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Exmouth stroke survivors thank council

An Exmouth stroke survivors’ club has thanked its local councillors for their support.

Rob Kershaw, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

East Devon District Council’s LED (Leisure East Devon) monitoring forum  heard from the club’s chair, Steve Beer on Tuesday [11 April]. He told them of the troubles people face after being discharged from hospital, with some stroke survivors waiting the best part of two years to be seen by a specialist.

He called on the council to do as much as it can to help those recovering from strokes, saying 500 people in Exmouth have left hospital having suffered stroke symptoms this year.

The club’s near 50 members are not fighting their battle alone. The district council’s leisure partner, LED, has offered the club a slot at Exmouth swimming pool. It has also helped provide equipment such as steppers to survivors.

Mr Beer urged more council members to attend the club’s meetings and thanked them for their support.Independent Cllr Nick Hookway joined Mr Beer in encouraging more backing for the club. “I think we ought to try to do as much as we can; I do support that call,” he added. “We are doing something at a perhaps small level. Anything we can do and anything LED can do more to help these people should be encouraged.”

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Holiday homes in England to need planning permission under new plans

People who convert homes into short-term holiday lets would require planning permission in tourist hotspots in England under government plans.

Are there local elections campaigns underway? – Owl

Nadeem Badshah www.theguardian.com 

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has said it will consult on the change as well as whether to give owners the flexibility to let out their home for a maximum number of nights a year without the need for the permission.

The government said it would also hold a consultation on another proposal for a registration scheme for short-term holiday lets.

Airbnb welcomed the government taking forward its plans for the register, but said it wanted to ensure that any changes to the planning system “strike a balance between protecting housing and supporting everyday families who let their space to help afford their home and keep pace with rising living costs”.

The communities secretary, Michael Gove, said: “Tourism brings many benefits to our economy, but in too many communities we have seen local people pushed out of cherished towns, cities and villages by huge numbers of short-term lets.

“I’m determined that we ensure that more people have access to local homes at affordable prices, and that we prioritise families desperate to rent or buy a home of their own close to where they work.”

The government said local authorities could choose not to use the planning controls.

It said the register is being introduced through the levelling up and regeneration bill currently going through parliament, while the planning changes, subject to the outcome of the consultation, would be introduced through secondary legislation later in the year.

Theo Lomas, head of public policy and government relations for northern Europe at Airbnb, said the vast majority of UK hosts share one home and almost four in 10 say the earnings help them afford the rising cost of living.

Lomas added: “Airbnb has long called for a national register for short-term lets and we welcome the government taking this forward. We know that registers are clear and simple for everyday hosts to follow while giving authorities the information they need to regulate effectively.

“We want to work with the government to ensure that any planning interventions are carefully considered, evidence-based, and strike a balance between protecting housing and supporting everyday families who let their space to help afford their home and keep pace with rising living costs.”

The plans for a register follow a call for evidence on the issue for a consultation to be carried out by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said: “This new world of ultra-flexible short term lets gives tourists more choice than ever before, but it should not come at the expense of local people being able to own their own home and stay local.

“The government wants to help areas get the balance right, and today we have an incomplete picture of the size and spread of our short-term lets market.

“This consultation on a national registration scheme will give us the data we need to assess the position and enable us to address the concerns communities face.”

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Matt Hancock among three MPs placed under investigation by standards watchdog

Matt Hancock is among three MPs who have been placed under investigation by parliament’s standards watchdog. In a move that threatens to reignite allegations of sleaze in the Conservative party, a series of inquiries were launched by the commissioner, Daniel Greenberg.

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

The former health secretary is being looked into over allegations that he broke the MPs’ code of conduct by “lobbying the commissioner in a manner calculated or intended to influence his consideration” of whether a separate breach had been committed. It is a new offence that was added to the latest version of the code, endorsed by MPs in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the Blackpool South MP, Scott Benton, is being investigated over the use of his parliamentary email. It comes a week after Benton was caught offering to lobby ministers and obtain early access to a sensitive government report for up to £4,000 a month.

Henry Smith, a backbench Tory MP for 13 years, is also being investigated for an alleged breach of the rules on using taxpayer-funded stationery.

A spokesperson for Hancock denied any wrongdoing and claimed he was “surprised” by the move. They said: “Far from lobbying the commissioner, Matt wrote to Greenberg in good faith to offer some additional evidence that he thought was not only pertinent but helpful for an inquiry the parliamentary commissioner for standards is currently conducting.

“It’s clearly a misunderstanding and Matt looks forward to fully engaging with the commissioner to clear this up.”

The letter sent by Hancock contained evidence that he was said to have been uniquely placed to give. There were only two other existing investigations by the standards commissioner, one of which was into whether the former health minister Steve Brine broke lobbying rules. That was triggered when texts from Brine to Hancock and other cabinet ministers were released as part of a leaked cache of messages sent and received by the then health secretary during the Covid pandemic.

Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said the “constant drip-drip of Conservative sleaze” had “become a deluge”.

She claimed that Rishi Sunak’s promise to lead a government of professionalism, integrity and accountability at all levels had “been swamped by scandal after scandal” and added: “The British people will rightly look at the Conservatives and wonder why there is always one rule for them, and another for everyone else.”

