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Lib Dems call for investigation into ‘purdah breach’ maths policy announcement

The Liberal Democrats have called for an investigation after accusing the Prime Minister of flouting purdah rules by making a policy announcement in the run-up to local elections.

Nina Lloyd www.independent.co.uk 

Christine Jardine MP said she is “deeply concerned” that the move breaches the Government’s own guidance on the pre-election period of sensitivity.

Purdah rules restrict what communications activity can take place in the weeks before polling day.

Government resources cannot be used for party political campaigning and particular care is meant to be taken in the run-up to an election to ensure the impartiality of the civil service.

In a letter addressed to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case on Monday, Ms Jardine called for an investigation to be opened “immediately” into the Government’s “maths to 18” announcement.

The plans, outlined in a speech by Rishi Sunak at a north London college, would see all pupils studying the subject in some form up to the age of 18.

“I am highly concerned that this announcement is breaching purdah rules. As you will be aware, we are now in the pre-election ‘purdah’ period, which began on Thursday 13 April in relation to local elections in England,” the Lib Dem’s Cabinet Office spokesperson wrote.

“Today’s announcement on mathematics has been fully supported by Government resources, including a Downing Street press release. Education is also clearly an area of relevant importance to local authorities and, accordingly, a local election campaign.

“I am therefore very concerned that the purdah rules have been breached by the Government in regards to this announcement.

“I therefore urge you to open an investigation as to whether this announcement breached purdah rules. If concerns were expressed by officials, were they ignored by Conservative ministers?”

Labour MP Angela Eagle also hit out in a tweet: “This (Government) completely ignores all the purdah rules”.

Purdah rules apply to new policy announcements but the Lib Dems had issued a statement hours earlier describing Monday’s pledge as a “rehashed” plan.

Other critics including Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused Mr Sunak of “reannouncing” a “vague and poorly thought-out policy” first set out in January.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters the Government ensured that announcements were within the rules.

“We are aware of the rules that guide local election purdah and abide by them,” the spokesman said.

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Rishi Sunak facing ethics probe over wife’s stake in childcare firm

Probe comes after questions over Sunak’s wife’s stake in a childcare business set to benefit from Budget announcements.

The list of ministerial interests is long overdue for publication, having not been updated for almost 12 months. In February, Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden promised the Commons it would come before next month. I.e. Before the Local elections – better hurry up – Owl

“This government will have integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.” Rishi Sunak

John Johnston www.politico.eu

LONDON — Rishi Sunak is being investigated for a potential breach of the MP code of conduct amid scrutiny of his wife’s stake in a childcare firm that received a boost in last month’s Budget.

The parliamentary standards commissioner — tasked with policing MP behavior — announced Monday that it had opened an investigation under paragraph six of the code, which says MPs “must always be open and frank in declaring any relevant interest” they hold.

Although the watchdog does not detail the specific interest under investigation, the prime minister has recently faced questions over his wife Akshata Murty’s stake in childcare business Koru Kids following a £4bn boost for the sector in last month’s Budget.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Monday: “We are happy to assist the commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a ministerial interest.”

 Sunak wrote to the House of Commons liaison committee earlier this month saying his interest in the firm had been declared in the yet-to-be-published list of ministerial interests. It is not currently listed in the separate register of interests filled out by each MP.

The list of ministerial interests is long overdue for publication, having not been updated for almost 12 months. In February, Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden promised the Commons it would come before next month.

 In the committee letter, written on 4 April, Sunak noted “media interest” in his wife’s “minority stake” in the firm, adding: “I would like to clarify for the parliamentary record that this interest has rightly been declared to the Cabinet Office.”

 He added: “The latest list of ministerial interests will be published shortly by the independent adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus.”

Koru Kids is expected to benefit from new incentive payments of £600 for childminders joining the profession, a sum which doubles if they have signed up through an agency.

 The firm, which is one of six agencies listed on the government’s website, praised the “great” new incentive on their own site, adding childminders would receive double if they “come through an agency like Koru Kids who offer community, training and ongoing support.”

News of the probe was seized on by Labour, with Deputy Leader Angela Rayner saying of the register of ministers’ interests: “If Rishi Sunak has got nothing to hide, he should commit to publishing the register before May’s elections so the public can see for themselves.”

Labour’s Keir Starmer has faced his own recent brush with the MP code of conduct.

Last summer the standards commissioner found that the opposition leader failed to declare eight interests on time. The watchdog concluded that the breaches were “minor and/or inadvertent, and that there was no deliberate attempt to mislead.”

Emilio Casalicchio contributed reporting.

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 3 April

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The Writing’s on Hand’s Hand (and the Blue Wall?)

Tories could lose over 1,000 seats in local elections, party chair warns

Greg Hands was seen with notes made in blue ink on his hand in Sunday’s broadcast interviews as he defended the record of Rishi Sunak’s government ahead of the 4 May polls.

Adam Forrest www.independent.co.uk

The Conservatives are on course to lose more than 1,000 seats in May’s local elections, the party’s under-pressure chairman has said.

Greg Hands referred several times to a forecast by elections experts Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher of Tory seat losses of around 1,000 – with Labour set to make around 700 gains.

The cabinet chairman told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “The independent expectations are that the Conservatives will lose more than 1,000 seats and that Labour need to make big gains.”

