarak government – is chairman of retail and investment giant Mansour Group. The UK-based mogul said he made the huge donation because Mr Sunak “understands how growth is generated”.

£2.5m – Graham Edwards

Mr Edwards owns one of Britain’s biggest private property firms, Telereal Trillium. He said in June he had donated so much since Mr Sunak came to power because the PM was someone who could “get things done” and would keep the “dangerous ideologies” of the Labour Party out of power.

£2m – Amit Lohia

Dubbed the “Prince of Polyester”, the Indian-born 48-year-old is the non-executive director of Indorama Ventures Ltd – a major producer of polyester. His spokesperson said the donation, his first to the Tories, was made in a “personal capacity”.

£336,000 – Richard Harpin

A regular Tory donor, the chief executive of insurance giant HomeServe has personally donated more than £2m to the party since 2008. Mr Harpin’s company was fined £30m in 2014 for misselling insurance.

£250,000 – Malcolm Healey

The billionaire owns Wren Kitchens’ parent company, West Retail Group, and has given more than £3m personally to the party since 2017. Wren Kitchens was criticised for claiming millions of pounds’ worth of Covid furlough money, despite recording a £75.3m profit.

£163,000 – Christopher Wood

Professor Wood is the director at Medannex and several other biopharmaceutical firms. Another consistent Tory donor, he has personally given more than £1m to the Conservatives since 2014, the Electoral Commission records show.

£136,000 – Lubov Chernukhin

The former banker is married to the former Russian oligarch Vladimir Chernukhin. She has given more than £2.4m to the Tories since 2012. She reportedly paid £45,000 for a game of tennis with Boris Johnson. Her lawyer previously told the BBC her donations to the party “have never been tainted by Kremlin or any other influence”.

£125,000 – Selva Pankaj

Mr Pankaj founded the Regent Group, which has interests in education, training and investment management and runs London’s Regent College. He has personally given more than £600,000 to the Tories.

£100,000 – Alasdair Locke

The energy magnate is the founder of Motor Fuel Group, the UK’s largest owner of petrol station forecourts. Mr Locke has personally donated almost £1m to the party. He insists that he has “never sought to influence or shape policy”.

£83,000 – Michael Hintze

The UK-based, Australian-British financier is the founder of asset management giant CQS. Mr Hintze has given more than £4.5m to the Tories since 2001. He was given a peerage under Boris Johnson in 2022.

Tory green policies seem to have turned a distinctive shade of blue

In one hospital, heavy patients must be treated on the ground floor because the combined weight with equipment is too heavy to be safe.

Meg Hillier, Chairwoman of Public Accounts Committee

It takes a lot to shock members of the Commons public accounts committee. In our review of major government programmes we see many costly failures. But in late July members visited two hospitals built with RAAC, a lightweight form of concrete cast in planks, and it was jaw-dropping.

We had held a hearing on RAAC in schools a week before but seeing the real-life impact was eye-opening — and alarming. In one hospital, staff can carry out roof maintenance only if they and their tools are below a certain weight. Heavy patients must be treated on the ground floor because the combined weight with equipment is too heavy to be safe. Roof failure is a daily risk.

The issue of RAAC in schools was first identified as a significant problem after a roof collapse in 2018. But it was as far back as 1999 when the standing committee on structural safety recommended that all buildings with pre-1980 RAAC plank roofs should be inspected. So why was action not taken earlier?

The most recent survey of stock condition of schools in England was in its early stages in 2017 and, with fractured ownership of school buildings and varied skills and resources at local level, there was too little oversight in Whitehall of the shared risks and potential costs across the estate. It wasn’t until 2020 that the current school rebuilding programme was established.

The problems with RAAC are concentrated in schools built between the mid-1950s and 1980s. It is not a coincidence that nearly three quarters of the schools in the poorest condition were built between 1951 and 1980. Funding is undoubtedly an issue. The longer schools are expected to operate beyond their expected life, the more they cost to maintain. Between 2016 and 2023, around three quarters of funding for buildings was spent on maintenance and repair. The Department for Education argued that £7 billion a year would be the best-practice level of annual capital funding. It asked the Treasury in 2020 for £4 billion a year and was allocated £3.1 billion. So even on its own estimates there is not enough funding to do the necessary work.