Hancock was stripped of the Conservative whip in autumn 2022 after appearing on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! while parliament was still sitting. Afterwards, he claimed he had been assured by the chief whip that he would be allowed to formally rejoin the Tory parliamentary party again “in due course”, but he still sits as an independent and has said he will stand down at the next general election.

The MP for West Suffolk was found by the previous standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, to have broken the rules by failing to declare a stake in a family company that won an NHS contract. She allowed him to avoid a sanction – as the breach was found to have fallen “at the less serious end of the spectrum” – and instead have the interest added to the official record “in bold italics”.

He also committed a “technical” breach of the ministerial code over the handling of the same matter, according to the then prime minister’s ethics adviser, but again faced no penalty.

Benton had the whip suspended last week after referring himself to the standards commissioner. He had been caught out by undercover reporters from the Times who were posing as representatives of a fake investment fund, and laughed when revealing how MPs could get away with not declaring hospitality.

When video evidence emerged, he said he had ceased contact with the fictitious company after becoming “concerned that what was being asked of me was not within parliamentary rules”.

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If the IMF is right about inflation, Rishi Sunak is doomed

Rishi Sunak has staked his premiership largely on his ability to fix Britain’s economy. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made clear this will be a tough job.

Has stagflation returned? – Owl

Hugo Gye inews.co.uk

When delivering his Budget last month, Jeremy Hunt boasted that the UK was on course to avoid recession. But the IMF’s forecast that GDP will shrink by 0.3 per cent puts that claim in doubt, and confirms that Britain is struggling worse than peer countries.

It is a sharp corrective to recent suggestions that the economy is perking up: even without a technical recession, usually defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, there is no realistic prospect of significant growth this year.

Even more concerning, perhaps, is the IMF’s warning that inflation could prove more persistent than hoped – leading in turn to interest rates that are higher for longer.

Changes in GDP take time to feed through to people’s everyday lives; inflation and interest rates have an instant impact. A second consecutive year of falling living standards would be felt by almost everyone in the UK and cement the impression that the Conservatives are no longer in control of the economy.

When Mr Sunak promised to halve inflation this year, he was mocked for picking a target that appeared trivially easy, given the likelihood that price increases would slow down of their accord. Government insiders say the IMF’s warnings show that in fact nothing can be taken for granted – and insist they need to double down on their tight fiscal plans to bring inflation down to a reasonable level.

To some extent having the IMF sound the alarm is a short-term help for Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt, strengthening the arguments they are already making and quieting Conservative MPs who want a return to the Trussite agenda of tax cuts.

But for any government, let alone one run by a man whose chief claim to fame was protecting the economy during the pandemic, slumping GDP and high inflation are a toxic cocktail. The IMF’s assessment that much of this is driven by factors outside ministers’ control only makes matters worse by limiting the menu of possible responses. The Prime Minister and Chancellor have work still to do.

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Boss of UK’s most polluting water firm made £1.4m from shares before retiring

The chief executive of the UK’s most polluting water company made £1.4m from the sale of shares in the business before his retirement, the Guardian can reveal.

One of privatisation’s winners, most of us are losers! – Owl

PS With all this rain around yesterday and today, best stay away from our rivers.

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Politicians have called for water companies to be taxed to the extent that they cannot pay huge sums to CEOs after it was revealed that Steve Mogford of United Utilities retired on 31 March and in the months beforehand sold his shares for just under £1.4m.

According to Environment Agency data, the most polluting water company in England last year was United Utilities. One of the company’s pipes spilled sewage into the River Ellen, near the Lake District, for nearly 7,000 hours last year.

The data also showed that 10 of the country’s 20 pipes that spilled the most sewage in 2022 were owned by United Utilities, which provides water to the north-west and Lake District.

The Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “As the sewage scandal runs on, top chiefs at water companies are racking up millions of pounds in bonuses. This is a disgrace. Water companies shouldn’t be allowed to get away with pumping thousands of hours of filthy sewage into our rivers and waterways. We need the Conservatives to stop sitting on their hands, tax water companies and end this scandal.”

Megan Corton Scott, a political campaigner for Greenpeace UK, said: “We are the only country in the world to fully privatise our national water supply. This gave monopoly powers to the water companies with no conspicuous accountability and little commercial incentive to do anything but collect bill payments. People have no choice but to give them their money in exchange for performance that is, frankly, well below bog standard.

“The theory that the innate decency of the companies’ management would ensure an acceptable level of service has been completely disproven. The results are in and allowing water companies to mark their own homework doesn’t work. Either the government accepts that reform is needed and gives regulators the funding, the legal powers and the spine they desperately need, or our water industry will continue to stink.”

Water company bosses have made huge sums from salaries and bonuses in recent years, despite the continuing sewage scandal. Last year, it was revealed that the boss of Anglian Water, which had one of the worst pollution records in England, was given more than £1m in pay and bonuses.

The shadow environment secretary, Jim McMahon, said: “The Tory sewage scandal has allowed water bosses [to] profit from failure, whilst our villages, towns, and cities across the country have been treated as open sewers.

“In the absence of a serious government plan, Labour has brought forward our water quality bill to clean up the water industry once and for all. Labour’s proposed legislation would enforce mandatory monitoring and automatic fines at the point of dumping, ambitious targets that end the sewage scandal by 2030 and deliver accountability for negligent water bosses.”

Figures also showed the annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021 despite most of the companies failing to meet sewage pollution targets. On average executives received £100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries during a period in which polluted water was being pumped for 2.7m hours into England’s rivers and swimming spots.