Accused by stand-in host Sir Trevor Phillips of trying to “massage expectations”, Mr Hands said: “That is what the expectation is out there, but I’ve been up and down the country and the Conservatives are fighting really hard.”

Asked by Sir Trevor whether he could lose his job if the results are dire, Mr Hands said: “Well let’s see Trevor, but what I would say is that those are the independent predictions from the most credible academic sources.”

Mr Hands was seen with notes made in blue ink on his hand in Sunday’s broadcast interviews as he defended the record of Rishi Sunak’s government ahead of the 4 May polls.

Labour mocked the Tory cabinet minister after he was spotted with notes penned on his palm, tweeting: “Hands hands hands notes to Labour research team.”

The prospect of prolonged NHS strikes could derail Mr Sunak’s hopes of limiting local election damage, warned the Liberal Democrats – who said it would be “the most salient issue on the doorstep for 2019 Tory voters”.

A Lib Dem source said Mr Hands’ admission of defeat at the 4 May elections shows that the Tories “have already thrown in the towel before a single vote has been cast”.

They added: “Rishi Sunak is facing a blue wall bloodbath as people who voted Conservative all their life say never again, and turn to the Liberal Democrats instead.”

Anti-Tory tactical voting could see heavy local election losses for Mr Sunak’s party, top polling gurus have said. Election experts told The Independent the electorate had become increasingly “sophisticated” in switching between Labour or the Lib Dems.

Mr Hands insisted the government is “still working very hard in delivering” the PM’s priorities – halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt, stopping boats carrying migrants across the Channel, and reducing hospital waits.

But the Tory chair admitted that a wave of strikes “haven’t helped” with the vow to bring down NHS waiting lists, which stand at a record high of 7.2 million people.

Mr Sunak is “personally involved” in trying to tackle NHS backlogs, Mr Hands said when pressed on how he will achieve that in the face of strikes.

He insisted the government is “definitely not giving up” on the PM’s pledge – arguing it has “budged” in the pay dispute with nursing unions.

Suella Braverman is doing a “brilliant job,” Mr Hands insisted as he was confronted on the record on tackling illegal immigration – pointing to figures suggesting 83 per cent of the public believe the government is handling immigration badly.

“I’ve already outlined how we’re getting to grips with the job, and how we are passing the legislation, how we are coming to these agreements with key allies, but sometimes these things will take time,” Mr Hands told Sky News.

He added: “And that is why, for example, we are starting returns to Albania, we are getting to grips with this and Suella is right on top of it.”

Pressed on Mr Sunak’s pledge on halving inflation, which has gone up since he made it, Mr Hands replied that “nobody has said that it’s going to be easy to tame inflation” as he blamed higher energy prices driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Pressed on the UK’s economy showing no growth in February, the Tory chairman said: “Well, in February it was not one of the better results but January grew by 0.3 per cent … Overall, under this Conservative government we’ve got a record to be proud of on growth.”

Asked whether zero growth was something to be proud of, Mr Hands conceded that “we would like to see much stronger growth”.

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The NHS looks to become a doorstep issue in local elections

So this comment from Tim posted yesterday provides a quick briefing for non-Tory candidates:

It is worth remembering the fiasco around the closure of local hospitals caused by Tory County Councillor Randall Johnson, then local MP Swire, and then Health Sec Matt Hancock.


It was acknowledged by Swire’s wife Sasha that Swire himself was only moved to get involved with Ottery hospital “to piss off Claire Wright” according to his wife’s published diary.


Too little has changed, Randall Johnson is still chair of Devon CC’s Health and Scrutiny Committee and contributing to the Tory lie that the NHS is safe in Tory hands.


May I suggest readers do a search on her name in this website, here’s is one of many results for starters. https://eastdevonwatch.org/2018/10/04/__trashed-7/

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Should Ms Hernandez be adding her name to Tory election leaflets?

Setting aside Ms Hernandez’s typo gaffes and being serious for a moment.

Alison Hernandez signed this oath of impartiality on taking office after being re-elected, pledging to serve ALL the people of Devon and Cornwall:

This is what the government said when they set up the new role of commissioner:

“The swearing of an oath will be an important symbol of this impartiality, emphasising both the significance of this new role in local communities and that commissioners are there to serve the people, not a political party or any one section of their electorate.” See here

The commissioner must not only be impartial but be seen to be impartial.

Despite this, Alison Hernandez appears to see no conflict in adding her clearly partisan statement to the leaflet East Devon Conservatives recently distributed to residents in which they publicise their six election pledges, directly below the pledge from Conservative Group Leader Phil Skinner.

In this she omits to mention Richard Foord (LibDem) MP, the other East Devon MP, only that she will work closely with Simon Jupp MP and Conservatives in East Devon.

Does this exclude working closely with any non-Tory East Devon District Council?

Her statement, apparently made as Police and Crime Commissioner, comes at a sensitive time when we are still trying to find out why the police took so long to investigate John Humphreys and why his eventual arrest and formal charging was kept a closely guarded secret so that he continued as a councillor, with all the access to children that gave him.

In August 2021 Humphreys was jailed for sexually assaulting boys. He had been arrested in 2016 and continued as a district councillor until 2019.

