Spade comes to sod, at last

The decade delay is a result of “leaving it to the market”, unravelled by the “New Guard” at EDDC – Owl

Paul Nero www.radioexe.co.uk

The giant red starfish will be replaced by a town centre (image courtesy: EDDC)

When residents began moving into their spanking new homes in the new town of Cranbrook in East Devon, they didn’t think it would be more than a decade before work began on a town centre.

But a field a quarter of a mile from the main school has been redundant ever since. 

Now, after a series of false dawns, construction will finally begin this work.

East Devon District Council is puffing it up as a “major milestone” although the leader, who wasn’t in place when the tortuous journey began, does make a nod towards the delay.

Cllr Paul Arnott, who is portfolio holder for strategic development and chair of Cranbrook Strategic Delivery Board said: “The people of Cranbrook have been incredibly patient and we’re delighted to learn that the town centre will actually start to become a reality.

The latest plan from East Devon District Council

A consortium of developers, Henry Davidson, Hallam Land Management, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon will now get cracking on a supermarket, and a children’s day nursery, which will open next year, and high street shops with homes above and a town square that should be ready in 2024.

Separately, East Devon District Council is in the process of acquiring four acres of land so the town centre can accommodate community facilities  such as a health and wellbeing hub (including a GP surgery) and leisure centre.  Devon County Council is also continuing to work on its new community building combining a library, children and youth centres. 

Further aspects of the town centre will include a new town hall, extra care housing and a skate park.  

Cllrs Kevin Blakey, Kim Bloxham and Sam Hawkins, East Devon District Council ward members representing Cranbrook, said: “The three Cranbrook ward members are naturally delighted that the construction work on the town centre is getting under way.

“As we have said previously, a great many people have worked long and hard to draw together all the many threads to the legal agreements that are now complete, and our thanks go to them all. We can now look forward to the land being a hive of activity as the physical creation of our much anticipated town centre takes shape. This is a big moment in the story of Cranbrook!”

This previous plan has been updated

A diverse group of sceptics ranging from conservationists to the local yacht club, town councillors and day boat skippers has expressed concern at the bid by Torbay council for £20m of cash from the levelling up fund.

“This year a boat called Margaret of Ladram, owned by the biggest fishing company in the port, Waterdance, broke the Brixham port record with a catch that sold for £155,000. Though the vessel is based in Brixham, the fish were caught not off Devon but in the Irish Sea off the Welsh coast.“

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com

A scheme to double the size of England’s most lucrative fish market and provide more room for “industrial” trawlers using levelling up funds has been condemned by green campaigners, smaller-scale fishers and leisure boat enthusiasts.

Critics claim the plans for the Devon harbour town of Brixham, which is expected to land a record-breaking £50m worth of fish this year, will lead to more environmentally damaging fishing practices, increase lorry movements and benefit a few powerful businesses rather than improving the town as a whole.

A diverse group of sceptics ranging from conservationists to the local yacht club, town councillors and day boat skippers has expressed concern at the bid by Torbay council for £20m of cash from the levelling up fund.

“It will be good for the big boys who already make shitloads of money,” said Tristan Northway, who skippers a 9-metre fishing boat, Adela, and sells directly from the deck of his vessel. “But it will do nothing for the rest of us and nothing for the town.”

Harry Barton, the chief executive of Devon Wildlife Trust, said the expansion would lead to further damage to the seabed and greater carbon emissions.

“Trawling and dredging are among the most destructive activities that happen in the marine environment,” he said. “The fishing industry is a major contributor to carbon emissions. This is partly from the emissions of the engines but more significantly because dredgers stir up the sediments on the sea floor, resulting in large amounts of carbon being released.”

Richard Spreckley, the commodore of Brixham Yacht Club, said the people who would most benefit were the owners of the port’s beam trawlers, larger boats that drop large, heavy-duty nets attached to steel beams into the water and drag them along the seabed.

Spreckley said he doubted claims that expanding the quay and market would lead to more jobs for local people, pointing out that the boats already had to supplement crews with fishers from the Philippines because they could not find local people to go to sea. “But there are very strong forces in the town that tend to get their way,” he said.

Despite issues around paperwork and bureaucracy that Brexit has thrown up and the soaring price of fuel, Brixham fish market is thriving. Just before Brexit it introduced an online auction system, allowing fish buyers from anywhere in the world to bid for catch, and it credits the change with boosting prices by 20%.

A record £43.5m of fish was sold at the market in 2021, making it the biggest by value in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and it hopes to break the £50m mark this year. On a busy day it can deal with 100 tonnes of fish, with 70% of it trucked to mainland Europe.

At this time of year the fish boxes in the market are full of a dazzling variety of fish – bass, brill, rock salmon, john dory, gurnard, megrim – while the cuttlefish season, worth £9m year, earning the catch the nickname “Brixham gold”, will begin shortly.

The fish comes from far and wide. This year a boat called Margaret of Ladram, owned by the biggest fishing company in the port, Waterdance, broke the Brixham port record with a catch that sold for £155,000. Though the vessel is based in Brixham, the fish were caught not off Devon but in the Irish Sea off the Welsh coast.