The impact of this week’s announcement on the wider school maintenance and replacement programmes is likely to be significant. At our hearing in July it was clear that officials were being thorough with the proportion of school buildings they were working on, including the surveys of 600 schools with RAAC which have led to this week’s decision. But this is the tip of the iceberg of a failing school estate in England. Most of the 700,000 pupils currently being educated in substandard buildings are not in RAAC buildings and will now be waiting longer for the improvements they need.

There are 500 “slots” in the school rebuilding programme and 100 unallocated which were set aside to respond to the very issues that have led to school closures this week.

The permanent secretary at the DfE told the public accounts committee in July that “if there is something that is putting students or teachers in danger that the school cannot manage itself, we will act immediately”. Ministers have done that — and rightly so. But this last-minute scramble just before term starts could have been avoided with longer-term planning, a coherent school-building programme and sustainable funding.

Make do not mend! – Owl

Ministers and special advisers were “trying to get away with spending as little as they could” and hoping to “make do” rather than treating the problem with the urgency it required.

Toby Helm www.theguardian.com 

A senior civil service whistleblower has told the Observer that Tory ministers and their political advisers were “dangerously complacent” about crumbling school buildings constructed with aerated concrete, and that they were more concerned with saving money than improving safety.

The source, who worked in the private office of Nadhim Zahawi, the then education secretary, saw regular alerts crossing his desk. He said ministers and special advisers were “trying to get away with spending as little as they could” and hoping to “make do” rather than treating the problem with the urgency it required.

The insider, who no longer works in the Department for Education, said he had seen four or five detailed “submissions” from other civil servants to ministers and advisers on the specific issue of “reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete” Raac, in the space of a few months in early 2022.

Raac is a lightweight, bubbly form of concrete, usually found in roofs and occasionally walls and floors, and was used in many schools that were built from the 1950s to the 1990s. It looks like standard concrete but is weaker and less durable than the traditional reinforced material.

The whistleblowers’ remarks echo a series of emails leaked to the Observer last year in which civil servants said more money was desperately needed from the Treasury to repair dangerous school buildings. On 4 April 2022, officials raised the alarm, warning that some school sites were a “risk to life”.

The whistleblower added: “It just wasn’t a priority for the Spads [special advisers] or politicians. There is a good case for being cautious and prudent but the general environment of not funding things and trying to make do – that is where we are after 13 years [of Conservative government].”

He also pointed out that the DfE had been able to fund a large extra pay settlement for teachers this year from an underspend in its budget, suggesting there had been money available to do more on school rebuilding had the issue been a top priority.

On Thursday, with only days to go before children return to their classrooms after the summer holidays, the government ordered more than 100 schools to either shut buildings that were constructed with Raac, or cordon off parts of them. The DfE refused to say how many schools had been closed completely although the number is understood to be about two dozen.

Officials said the emergency measures were due to “a small number of cases where Raac had failed with no warning”. One of these is believed to have occurred last week.

Hundreds of specialist surveyors are now being sent out to schools known to be have been constructed to varying degrees with Raac to assess their safety, meaning inevitable disruption for pupils and staff, who in some case are being moved to temporary accommodation.

Labour is aiming to pin responsibility for spending cuts to the school rebuilding programme on Rishi Sunak after new analysis from the party showed that, since he was appointed chancellor in February 2020, the government’s total spending on the programme had been cut by a cumulative £869m.

The leaked emails published last year by this newspaper suggested that the Treasury was blocking more funds for school rebuilding. Labour’s analysis reveals that spending on school rebuilding in 2019-20 was £765m, but after Sunak became chancellor this dropped to £560m in 2020-21 and as little as £416m in 2021-22, a fall of 41% overall.

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, told the Observer in an interview that it was “incredible” that the government had not heeded warnings and had refused to publish a detailed list of schools in danger.

“Labour warned time and again about the risks posed by the crumbling schools estate under the Conservatives but were met with complacency, obstinacy and inaction.