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Oh Lord, there’s a third mistake!

Maybe Owl needs to take an eye test (can you still get them these days?).

An eagle-eyed correspondent has just spotted a third mistake in the Tory Pledges:

Our “Commissionaire” whose mission is to “improve asses” is now called “HerMandez”.

With so many mistakes in such a small section of the leaflet, Owl’s advice is to take no notice of any of it.

Maybe it was intended as an April Fool.

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Tories fear blue wall will crumble at local elections over NHS crisis

Remember it was the Tories who got rid of most of the local cottage hospitals – Owl 

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com

A prolonged NHS crisis stoked by further strikes risks derailing Rishi Sunak’s local election plans amid Tory concern that the prime minister is already facing pressure over flagship pledges on health and the economy.

The prime minister will head to the south-east this week as he attempts to shore up Tory heartland seats where traditional supporters had been put off by the chaos of the Johnson and Truss regimes. However, opposition parties have reported findings that the NHS remains the most salient issue among soft Tory voters.

The decision by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) to reject the government’s pay offer and announce further strike action, together with the threat of coordinated strikes by junior doctors, has heaped new pressure on Sunak’s pledge to reduce waiting lists by the end of the year.

It has also handed Labour and the Lib Dems a boost ahead of a huge set of local elections in England that represents Sunak’s first electoral test since entering Downing Street. “The RCN rejecting the nursing pay deal and the likelihood of further junior doctor strikes is bad news for the government, which had been making good progress in restoring a semblance of order after the chaos of the Johnson and Truss regimes,” said a former Tory minister. “There is a political imperative to put the strikes in the rearview mirror.”

According to an Opinium poll earlier this year, the most important of Sunak’s “five priorities” to the public is cutting NHS waiting lists. Cutting national debt is more of a “nice-to-have”, while 25% said new laws on small boats crossing the Channel were not a priority.

Campaigners in the so-called blue wall seats – where affluent, liberal Tory voters have been drifting away from the party – have already reported their surprise at finding that the NHS has emerged as the main concern on the doorstep rather than more familiar issues in the seats, such as tax cuts.

“The NHS is the most salient issue on the doorstep for 2019 Tory voters, and now their failure to manage it will be on the front of newspapers day in, day out,” said a senior Lib Dem source. “My personal view is that the reason they keep going for immigration/asylum seekers is that they basically think anything is better than the story being the NHS.”

It comes at a time when most Tory MPs have been pleasantly surprised by the progress Sunak has made since becoming prime minister, which has seen him adopt cutting NHS waiting times as one of his five “priorities for 2023”. Yet the vague NHS pledge is suddenly looking harder to achieve than was initially believed.

Sunak’s team is acutely aware of the importance of improving the NHS over this year. James Forsyth, his political secretary, has long believed that a prolonged NHS crisis is likely to be a greater problem for the hopes of the party than high energy bills and the cost of living.

Some senior Tories are hoping that public support for nurses will turn as the strikes continue. “I am not sure that public sympathy will continue as a reasonable package for nurses was rejected,” said one former cabinet minister. “People are starting to realise that strikes inhibit economic growth, too. I think that the PM’s pledges look much more ambitious than perhaps was realised earlier this year, but that is a good thing.”

While the target of cutting waiting times is vague, the events of the last week have made the task far harder, according to senior NHS figures. “We cannot overlook the consequences of this week’s strike action,” said Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, pointing to the number of outpatient appointments and operations rescheduled, estimated at between 250,000 and 330,000.

“A huge amount of effort has gone into cancelling and then finding new dates for these appointments. With a waiting list already over the 7m mark and an understaffed workforce, these extra cancellations will only further delay progress in getting the waiting list down. Longer term, many are mindful about how they will recover lost ground when it comes to the backlog, and they are always concerned for the health of patients who have had operations and appointments pushed back.”

It is not the only one of Sunak’s five pledges to be under pressure this spring, despite the fact that the list was seen as easy for the government to achieve. Recent economic data has also put pressure on the promise to get “national debt falling”. Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was only just meeting his very loose fiscal targets.

“What’s notable about the current target, to have debt falling in five years’ time, is just how loose it is compared with previous targets,” he said, “and that, despite this, the government is still only meeting it by a hair’s breadth.”

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Petition · Fulfil your duty of care and fix the potholes! 

Local Tories are pledging to cut car parking charges rather than fix the potholes. It’s all a matter of priorities.

Devon roads are in a state of “managed decline”.

Something Cllr John Hart, leader of Devon County Council, said in the context of flooding seems to apply more generally: “Self-help is going to be the order of the day.”

 Another Tory readers might remember, Norman Tebbit, once exhorted people to “get on your bike”. In Devon that needs revising to “get on your horse”.

www.change.org

I believe that local, county and national government have A DUTY OF CARE  to all road users in England.
Motorists, motorcyclists and cyclists are being put in harm’s way every day by the extraordinary amount of potholes in our roads. Some of them are not only wide but very deep and I consider them to be dangerous.

The run down state of the roads is causing damage to vehicles every day. Your vehicles. Who pays for the new tyres and tracking to be realigned? Will government/council be the ones responsible for any accident that might have been caused by a driver swerving to avoid a pothole? After all, it is their fault that it is still there. Their responsibility. Is the government responsible for our physical well being if there is an accident directly relating to the state of the roads that are owned/maintained by them? What if you all sent your garage bills to your county council? 