The analysis of water companies’ annual reports found their bonus pool for executives stood at an average of more than £600,000 per company. In total the 22 water bosses paid themselves £24.8m, including £14.7m in bonuses, benefits and incentives, in 2021-22.

The former boss of Thames Water has been handed £2.8m since leaving the company, despite being sacked for leakages and fines while in charge.

United Utilities has been contacted for comment.

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 27 March

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East Devon ranked among expensive location to buy a home

Budleigh Salterton has been ranked 10th most expensive seaside location to buy a home on average in 2022.

“Second home ownership undoubtedly plays a role in driving up prices in the most desirable locations.”

[Second homes currently account for one in every 23 properties in East Devon and rising; obviously concentrated in coastal towns and our “picturesque” villages where you can show off in your “Muddy Stilettos” – Owl]

Adam Manning www.exmouthjournal.co.uk 

New analysis from Barclays Bank show Budleigh to be 10th most expensive in Britain at 537,681. other locations in East Devon have appeared on the list, including:

  • Lyme Regis £501,261.
  • Sidmouth £496,936.
  • Exmouth £373,539.
  • Seaton £369,541

The bank, Barclays analysed house price data for the 12 months to December 2022 to make the findings, looking at 209 coastal locations in total.

Salcombe was number one. It found the average house pricelast year was just over £1.2 million.

At the other end of the spectrum, Greenock in Inverclyde, Scotland, was found to have the lowest average house price of the seaside locations analysed, at £97,608.

Scotland dominated Halifax’s top 10 list of the least expensive seaside locations.

Halifax’s study indicated that, in general, the cost of coastal homes across Britain has increased by 56 per cent between 2012 and 2022, from £195,509 to £304,460.

During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, coastal and rural locations were particularly popular as house hunters embarked on a ‘race for space.’

Many of the most expensive seaside locations were found along the coastline of southern England, in areas popular with second home owners.

Kim Kinnaird, mortgages director at Halifax, said: “For many, owning a home by the sea is an aspiration, with coastal living offering beach walks, clean air and other health benefits.

“But this comes at a price in many locations and Britain’s most expensive seaside spot, Salcombe in Devon, will set buyers back over £1.2 million on average.

“When we delve deeper into the cost of Britain’s seaside homes, it’s clear that there is a broad spectrum in house prices.

“Whilst million-pound properties are abundant in the south west of England, in contrast, homes in Greenock in Scotland are valued on average at less than £100,000.

“Second home ownership undoubtedly plays a role in driving up prices in the most desirable locations. While house prices in any location are driven by factors such as supply and demand and interest rates, there are also socio-economic factors at play.

“Some of these factors are more acute in Britain’s coastal communities, and many British towns most in need of investment also sit near the shore.”

Halifax used Land Registry data covering England and Wales, in addition to figures from the Registers of Scotland, to make the findings.

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Manchester’s tourist tax: blazing a trail 

“Others should follow”

Editorial www.theguardian.com 

Valencia will introduce one by the beginning of next year. Bologna charges €4 a night, about average for an Italian city, and French resorts have been able to impose a taxe de séjour since 1910. But local authorities in Britain have consistently wavered when it comes to imposing a tourist tax similar to those commonplace in the rest of Europe. In recent years Oxford, Bath and Hull reportedly contemplated a levy but decided against it.

At the start of this month, however – in time for the Easter bank holiday weekend – Manchester finally took the plunge, after winning surprisingly strong backing from the city’s hoteliers. Visitors staying in a Manchester city centre hotel or holiday apartment are now required to pay a £1 per night City Visitor Charge. An estimated £3m worth of annual revenue will be dedicated to tourism-related and cultural projects, as well as more mundane necessities such as street cleaning. The Welsh government is preparing to follow suit, giving councils power to institute a levy to pay towards the upkeep of beaches, parks, pavements and footpaths. Edinburgh is reportedly considering a £2 a night tourist tax, subject to approval from the Scottish parliament.

Despite inevitable concerns from businesses fearful of discouraging visitors, particularly in tough economic times, this is surely the right direction of travel. A recent study by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership concluded that replicating the £1 tourism levy across England would raise £428m for local authorities annually. It is true that swingeing cuts to council funding since 2010 put that figure in sobering perspective. But this is nevertheless money that can be used for the common good, in places where there is often an unacceptable gulf between the circumstances of well-heeled seasonal visitors and members of host communities.

In regions such as Cornwall and Cumbria, where the influx of visitors places a heavy load on sometimes crumbling infrastructure, a tourist tax would help share the burden with authorities that are brutally overstretched. In the absence of a fair settlement for local government funding, some recognition of the special requirements of such areas is urgently required. As council officials in thinly populated Cumbria have pointed out, the Department for Transport funds the region’s pot‑holed road network only on a per‑head basis, but many millions of visitors use it to access the Lakes each year.

More broadly, at a time when the debate about the social and environmental impact of tourism has become increasingly tense, a levy provides a means through which communities can exercise some influence and control. Controversies over the proportion of second homes in tourist hotspots such as Whitby have illustrated that a better balance needs to be struck between the interests of residents and visitors in many of the country’s most attractive destinations. Faced with similar challenges, Valencia’s regional parliament intends to devote part of the new tourism tax revenue towards the construction of affordable housing for local residents.