“Ministers need to come clean about the number of schools affected, what they knew, and when they knew, about the risks posed by Raac so that parents can be reassured their children are safe at school.”

Labour is planning to force a Commons vote this week to compel the government to reveal information about what it knew about the use of Raac and the dangers it posed. The party plans to put forward a “humble address” – an arcane parliamentary mechanism sometimes used to demand papers from government departments – to force the publication of a list of affected schools.

As parliament returns from its summer recess, Opinium’s latest poll for the Observer has Labour leading by 14 points with 42% of the vote share (+1 compared with a fortnight ago). The Conservatives are on 28% (+2). The Liberal Democrats are on 9% (-2), Reform UK is on 8% (-1) and the Green party is also on 8% (+1).

Sunak will be disappointed to see that his approval rating has not seen any recovery during the summer, despite a series of announcements on immigration and schools, which have been dogged with problems such as the concrete crisis.

The prime minister’s rating has fallen two percentage points in the past two weeks to -25% net (24% approve, 49% disapprove). The Labour leader Keir Starmer’s approval rating is -7% net (28% approve, 35% disapprove).

Similarly, views on who would make the best prime minister have also remained stable – Starmer now leads with 27% choosing the Labour leader, versus 23% who told pollsters they would pick Sunak.

(as environment secretary)

“It is a kick in the teeth that a former secretary of state responsible for overseeing environmental degradation is now working for a firm that has been fined for these very acts.

“This comes as the Conservatives continue to tear up environmental regulations and leave communities to pick up the pieces of our withering countryside.” – LibDems

Henry Dyer www.theguardian.com 

A former UK environment secretary is to take a consultancy role with a waste management firm that had to pay £36,000 after an Environment Agency (EA) investigation found contamination of groundwater at a site.

George Eustice, who was the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs from February 2020 until September 2022, is joining Augean, a waste treatment company with sites across the UK.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) gave Eustice permission to take the role as a strategic adviser, responsible for providing “strategic counsel […] on how to navigate existing permitting and regulatory regimes’ processes [and] offering wider advice on the environment, social and governance issues”. He is banned from lobbying the government or using his contacts in Whitehall on behalf of Augean until September 2024.

Eustice declined to answer questions on how much he would be paid for his role and what experience he would rely on in his work for Augean. He said if a financial interest did arise it would be declared through the parliamentary register.

In Acoba’s advice letter, neither Eustice nor the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs made any mention of the investigation by the EA, an arms-length body of Defra.

The investigation resulted in Augean South, a subsidiary of Augean, paying £25,000 to an environmental charity in Northamptonshire, where the company’s site is located, as well as £11,058.90 to cover the costs of the EA inquiry.

The groundwater contamination was discovered during routine inspections by Augean in March 2020, with the agency finding the company had “negligently exceed its environmental permits”.

The EA investigated a discharge in 2020 that had a “short-term impact on wildlife and saw some amphibian species decline but populations recovered by the following summer”.

The agency said “vegetation also naturally improved after the pollution”, and it was satisfied that Augean had taken appropriate action to resolve the situation.

Eustice told Acoba that a meeting, held in April 2023, with one of the partners of a private equity firm that is a shareholder in Augean had led to the job offer being made.

Augean said neither it nor the private equity firm had any contact with Eustice before the conclusion of the agency’s undertaking.

Defra told Acoba the department had no “specific dealings” with Augean, but transparency records show other ministers had three roundtable meetings with the company in 2016 and 2017.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised Eustice’s appointment. Christine Jardine, the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said: “It is a kick in the teeth that a former secretary of state responsible for overseeing environmental degradation is now working for a firm that has been fined for these very acts.

“This comes as the Conservatives continue to tear up environmental regulations and leave communities to pick up the pieces of our withering countryside.”

Rose Zussman, the policy manager at Transparency International UK, said: “This latest appointment should serve as a compelling reminder to government that, despite Acoba deploying stringent terms in this case, the public are likely to find the relationship between public service and private interests too close for comfort in the absence of better regulation.

“To mitigate this risk, the government should implement its existing commitments for better regulation of the revolving door, and bring forward plans for tighter controls on lobbying.”

Defra declined to comment.