The extra money allocated by government will not begin to solve this problem nationally. 

I believe that all levels of council and government are responsible in some way for funding or fixing. They need to step up to the duty of care they have to us as residents of England. 

Please sign the petition. Share it to everyone. Don’t be the one that always moans and does nothing to help change things. Please, make them start to take notice and listen to our road using residents and the passengers they carry. Our roads are a disgrace. 

Thank you!
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Tactical voting is a way for people to use the system to make themselves heard

The British people, in their infinite wisdom, voted against changing the electoral system in a referendum 12 years ago. The introduction of an “alternative vote” system would have allowed them to number candidates in order of preference, and so do without the need for tactical voting, which involves guessing how other people are going to vote and making one’s own decision accordingly.

Editorial www.independent.co.uk

However, we report that the view of a number of election analysts, led by Professor Sir John Curtice, is that British voters are likely to engage in tactical voting in the local elections on 4 May on a grand scale. Thus they may achieve roughly what they would have achieved by way of the alternative vote – in this case, administering a ringing condemnation of the governing party and its record.

“Tactical voting happens when people dislike the government so much they will take whatever stick is available to beat it with,” Prof Curtice explains. An increasingly sophisticated electorate is capable of switching between Labour and the Liberal Democrats – and indeed other minor parties – depending on which candidate has the best chance of defeating the Conservative candidate in a given constituency or local government ward.

Prof Curtice predicts that this kind of anti-Tory switching could happen on the same scale as in 1992 and 1997 when Tory local election losses were exaggerated as voters sent a powerful message to an unpopular government.

Regardless of whether the government deserves to be punished, this is a welcome and democratic trend. Given that we do not have an electoral system that allows voters to express more than one preference, or that is designed to secure representation in proportion to the number of votes cast, voters must use the system we have in the most sophisticated way possible.

If the Conservatives’ real motive in introducing voter ID was to try to secure party advantage – which would seem odd, given that older voters are both less likely to have a photographic identity document and more likely to vote Tory – then they should be disproportionately punished for such an anti-democratic instinct.

If the government abolished preferential voting in the case of directly elected mayors in the belief that it would give Tory candidates an advantage, then the voters should use whatever means are available to them to deliver the bloodiest of noses.

But above all, if the voters feel strongly that the government is on the wrong track, then they are entitled to use whatever legitimate and democratic means they wish in order to convey that message. We would urge all citizens not just to use their vote, but to do so in whatever way they feel best makes their voice heard. This may involve voting for a second- or third-best candidate in the hope of blocking the worst. It may involve casting a vote on national issues rather than on the responsibilities of the local council.

In practice, it is likely that many Conservative councillors will lose their seats, not because of their own record locally, but because of the way people feel about the record of Rishi Sunak and his ministers. This is rough justice, but it is also a vibrant democracy in the hands of an increasingly informed electorate, determined to use the voting system to try to get what it wants.

“Tactical voting” is another way of saying “power to the people”.

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Tory pledge leaflet demotes Alison Hernandez

As some of you may have read yesterday Alison Hernandez has been billed as the “Police and Crime Commissionaire for Devon” on the East Devon Conservative “Working for you” broadsheet publicising their election pledges. Is this one of them?

A salary of  £88,600 per annum (May 2022) seems a lot for a uniformed door attendant, does this include a uniform allowance?

Has she published a selfie yet in her new role?

Also, should “improve assess” in her statement read: “improve asses”, just wondering? – Owl

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Bungling Tories make surprise admission in election leaflets being posted out

Oooops – Owl

www.mirror.co.uk (Extract)

Conservative candidates standing in next month’s local elections have been delivering leaflets boasting that they have taken their areas ‘from debt free to debt ridden’

PS A number of typos in latest East DevonConservatives Working for you.

Alison Hernandez becomes a Crime Commissionaire. Opening doors to whom? – Owl

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The heat is on to reduce energy bills across East Devon public leisure centres and swimming pools

Air source heat pumps may not be the solution to reducing East Devon leisure centre heating bills, a new report has found.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk 

Consultations are to continue about how to reduce energy bills in East Devon’s leisure centres, writes local democracy reporter Rob Kershaw.

Exmouth swimming pool recently made national news for its use of a ‘digital boiler’ powered by cloud data servers.

Some estimates suggest this method of heating could more than halve the pool’s energy bill, although East Devon District Council (EDDC) officers believe the figure is closer to 30 per cent.

The council is the landlord of three public pools in Sidmouth, Honiton and Exmouth, and it is keen to reduce energy bills, with the heating of swimming pools being one of the costliest expenditures.

At an LED (Leisure East Devon) monitoring forum meeting on Tuesday (April 11) the company’s chief executive Peter Gilpin revealed that engineering giants Bosch had completed a free audit of heating systems in the district leisure centres.

It found that heating through air source heat pumps are not the “panacea” that some may think.

The audit suggests that new boilers, like ones recently installed in Sidmouth, often work better than new air source heaters, which are too big for places like Axminster’s Flamingo Pool.