This type of approach can reinvigorate local democracy, inculcate a sense of shared stewardship for places that are part of our national heritage, and ensure that the financial benefits of tourism are more equitably shared. In foreign destinations where levies have been introduced, visitor economies continue to flourish. Manchester has led the way. Others should follow.

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Questions about the Knowle fire reverberate in the Sid Valley

From a correspondent:

Some urgent questions are being asked following the disastrous blaze that ravaged the old council offices at the Knowle, Sidmouth on 30 March.

It now appears that there was an earlier attempt to start a fire in the building on 26 March which was extinguished by the fire service with little damage being caused. So what additional security measures were taken by the owners as a result of this incident, and, apparently, why were guard dogs not deployed by them until after 30 March?

A fire of this scale inevitably has serious environmental consequences. Fire plumes carry toxic pollutants – parts of the damaged building are known to have contained asbestos – which can be deposited widely by wind and pose a threat to human, animal and plant life. In addition, water runoff from tackling the blaze can cause serious contamination. So, what tests have been, or will be made, to monitor the extent and degree of any pollution and who is responsible for them?

The Knowle housed an important maternity roost of endangered horseshoe bats. Have they suffered in the blaze?

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Paul Arnott’s letter resonates in South Wirral and Cornwall

PLANNING PROBLEMS www.thetimes.co.uk


Sir, The housing plans Paul Arnott protests against (letter, Apr 10) are the perverse outcome of the development policies that politicians have created. The planning system is so difficult and expensive to navigate that only big corporate house builders can afford to do it, and to recoup the money spent on permissions they have to build chicken coops with minimal design and an imperative to make as much money as possible.

My parents live in a leafy road on the Wirral, backing onto fields. The local corporate landowner has applied for planning permission for its several thousand acres. The local authority has refused, but the decision will inevitably go to court and be overturned by some secretary of state or another. The plan will go ahead and the shoeboxes will be built.

This inevitably ends in a situation that satisfies no one. First-time buyers are disappointed, striving move-uppers are disappointed and existing residents are outraged.
Mark Polden
Little Sutton, South Wirral

Sir, It is high time that the chancellor introduced a land tax to share more equally the massive increase in value that accrues to land once planning permission has been granted. A fair levy on “planning uplift” would discourage speculation and land banking, and the revenue raised could be directed to councils and housing associations to build the social rented accommodation that is so needed.
Rebecca Bartleet
Gunnislake, Cornwall

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Did Simon Jupp and Phil Skinner jump the gun…

…when they announced “multi-million pounds” to sewage upgrades in Sidmouth and Axminster and Phil added: “So, to hear this news – the funding coming for South West Water to tidy up their act really to be fair as pollutants – is really good news for us.”?

The truth is that the accelerated investment proposals they refer to are only DRAFT decisions.

Consultation finishes on 24 April.

Inconveniently, the final decision will post date the local elections.

Anyone, apart from Phil, believe the evidence points to funding coming from SWW and their shareholders rather than the taxpayer or the consumer?

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Lib Dems smell a vote winner in polluted swing-seat waters

Disgust over litter, outrage at potholes and pledges to support jobs are all hallmarks of local council election literature. But on yellow leaflets up and down the country, the focus is likely to centre more on the state of local rivers.

Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk

Tory voters are so angry about the state of polluted rivers that the issue could even cost the Conservatives the next general election, according to Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader.

Davey, who was energy and climate secretary during the coalition years, headed to swing seats in Lewes and Eastbourne in Sussex last week to promise tougher action on sewage.

“We think that a lot of Tory voters are very, very angry. We think this could lose huge numbers of Tory seats to us at the council elections, and be a big issue in our fight for the general election,” Davey said on the day the government announced its “plan for water”.

A Lib Dem election leaflet doing the rounds in Lewes homes in on local environmental concerns

As well as visiting Eastbourne to see the beach’s storm overflows — the relief valves that nationally released raw sewage for 1.7 million hours last year — Davey also went to the River Ouse in Lewes. The district council recently passed a motion to give the Ouse legal rights, as concern grows about pollution of waterways.

While refusing to put a number on how many seats water pollution could swing, Davey said the Lib Dems were campaigning on the issue in Sussex, Winchester, Cheltenham, and Chesham & Amersham. “It’s not impossible to think that whether we get rid of the Conservative government or not may depend on people’s response on these environmental issues,” he said.

Davey said river health had resonated with voters in ways that some environmental issues had not. “They know their local river or their local beach. They swim in there or their kids swim in there, or they fish in there, their dogs go in there. It’s part of their life,” he said. In some constituencies, including Lewes, candidates have made water pollution the focus of their leaflets.

The Lib Dems have made sewage pollution one of their big issues since gaining traction on the problem at the 2021 by-election in Chesham & Amersham, Buckinghamshire, won by its candidate Sarah Green. “We suddenly realised that what we thought was a local issue was actually a national issue,” Davey said. Everyone asked what he was doing when he posed in the River Chess with wellington boots, Davey said, but the issue proved to be salient.

Davey was critical of the environment secretary Thérèse Coffey’s plan for waterways. He noted that her pledge to ban plastic wet wipes had been made several times before, including five years ago by Michael Gove. The Lib Dem leader blamed “a big political failure to direct regulators including Ofwat and the Environment Agency to get tough on water companies”. Although the Environment Agency budget rose last year, it had fallen for years and staff morale there has plummeted because of low pay.