The chancellor’s budget last month confirmed that over £60 million is to be spent on leisure centres with swimming pools, and East Devon’s facilities may be able to grab a share of that cash to improve facilities.

Government funding of £40 million is also available for decarbonisation, with a further £23 million prioritised for socially deprived areas.

But there is some debate about which energy source is the most efficient. Independent Cllr Nick Hookway suggested that the council engage “consultants as quickly as possible to provide us with further information to make a long-term decision.”

Most councillors at the meeting agreed to seek expert guidance on heating solutions, while officers will prepare a bid for government funding.

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Tories lose 50% of their councillors in eight years but they don’t intend to change tack

In 2011 the Tories had 43 councillors.

Two electoral cycles later, after the 2019 election, they had only 19.

Time for a re-think?

No, our Tories aren’t for turning.

Seeing the writing on the wall in February, otherwise loyal Conservative “I support Simon Jupp” Mike Howe, was forced to quit saying he: “Can’t defend the indefensible”.

Mike Howe is now contesting his Clyst Valley ward as an Independent against an Official Conservative and a LibDem. A Conservative “lose” here looks to be on the cards.

So the Tories face the May elections signalling business as usual with their choice of Leader Phil Skinner and his Deputy Ben Ingham, who started as a Tory, played with being an Independent but has now been “reborn” a Tory.

If you vote Tory on May 4 under Phil Skinner this is what to expect

Phil Skinner was first elected in 1999.

He was elected Chair Exmouth regeneration board 2016 and Deputy Leader EDDC May 2018. 

As Deputy Leader he would have been one of two EDDC representatives on the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP).

GESP was a strategic plan to spread Exeter’s housing needs more widely with its neighbours: Teignbridge; East Devon and Mid Devon.

Under the ill fated Ingham “Independent” regime in 2019 in addition to Deputy leader Susie Bond, Phil Skinner was also elected to represent EDDC on the GESP, providing continuity. He was the Conservative Group leader on Strategic Planning at the time.

Devised in great secrecy, behind closed doors, a draft GESP Housing Allocation plan was published in 2019 (since withdrawn from the public domain). An East Devon paper of 2020, however, reveals the scale of what was being proposed. East Devon was to bear a hugely disproportionate number of houses accounting for one third of the total. This amounted to 6,000 houses in addition to the 4,000 in the local plan over an equivalent period. (The GESP was working to a 2040 planning horizon). This DevonLive article also records details.

In other words Phil Skinner and Ben Ingham were going along with a plan for a 150% uplift to the EDDC Local Plan which was already based on a “jobs led” high growth scenario.

It illustrates graphically where Phil Skinner is coming from.

Along the line his Councillor responsibilities have included: being portfolio holder to both the economy and development management (planning in plain speak); rural champion; a member of the Heart of the South West LEP Joint Committee; and a member of The Exeter and Heart Of Devon Growth Board, Joint Advisory Reference Group.

In short Phil Skinner has been at the forefront of place shaping for not only EDDC but for the region. His time in power coincides with the period when the Conservative electoral fortunes started to go downhill.

He is a “Build, build, build” developer’s friend through and through.

The legacy we still experience, with an eye watering Local Plan housing target 2013 to 2031 and problems concerning Exmouth Regeneration and forfeiture of East Devon land to fulfil Exeter’s housing plan shortfall, can all be traced to him and his contemporaries, of which he is very much the “continuity candidate”.

As he said, whilst supporting the Exeter and East Devon bid for “Garden Community” status in 2019:

“We are going to have the housing numbers whether we like it or not, and we cannot put off and delay this as there is a much bigger vision than just focusing on that. This is a really exciting project and I hope people grasp it with the enthusiasm that I have so we get the good things for the area that we live in.

[The villages of Poltimore, Huxham, Clyst St Mary, Clyst St George, Ebford, West Hill, Woodbury​, Woodbury Salterton, Exton and Farringdon would be most likely to be included in this plan as ones that could be expanded further, based on them being in the quadrant and close to existing infrastructure.]

As for the chameleon Ben Ingham, who has already failed as a Leader of the Council.

All you need do is ask yourself this: “Would you buy a second hand car from him?”

Leopards never change their spots.

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Roads face ‘inevitable decline’ across Devon

Devon’s road network faces an “inevitable decline” due to a lack of funding, an alarming new report reveals.

This is what happens when you vote Tory, they want to cut car parking charges but can’t fix the roads.  – Owl

Ollie Heptinstall www.dawlish-today.co.uk

The county council’s new highways management plan details how current levels of investment means the worsening condition of some roads is ‘unavoidable’, with a strategy now in place for ‘managing decline.’

One opposition councillor has reacted by saying minor rural roads could end up being so bad that residents may want to consider getting a horse.

The management plan, presented to a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, explained how the annual settlement for highways maintenance – around £25 million last year – has halved in real terms compared to a decade ago.

‘This also has the knock-on impact of forcing a change in priorities, with safety taking higher consideration and proactive works being stopped, contributing to a more rapid deterioration of roads,’ it explained.

Capital funding from the Department for Transport is also now lower in real terms than it was in 2014/15, although there was a one-off increase in 2020/21, while an extra £9.4 million for potholes has increased the total for the new financial year.