Water companies are not off the hook, however. “It appears to me from some of the things I’ve seen that many of them are breaking the law and knowingly breaking the law,” Davey said. “They are discharging sewage at times when they shouldn’t and they have not been permitted to do so.”

It should not take decades to clean up our rivers, he said, citing Lib Dem policies including a tougher water regulator and environmental experts on the boards of water companies. Davey said water pollution was a “very personal” issue for him because he read books by the environmentalist Jonathon Poritt in the 1980s and joined the Lib Dems in 1989 because Paddy Ashdown and Simon Hughes were talking about the environment.

The government confirmed on Monday that four new bathing sites would be designated at wild swimming spots: two at Rutland Water, one on the river Deben in Suffolk and one at Firestone Bay in Plymouth. This should ensure that regular monitoring and health checks are carried out on the water. However, applications for bathing water status on at least seven rivers, including another stretch of the Deben, were rejected.

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Water companies argued against key pollution target

South West Water told officials that the target was “demanding” and would cause “disproportionate costs”….[looks like to the consumer – Owl]

…..South West Water called for a phosphorus equivalent of the EU’s carbon trading scheme, which could in theory allow water companies to “buy” reductions in phosphorus releases by farmers and other sectors instead of upgrading sewage works.

[Owl emphasis on this fudge and adds this quote from SWW: “We are passionate about our water and provide reliable, efficient and high quality drinking water and waste water services throughout Cornwall and Devon.“] 

Adam Vaughan http://www.thetimes.co.uk

Water companies argued that a government target to clean up a key source of river pollution would drive up water bills and push many households into “water poverty”.

Effluent released from sewage treatment works is the biggest source of phosphorus in England’s rivers. Excessive levels of the nutrient can lead to algal blooms that reduce oxygen levels and choke fish and plants.

However, when the government recently consulted on its new Environment Act target of cutting phosphorus releases from sewage plants by 80 per cent by 2037, compared with 2020, it received a strong resistance.

South West Water told officials that the target was “demanding” and would cause “disproportionate costs”.

The company, whose number of sewage spills has drawn fire from Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, warned of “a significant increase in the number of households in water poverty and struggling to pay their bills”.

Thames Water said the drive to reduce phosphorus was “likely to materially increase customer bills”.

The government’s Plan for Water last week said there was four fifths less phosphorus in rivers than in 1990, but it wanted to go further. Coffey’s department said it had already required companies to invest £2.5 billion for further reductions by 2025.

While large sewage works have been upgraded to strip out a certain amount of phosphorus, many smaller facilities do not remove any of the pollutant.

The Times Clean it Up campaign has been calling for greater and faster investment by water companies to tackle phosphorus pollution, as well as greater incentives for farmers to curb their releases of the pollutant.

United Utilities, recently revealed as the worst sewage spiller in England, raised concerns that the phosphorus target would have a “sizable impact of the proposed targets on the affordability of water bills”.

Saving Windermere: Campaigner’s bid to end sewage pollution in England’s largest lake

Despite a water industry chief telling companies not to blame other sectors for river pollution, United Utilities complained that it was unfair agriculture had to cut phosphorus pollution by only 40 per cent. It said a “greater emphasis is needed on agricultural pollution” to get cleaner rivers.

South West Water called for a phosphorus equivalent of the EU’s carbon trading scheme, which could in theory allow water companies to “buy” reductions in phosphorus releases by farmers and other sectors instead of upgrading sewage works.

Anglian Water also bemoaned the focus on upgrading sewage works, which it warned could “incentivise significant investment” into “environmentally irrelevant point sources [places where pollution is released]”.

The lobbying drive was uncovered by the website OpenDemocracy, which obtained the company responses to a government consultation using freedom of information rules. The push has echoes of a similar sally by water firms last year, when they raised the spectre of steep water bill increases in response to new rules on reducing sewage spills from storm overflows. Figures released this month show there were more than 300,000 such spills last year.

The average annual household water bill in England and Wales is rising 7.5 per cent to £448 from this financial year. Analysts at Barclays expect that to increase to £700 in today’s money by 2050 to pay for investments in cleaning up sewage pollution and building infrastructure.

Despite the cost warnings from firms, the government stuck to its phosphorus target. Companies are expected to be forced by regulators to make improvements to their sewage works, such as using iron salts or reed banks to strip out more phosphorus.

More than 500 works are expected to be upgraded. “We have full confidence in our ambitious Environment Act targets,” a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.

Anglian Water said: “Every catchment and river will have different amounts of phosphorus and it might not be necessary to reduce this by 80 per cent to achieve the outcome for the environment.”

Thames Water said: “Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us and we made clear in our response to the government’s consultation that we support the reduction of phosphorus in waterways.”

United Utilities and South West Water were contacted for comment.

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Modular homes ‘coming soon’ to provide ‘social housing solution’ in East Devon

Modular homes that can be craned into place could play a key role in providing ‘truly affordable’ dwellings in East Devon, says the district council.

East Devon Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk 

Authority chiefs say the units can ‘deliver an innovative, carbon-neutral social housing solution’ on land that would otherwise prove difficult to build on.

They have added that the homes are  ‘coming to a community near you soon’.

A demonstration house has been lowered into place at East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) HQ at Blackdown House in Honiton.

It will remain in place for six months and will be used as ‘a pivotal part’ of future community consultation and engagement events.

The modular homes feature solar panels, heat pumps and triple glazing to reduce running costs for occupants.

EDDC says it will reveal more about the project later this spring.

“The builder of these modular homes has a track record of consulting communities and adapting developments to reflect their wishes,” said a council spokesperson.

“The house on display has one bedroom, but plans are also in place for two- and three-bedroom homes.”

Councillor Dan Ledger, portfolio holder for sustainable homes and communities, added: “One of the key aspirations of the current administration at EDDC was to ensure the council starts to develop its own housing stock again.

“The aim is really simple, to deliver high-quality, low-carbon homes that are truly affordable for all.

“The new Housing Task Force team have been fantastic and working tirelessly to make this a reality.

“The siting of this unit is the first step in showing residents within East Devon that we are serious with this commitment and to share our vision for what is to be expected from schemes within your communities over the coming months.”

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You first, Therese: Coffey mocked for praising swimming areas while standing next to a muddy creek

Therese Coffey was under fire today after promoting new UK bathing waters – using a picture of herself standing next to a muddy estuary. 

The Environment Secretary tweeted a picture of herself on the River Deben estuary in her Suffolk constituency, one of four new official ‘wild swimming’ areas for the 2023 summer season.

[With Marigolds added by Owl for H&S reasons]

David Wilcock www.dailymail.co.uk (Extract)

But to coincide with today’s announcement she was forced to take a photo during poor weather at the site in Waldringfield, standing next to a muddy bank and churned-up water in the river, and below rain-filled skies.

It comes as the Government is under pressure to tackle the scale of pollution, especially sewage, being dumped in UK rivers and off the coast. 

Locals have reported discovering E. coli bacteria they say is from sewage, at a site only a few miles upstream of the new bathing waters.

Ms Coffey did not allow replies to her tweet but it did not stop other Twitter users poking fun at the image. 

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner quipped: ‘Not taking a dip yourself?’

The Environment Secretary tweeted a picture of herself on the River Deben estuary in her Suffolk constituency that is one of four new official ‘wild swimming’ areas for the 2023 summer season.

Nigel Pickover, a former editor of the Eastern Daily Press newspaper in East Anglia, said: ‘Isn’t the Waldringfield site just a few swimming strokes downstream from the heavily polluted Martlesham Creek with its huge E. coli issues?’

In her original message, Ms Coffey said: ‘Four new designated bathing sites confirmed today, including Waldringfield on the River Deben in Suffolk Coastal – the first estuary site’…….

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Paul Arnott writes a letter to the Times

His is the first of three, but the others are also worth a read.

Government plans to scrap housing targets

www.thetimes.co.uk

Sir, My authority spends thousands of officer and councillor hours per year trying to ensure that planning permission is granted to quality schemes (“Housing targets scrapped”, Apr 8). Yet the arbitrary housing need number — about 900 homes a year in east Devon — makes this impossible to achieve. Our real problems are not nimbyesque. They concern unfit-for-purpose sewage and drainage infrastructure, the lack of GPs, places in education, transport and local jobs.

When major schemes are approved, experience has shown many to be poorly built, with gardens, at best, the size of a cricket wicket. Meanwhile, any landowner able to ensure their grassy patch is designated as developable will make millions for nothing more than assigning rights.

If councils try to build social homes, there is no effective way to protect from the right to buy, and affordable homes, at, say, 80 per cent of local market rent, are anything but. The country needs an urgent, cross-party commission on homes, with no powers off the table. And please shelve the term “nimby”; it is about as helpful as the term “Remoaner”.
Paul Arnott
Leader, East Devon district council

Sir, The assertion that nimbys are only interested in preserving the value of their houses is wide of the mark. I have long been engaged in community reaction to development proposals in London. Rarely do I experience outright opposition to development and that usually revolves around the loss of green space. The majority of large schemes are for tall, dense, poorly designed blocks of tiny flats, many of which will be occupied by footloose buy-to-let tenants. So it should be no surprise that residents in settled suburban communities of low-rise family houses are roused to fury. Proposals for, say, streets of small terraced houses would rarely experience opposition.
Gordon Massey
Chairman, Federation of Residents’ Associations in Barnet

Sir, In my 16 years as a county councillor and 21 as a district councillor the vast majority of people did not object to new housing. They did object to longer traffic jams, longer GP waiting times, children being bussed to schools miles away from their homes, more flooding and sewage in local rivers — in other words to a lack of infrastructure. Developers promise all sorts of infrastructure improvements to get planning approval then do all they can to renege on those promises. It would be better to build the infrastructure first with government-backed loans. Then, as each house is built, a percentage of the sale price pays back the loan. All the time infrastructure is meant to follow the houses there will be objections. Not because of nimbys but because no one believes, and experience shows correctly, that adequate infrastructure will ever be built.
David Simpson
Darby Green, Hants

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“Trusted Source” throws doubt on Jupp and Skinner sewage claims for Sidmouth

First the claims

Simon Jupp MP

 “I have repeatedly called on South West Water to invest in East Devon. I’m really pleased they’ve listened to the case I have put forward on the floor of Parliament and in cross-party meetings with local councils………this new multi-million-pound investment is much needed to upgrade our water infrastructure in Sidmouth and reduce nutrient pollution in Axminster. South West Water must continue to invest locally to clean up their act and our water.””