But councillors are being warned that the funding pressures mean potholes are ‘likely to become more prevalent, leading to a rise in unplanned and disruptive maintenance.’

The report adds: ‘In the long term there will also be an impact on the selection of journey routes and the reliability of journey times.’

Devon has more than 8,000 miles of road; the largest road network in the country.

Overall county council spending will increase by 10.5 per cent this financial year – £67 million – but most of it is set aside for adult and children’s services. Climate change, environment and transport has received just a 3.5 per cent boost, well below inflation.

Roads will now only be repaired after assessment against a set of ‘management strategies,’ with ‘priority assets’ receiving targeted investment. The council also wants to maintain the current condition of A and B roads.

However, the lack of money means Devon’s minor roads will be allowed to ‘gradually deteriorate,’ while unclassified roads will get ‘minimal maintenance,’ apart from safety and routine maintenance.

Councillor Stuart Hughes (Conservative, Sidmouth), cabinet member for highways, said: ‘Like all authorities, Devon is facing significant financial pressures which have been compounded further by the recent high inflation.’

He added the service had ‘continued to focus on improving efficiencies alongside innovation, recognising that in the absence of adequate funding, the service must prioritise and best manage a decline.’

But debating the item, Liberal Democrat councillor Alistair Dewhirst (Ipplepen & The Kerswells) suggested minor roads could end up being so bad that residents may have to consider equine forms of transport.

‘If you’re a resident in a minor rural road, effectively with the decline that is implicit in this report, you’re just going to be landlocked. You’re just going to have to walk everywhere or maybe get a horse.’

Cllr Dewhirst also claimed it would cost £180 million to improve Devon’s roads. This figure was acknowledged by county council director of transport Meg Booth, who said it would allow all roads to be at least ‘amber’ on a traffic-light scale of concern.

Labour councillor Carol Whitton (St David’s and Haven Banks) said: ‘Devon is certainly not alone in facing this problem of a declining asset and managing that decline, but of course Devon is particularly challenged by the sheer volume of mileage that exists within this county.

‘And what is happening on unclassified roads will be of particular concern to our rural members. Less so in Exeter.’

Meanwhile, Independent leader Frank Biederman (Fremington Rural) called the report a ‘pretty grim read’ and said it comes after ‘decades and decades of under-investment.’

Members of the cabinet agreed the management plan and also approved the council’s £66 million capital funded highway maintenance programme for 2023/24.

Lack of funding

Many of Devon’s roads are expected to get worse because of a lack of funding.

The county council says its annual settlement for highways maintenance has halved in real-terms compared to a decade ago – with a plan now in place for “managing decline”

It wants to maintain the condition of A and B roads, but the lack of cash means Devon’s minor road network will be allowed to “gradually deteriorate”.

Devon has over eight-thousand miles of road – the largest amount in the country.

Get a horse!

Get a horse if you want to make it down some of Devon’s roads in the future.

That’s the message from one councillor, as the county council adopts a strategy of “managing decline” of its roads.

A new highways management plan reveals worsening conditions of some roads is “unavoidable” due to current funding levels, and that people may end up choosing different routes because of the state they’re getting into.

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Huge Blow For Rishi Sunak As NHS Waiting Lists Hit Another Record High

Rishi Sunak has been dealt a major blow after NHS waiting lists hit another record high.

[As well as promising to cut waiting lists, Sunak also vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, bring down the national debt and stop small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.

However, the boats are still continuing to arrive in Dover, while it was confirmed today that GDP flatlined in February.]

westernmorning.news

The prime minister made bringing them down one of the five pledges he made to voters at the start of the year.

“NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly,” the PM said.

But official figures published by NHS England today revealed that 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, up from 7.21 million in January and the highest total since records began.

Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have also got longer, while around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 13 years of Conservative failure to train the staff the NHS needs, patients can no longer be sure the NHS will be there for them in an emergency. These appalling waiting times mean people are just praying they don’t fall ill or have an accident.

“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients. We cannot go on like this.”

Streeting said Labour would double medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses every year to bring down waiting lists.

“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients”

Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak’s NHS pledge is already turning out to be yet another broken Conservative promise.

“The Conservatives are letting patients and their loved ones down badly, leaving far too many people waiting in pain for the treatment they need.

“They have let the NHS crisis spiral out of control, failing to deliver the new hospitals they promised and making people wait months or even years for treatment.

“We need an urgent rescue plan for the NHS. If patients could see their GP when they need to or get the care they need at home, it would free up hospital resources to treat people far more quickly.”

As well as promising to cut waiting lists, Sunak also vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, bring down the national debt and stop small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.

However, the boats are still continuing to arrive in Dover, while it was confirmed today that GDP flatlined in February.

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How many Tories does it take to fill a pothole?

Owl has been told a suspension-buster covered in standing water, marked by a half submerged “John Major” cone, has been getting bigger and bigger over the past couple of weeks on the B3178 Salterton Road from Exmouth in the dip to the east of Liverton Business Park.

Anyone know of a bigger one in East Devon? – Owl

Pothole pointed out by Rishi Sunak remains unfilled two weeks later – and it’s even deeper…

A POTHOLE personally pointed out by Rishi Sunak remains unfilled two weeks later.