Tory Leader Cllr. Phil Skinner:

“We’ve been driving this agenda as a district and also Simon has worked really hard on it from his angle and has applied lots of pressure,” he said. “Because the sewage issue in East Devon at the moment is massive; we’ve got awful problems with sewage – particularly in areas like Clyst St Mary where we get the flooding, and particularly in and around Exmouth where we get flooding. We’ve had all sorts of issues, but other areas as well.

“So, to hear this news – the funding coming for South West Water to tidy up their act really to be fair as pollutants – is really good news for us. So all credit really all round to ourselves in East Devon in applying the pressure that we have been, and also to Simon Jupp who has particularly pressured from his angle as well.”

Now the doubt

But this is what “Squirrel” [one of Owl’s Trusted Sources] said in a comment posted on Easter Sunday:

“It would be very interesting to see a report in here about who has instigated the work on sewage spillages in Sidmouth. Simon Jupp seems very keen to suggest it has all been about him but I think we all know that isn’t true. The Sid Valley Biodiversity Group (River volunteers) backed by the town council and EDDC councillors have been pushing hard and meeting with SWW, and producing excellent data on an area where SWW data was woeful and inaccurate.

A bit of an exposé about how much money is actually going to be invested, and how much has been promised by successive environment ministers would also be interesting,

Sewage should be enough for anybody to not vote for the tories in this election. Decades of underinvestment and basically asset-stripping has left our water industry in a shameful situation and we are now literally seeing and smelling the result.”

This raises the $64,000 question, who is paying for this: SWW; the consumer or the Tax Payer?

Rob Kershaw, local democracy reporter, www.radioexe.co.uk writes:

“The government is investing in sewage works in East Devon following continued problems in the district.

South West Water (SWW), is often criticised at East Devon District Council’s planning meetings. But this week, water minister Rebecca Pow confirmed £70 million of cash to improving sewage systems in Sidmouth, Tipton St John and Axminister, as well as Falmouth in Cornwall .

East Devon’s share of the cash, part of a £1.6 billion water infrastructure investment by central government, will help prevent sewage overflows in Sidmouth and Tipton St John, as well as water pollution in Axminster.”

According to OFWAT

The immediate funding is being taken forward as part of the Ofwat/Defra “accelerated infrastructure delivery project for English Water companies” funded through the “transition expenditure process”. 

Owl’s take on all this bureaucratic gobbledygook is that the accelerated costs will be financed initially by the taxpayer, with the water companies paying on the “never never” over a period ending in 2030.

The question then arises as to how the water companies levy their customers and/or shareholders to provide the payback. The only explanation Owl can find talks about setting an appropriate “time value of money” so that  companies are not financially incentivised to delay making investment.

It’s all smoke and mirrors to Owl.

Is this the “bottom line”? Thérèse Coffey:

“   wider upgrades of the sewer network lead to destructive works on our streets and put hundreds of pounds on people’s bills. There’s no way we can stop pollution overnight.”

Time for Simon and Phil to come clean when making claims.

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Raw sewage being dumped in environment secretary Therese Coffey’s own constituency

The Tories’ failure to tackle raw sewage dumping has been laid bare by figures showing Therese Coffey had almost 1,000 spills in her own constituency last year alone.

How about a selfie with the Marigolds? – Owl

Archie Mitchell www.independent.co.uk

Ms Coffey is one of seven Conservatives to have run the department since 2015 – including Liz Truss, Michael Gove, Andrea Leadsom and George Eustice – whose constituencies saw more than 15,000 spills in total in 2022.

Her Suffolk Coastal constituency was hit by 982 raw sewage spills in the year, according to analysis by the Liberal Democrats.

The finding follows calls for her to resign this week after figures showed there were more than 300,000 sewage spills around the UK in 2022. Ms Coffey was accused of a “complete abdication of duty” after claiming she could not end the scandal of raw sewage dumping “overnight”.

But the figures revealed how a succession of Tory environment ministers since 2015 have failed to get to grips with the issue, leading to their own constituencies being blighted by sewage dumping.

They showed Mr Eustice’s Camborne and Redruth constituency saw 11,292 raw sewage spills last year. He served as the environment secretary under Boris Johnson between 2020 and 2022.

Ms Leadsom, who ran the department between 2016 and 2017, represents South Northamptonshire. Her constituency was hit by 1,890 sewage spills in 2022. Her predecessor Ms Truss had 597 sewage spills in her South West Norfolk constituency last year.

And Mr Gove, who was environment secretary from 2017 to 2019, had 70 spillages in Surrey Heath, where he has been the MP since 2005.

In total last year, the constituencies of the last seven Tory environment secretaries had 15,326 raw sewage spills – with sewage being dumped for a total of 103,235 hours.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Tim Farron said: “Successive Conservative environment ministers have done nothing to tackle the scourge of filthy sewage being dumped into our rivers and beaches. Now their own local communities are paying the price for this rotten legacy.

“Conservative MPs are taking the British public for fools by rehashing old announcements on wet wipes from years ago. It is laughable that three separate Conservative Environment Secretaries have all promised the same thing with no action taken.

“The Conservative Party is facing a massive backlash among rural and coastal communities who are furious about this sewage scandal.”

On Tuesday Rishi Sunak set out a new clean water plan with a promise of stronger regulation and tougher enforcement for those who pollute rivers, lakes and beaches.

Ms Coffey – who has said companies could face unlimited penalties for dumping raw sewage – said over £1.6bn of investment to boost water quality would be brought forward.

The plan includes a consultation on a ban of plastic wet wipes, and restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in textiles, cleaning products, paints and varnishes.

That came as it emerged that water companies in England dumped sewage onto England’s “blue flag” beaches – those deemed safe and environmentally friendly – a staggering 1,504 times last year.

Separate figures showed the top five beaches which faced the most sewage dumping:

  1. Blackpool Sands Beach, Stoke Fleming, Devon – 63 spills, totalling 1,014 hours
  2. Meadfoot Beach, Torquay, Devon – 79 spills, 946 hours
  3. Beachlands Beach, Hayling Island, Hampshire – 102 spills, 793 hours
  4. Sidmouth Town Beach, Sidmouth, Devon – 59 spills, 631 hours
  5. Exmouth Beach, Exmouth, Devon – 39 spills, 470 hours

Mr Eustice told The Independent: “On becoming Secretary of State in 2020 I took immediate action to prioritise storm overflows in Ofwat’s pricing decisions, introduced new requirements for water quality in the Environment Act and put in place a £56bn package of investment through the plan for water last July.”

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A “curious set of priorities” gets even more curious

A few days ago a correspondent raised questions on the curious set of priorities which seems to underlie the announcement on money for sewage improvements.

“Exmouth has over 2,000 hours of outfall into Lyme Bay and the Exe. Sidmouth just over 1,000 hours. I, therefore, would have thought that Exmouth should be prioritised.

“(The Lib. Dems list of the 5 worst beaches in the country which lists Sidmouth ahead of Exmouth Revealed: Worst beaches for dumped sewage – is your nearest beach on the list? YES two! | East Devon Watch did worry me. Exmouth beach having less pollution than Sidmouth beach didn’t seem right. However, if the surrounding outfalls from the town are included Exmouth has twice the sewage outfall than Sidmouth)

“And why choose Tipton St. John with 22 spills lasting 48 hours of pollution in 2021 into the small River Otter when upstream Honiton’s 2 main sewer storm overflow sites spilled 222 times for a total of 4759 hours, discharging into the River Otter?

The report below suggests investment is coming from taxpayer money not SWW which makes the priorities even more curious.

Who is claiming credit for what? Are elections underway?

Does Cllr. Philip Skinner (Local Tory group leader) know what he is talking about? – Owl

Cash to cut East Devon sewage

But Cranbrook misses out

Rob Kershaw, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

The government is investing in sewage works in East Devon following continued problems in the district.

South West Water (SWW), is often criticised at East Devon District Council’s planning meetings. But this week, water minister Rebecca Pow confirmed £70 million of cash to improving sewage systems in Sidmouth, Tipton St John and Axminister, as well as Falmouth in Cornwall .

East Devon’s share of the cash, part of a £1.6 billion water infrastructure investment by central government, will help prevent sewage overflows in Sidmouth and Tipton St John, as well as water pollution in Axminster.

Independent Cllr Mike Howe described the scheme as “great news” for his district, but was disappointed to learn the money does not cover areas such as Cranbrook, which despite being a new town, has faced issues since residents moved in.

“I’m struggling to understand the long-term plans for South West Water – even the medium-term plans for South West Water,” he said. “And although this money’s great for some areas, it doesn’t seem to have addressed the major concerns where development is happening.”

Cllr Howe lamented SWW’s approach of running more sewage through limited pipes as more housing is constructed,

“Cranbrook originally was designed with sewage works, but then they decided they didn’t need it,” he added. “And you’re sort of sat here thinking ‘that was a silly decision’ to put it mildly.”

Conservative leader Cllr Philip Skinner who, along with Cllr Howe, sits on the planning committee, praised East Devon’s MP Simon Jupp for his efforts to secure government funding, and welcomed the news.

“We’ve been driving this agenda as a district and also Simon has worked really hard on it from his angle and has applied lots of pressure,” he said. “Because the sewage issue in East Devon at the moment is massive; we’ve got awful problems with sewage – particularly in areas like Clyst St Mary where we get the flooding, and particularly in and around Exmouth where we get flooding. We’ve had all sorts of issues, but other areas as well.

“So, to hear this news – the funding coming for South West Water to tidy up their act really to be fair as pollutants – is really good news for us. So all credit really all round to ourselves in East Devon in applying the pressure that we have been, and also to Simon Jupp who has particularly pressured from his angle as well.”

Addressing concerns that not all of East Devon will benefit from the money, Cllr Skinner said: “Let’s not have a race to the bottom here. Let’s be very pleased for the bit that we have got. Let’s start with this bit and get this done, but Clyst St Mary – around there and Exmouth in particular – this is really good news. So let’s get this bit over the line and let’s get on and get everywhere else as well.”

Liberal Democrat Cllr Eileen Wragg, however, feels public money should not be spent on what she believes is an underdelivering private company.

“Water privatisation took place under the Thatcher government,” she said. “I therefore believe that taxpayers’ money should not be spent on supporting private companies, but rather the shareholders should be financially supporting improvements to the sewage system.

“Last year, SWW made a profit of £137.5 million and paid £213.1 million to its parent company Pennon. There is no justification for charging the public to pay for improvements, they already pay some of the highest water bills in the UK. Morally, it is unacceptable.”

Pennon, SWW’s parent company, has been contacted for comment.