Jack Elsom www.thesun.co.uk  

The suspension-buster even appears to have got deeper and wider despite the attentions of the Prime Minister, the constituency MP, regional mayor and a council leader.

The pothole even appears to have got deeper and wide since the PM drew attention to it

Now the joke among exasperated residents waiting for repairs has become: “How many Tories does it take to fix a pothole?”

Mr Sunak was photographed looking purposefully at the pothole in Emley Moor Road, Darlington, on March 31.

The PM was there to announce a crackdown on utility companies that failed to repair roads and pavements after digging them up.

Flanked by Teesside Mayor Ben Houchen, Darlington MP Peter Gibson and council leadr Jonathan Dulston, he bent down to see the damage for himself.

But despite promising drivers smoother journeys and pledging hundreds of millions of pounds more for repairs, the pothole is still there a fortnight later.

Stephen Harker, Labour group leader on Darlington council, said: “If the Conservative council can’t even fill potholes pointed out by the Prime Minister, what hope do drivers have?

“Rishi Sunak is running out of road here in Darlington.”

However, a Darlington council spokesman insisted: “The pothole will be repaired this week in line with our procedures.”

The scourge of potholes has become a keen battleground ahead of next month’s local elections.

The Conservatives claim their councils fix more than their Labour counterparts.

Analysis shows Tory local authorities repaired 16,250 compared with 5,417 filled by those councils controlled by Sir Keir Starmer’s party.

However, Labour has accused the Government of a “decade of broken pothole promises” after then-PM David Cameron vowed to tackle the problem in 2014.

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The East Devon District Council Battleground

In 2011 the Tory councillors numbered 43.

In 2015 this had fallen to 36.

In 2019 it had fallen further to 19. 

Throughout the LibDems have numbered between 6 to 10, though four former EDA councillors have now joined the party.

This is the background to the 2023 election.

The Tories lost control of East Devon District Council (EDDC) in May 2019. Previously they had enjoyed a majority of 36 councillors in a council comprising 59 members (now increased to 60). After the 2019 election their number was reduced to 19, not a majority but until 2020, the largest grouping in the council and therefore still wielding significant power.  

In 2015 the Tory majority had already been eroded from 43 largely as a result of the election success of a dedicated group of independents styling themselves the East Devon Alliance (EDA). The EDA emerged in 2013 from the widespread protests at the arrogant way the long standing Tory regime in EDDC were driving through a build, build, build agenda, with a disregard for accountability and scrutiny and  their lack of respect in listening to members of the public. 

Its purpose was to provide genuine Independents with a mutual support umbrella to seek election.

Under electoral law it was obliged to register as a political party in 2015 when it won 10 of the 59 seats and became a significant opposition political grouping.

For the first year after the 2019 election Cllr. Ben Ingham ran a supposedly “Independent” council following the same policies as the previous Tory administration, with prominent Tories in key positions and with tacit Tory support. This was despite two thirds of the council being non-Tories of various shades. EDA councillors were excluded from his administration. Not surprisingly this administration fell apart as genuine independent councillors rebelled.

In March 2020, councillors from the East Devon Alliance, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, and one Independent, formed a group called the Democratic Alliance. Comprising 24 councillors, they then became the largest group in the council.

In May 2020, eight councillors left the ruling Independent Group. One joined the East Devon Alliance, and seven formed their own group called the Independent Progressive Group. This new group formed a coalition partnership with the Democratic Alliance, and this coalition was able to form a new, stable, majority administration with 31/60 seats.

Cllr Ben Ingham rejoined the Conservative Party and is now their Deputy Leader.

Throughout the LibDem have numbered between 6 to 10. Four former EDA councillors have joined them seeing this the best way to ensure the “Democratic Alliance” continues, others will continue as EDA candidates.

Effectively we have in East Devon an almost proportional representation situation with those who are prepared to work together doing so, and those who put politics first (Tories and pseudo-Independent Tories) refusing to do what is best for the district. 

This “Democratic Alliance” has only been in power for three years, much of it constrained by the pandemic and grappling with the legacy problems inherited from the Tories eg membership of the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan and general lack of investment. Owl judges it to have been a success but this is only the beginning, there is much more to be done.

Although Independent candidates may again take a large share of the seats, acting independently will give them little more than the power of veto. To gain power and be able to do things, as can be seen above, it is necessary to form formal coalitions and alliances.

Even if they lose more ground, the Tories could still be the largest formal grouping and attempt to form an administration.

PS Nine current Tory councillors are standing down and not seeking re-election; only one LibDem is standing down.

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Nearly three quarters of Conservative voters want the UK to build more social housing

Remember Cllr. Dan Ledger’s article on the problems of trying to increase the affordable and social housing stock given that every time a tenant  exercises their “Right to Buy” the council is prohibited from reinvesting all of the receipts to replace the loss. In fact the Tories restricted the reinvestment rules again in 2021. He pointed out that 70 RTB requests to EDDC were made in 2022. – Owl

Vicky Spratt inews.co.uk

A significant majority of Conservative voters think more social housing should be built in the UK, according to exclusive YouGov polling carried out for i.

Of 2,112 adults surveyed across Britain, a total of 74 per cent of Brits agreed that more social housing was needed. 15 per cent said that they did not think more social housing was needed and 11 per cent said they did not know.

Some 71 per cent of people who voted Conservative in the 2019 general election said they agreed that there needed to be more social housing, compared to 82 per cent of people who voted Labour in the same election.

An overwhelming majority of Brits – 82 per cent – also agreed that it was “difficult” for young people in the UK to access adequate housing. Around 7 per cent said they thought it was “easy” and 10 per cent said they did not know.

Of those who voted Conservative in the 2019 general election, the overwhelming majority – 80 per cent – thought it was difficult for young people to access adequate housing. This compared to 88 per cent who voted Labour.

The survey was conducted online between April 3 and 4 2023 and the results were weighted by factors such as age, gender, region, social class, political attention, past vote in the 2019 election, past vote in the 2016 EU referendum, and education level to give a representative sample of all adults over the age of 18 in Britain.

Britain currently faces a severe social housing shortage.

Last year the House of Lords Built Environment Committee concluded that there was a “serious shortage” of social housing and argued that many renters who would once have lived in secure and affordable social homes were now living in “expensive private rented accommodation” with their housing costs subsidised by housing benefit.

The housing benefit bill is now £23.4bn a year, more than the total spend for most government departments.

Exclusive YouGov polling for i has also revealed that most renters have experienced a sharp rent increase in the past year because of their landlord putting up their rent.

However, the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) which is how housing benefit is calculated remains frozen at 2019/20 levels, leaving low-income renters with a shortfall between the state support available to them and the real cost of rent.

The New Economics Foundation – a left-leaning think-tank which promotes social, economic and environmental justice – has done some research and found that the Government is set to spend five times more (£58.2bn) on paying private landlords’ rent via housing benefits than on its entire affordable housebuilding programme (£11.5bn for the Affordable Homes Programme) over the next four years.

Speaking about i’s polling Matt Downie, chief executive at the homelessness charity Crisis, said: “This poll highlights how people up and down the country understand the crucial need to address the chronic lack of social housing. The demand for social housing has outstripped supply for years and we are still yet to see any real commitment from the UK Government on social house building.

“With the increasing cost of living pressures and rents at their highest rate in over 16 years, the need for action is desperate. Until we build the genuinely affordable homes we need, we will continue to see people trapped without a home, and hundreds of thousands more on the brink of homelessness.”

According to the homelessness charity Shelter there are now 1.4 million fewer households living in social housing than there were in 1980.

There is also currently a social housing waiting list of over a million households across England, meaning that a growing number of homeless families with children have been placed in inappropriate temporary accommodation in recent years. This includes converted office blocks which i exposed in an investigation earlier this year and planning experts argue are putting residents’ health at risk.

A significant majority of Brits – 78 per cent – also said that access to adequate housing should be a human right.

11% said access to adequate housing should not be a human right and 11% said they did not know.

In response to these figures, the Labour MP Lisa Nandy, Shadow Levelling Up & Housing Secretary, told i: “Safe and secure housing is a fundamental human right, but the Tories have turned housing into a racket. A decade of drift and decay has left us with a chronic lack of social housing and over a million families languishing on waiting lists.

“That’s why the next Labour government will build more affordable and social homes, restore social housing to the second largest form of tenure, and raise standards. Everyone deserves a warm, safe place to call home and reform of our broken housing system to deliver that is long overdue.”

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) spokesperson said:

“We are committed to building more social homes and are investing £11.5bn through our Affordable Homes Programme to deliver tens of thousands of homes for rent and sale right across the country.

“We’ve also taken steps to increase the amount of money councils can keep when they sell social homes. Over £4.1 billion of Right to Buy sales has been reinvested in new affordable housing by councils since 2012.”

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Dartmoor parking charges are going up

Dartmoor National Park Authority is increasing its parking charges for the first time in five years. From May 1 parking charges will increase at Haytor, Postbridge, Princetown, Meldon Reservoir and Lydford car parks.

Guy Henderson www.devonlive.com

The new fees will be £3 for up to three hours and £5 if staying for more than three hours. Fees for minibus and coaches will be £10 all day. Blue Badge holders will pay £3 all day. All the car parks remain free for motorcycles.

Charges for Haytor, Postbridge, Princetown and Meldon run from 10am to 6pm from Monday to Sunday. Charges for Lydford run from 10am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday and from 1pm to 6pm on Sunday.

A spokesman for the authority said: “The reality of continued financial challenges means the authority has had to make a series of difficult decisions lately, including a review of parking fees.

“People who pay to stay in the car parks owned by the authority are keeping Dartmoor a special place. Money raised is reinvested back in important services such as maintaining car park surfaces, looking after toilets, improving accessibility and supporting conservation work.”

The authority has also invested funds in installing electric vehicle charging points with one already at Haytor and others planned for Postbridge and Princetown.

Director of Conservation and Communities Richard Drysdale added: “We have done our best to keep the increases as modest as possible and visitors will still benefit from free parking before 10am or after 6pm. We think the increase is still good value for a day out on Dartmoor – one of the country’s most important landscapes and among the first to be designated as a National Park in 1951.

“Fees are vital for us in maintaining our car parks and visitor services and continuing our conservation work to help keep Dartmoor special for everyone to enjoy.” Signs letting people know about the increases have been put up in car parks.