Such has been the success of the Brixham market that fishers based hundreds of miles away, from ports such as Hastings in East Sussex and Aberystwyth in mid Wales, send their catch to be sold there before it is shipped back out on lorries across Europe.

Duncan Kenny, of the Brixham conservation organisation Tide, who lives on the harbourside, said: “Already we see and hear trucks coming in day and night. It’s madness. I would rather levelling up money be put into improving healthcare, investing in schools, transport. Fishing is a huge part of our heritage but we need to do it more sustainably.”

Colin Moore, a spokesperson for Ocean Rebellion in south Devon, said the campaign group had run one demonstration against large-scale fishing in Brixham and planned others. “Levelling up money must not be used to boost industrial fishing,” he said.

Brixham Trawler Agents, which owns the market, and Waterdance declined to speak about the plans, but the local Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall said levelling up money would boost not just the fishers but the whole town. He said Waterdance was investing in new more environmentally friendly equipment such as a new beam gear called the Sumwing, designed to have less contact with the seabed.

Some critics of the scheme flag up that Brixham Trawler Agents and Waterdance each gave £2,500 to Mangnall’s 2019 general election campaign. He declared this, and he told the Guardian that he did not favour the two companies over others in the town. The bid is being led by Torbay council, which is led by Liberal Democrat and independent councillors.

Jim Funnell, a local writer who campaigns on social justice issues and has formally complained about the levelling up bid, said: “This development will benefit the most powerful people in the town. The more I question, the more questions it raises. The questions intersect with some of the biggest issues of our times – social inequality, the environmental crisis and a lack of aspiration to think beyond the simplistic, easy-to-reach option.”

Brixham town council has expressed reservations about the bid. It has supported the application but said in a statement: “Concerns were raised that the [bid] only supports one core commercial area of Brixham. Whilst Brixham is widely recognised as a large fishing port, it is also a tourist destination and a place to live.”

Torbay council pointed out that the money would support plans to grow the photonics and microelectronics industry in the area as well as the fish market and quay. It said: “These developments could bring significant benefits to Torbay. Torbay council is aware there are questions being raised regarding the environmental impacts of extending Brixham fish quay and market and will continue to consult, engage and work with key stakeholders to ensure the right scheme is delivered for the area.”

Owl expected Simon to be hard at work rooting for Rishi, apparently not.

Owl was surprised that Simon let Richard Foord hold centre stage on Budleigh beach to talk about sewage pollution. Obviously not important to the hospitality sector so close to Simon’s heart.

Even Alison Hernandez has had to cosy up to Richard Foord to find an East Devon photo op.

Here is the explanation: he has been working on constituents’ casework. 

Oddly, though, he doesn’t mention the cost of living crisis  – Owl

Summer recess allows time to work on queries and casework

Simon Jupp www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Summer recess allows MPs to spend more time to carry out important constituency work. It’s the best bit of the job and one of the reasons why I opened a constituency office in Exmouth.

Recess also allows hardworking Parliament staff such as the clerks, doorkeepers, catering and cleaning teams to take a much deserved break. The House of Commons remains open to visitors during recess periods, giving more people an opportunity to see the home of our democracy. If you’re interested in a tour of Parliament, please do get in touch with me.

August can be something of a quiet month in the news, especially now as it is not until 5th September when the new PM is announced. My small team and I will continue to work hard during this summer lull.  

At the moment, my team and I are currently working on record amounts of queries and casework, so I wanted to talk about the sort of work we do day-in-day out that is not made public.

To give an example of what the email inbox might bring in on any given day, this might include queries about the Passport Office, about driving licences, about Ukrainian visa applications, planning applications, GP appointments, and energy bills. We cannot always solve a problem but we always try to do whatever we can to help, to advise, or to raise through official channels.

Some Ukrainian visa issues are ongoing and this is often involves chasing up the Home Office or checking up on details. These issues are time sensitive so I am continuing to meet with Home Office officials each week on behalf of Homes for Ukraine hosts in East Devon. If you are a host still waiting for a decision and permission to travel letter for those you are sponsoring, please get in touch.

Liz Truss allowed farmers to pollute England’s rivers after ‘slashing red tape’, say campaigners

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

Liz Truss is responsible for farmers being allowed to dump a catastrophic “chemical cocktail” of pollutants into Britain’s rivers, according to environmental campaigners.

This has meant agricultural waste now outstrips sewage as the leading danger to England’s waterways.

Truss boasted of cutting farm inspections in a parliamentary exchange in 2015 when she was environment secretary. This allowed farmers to dump waste, including pesticides and animal faeces, into rivers.

“We have seen a reduction of 34,000 farm inspections a year and an 80% reduction in red tape from Defra [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]. That is vital for our £100bn food and farming industry,” Truss, who held the environment post from 2014 to 2016, told parliament.

“A future Conservative government would continue to bear down on red tape. We are considering pilots for landowners and farmers to manage watercourses themselves, to get rid of a lot of bureaucracy.”

Because of cuts to the Environment Agency and Truss’s policy of trimming official rules and inspections, farmers were able to dump waste in their local watercourses without much fear of being caught and fined. Campaigners say this has had dire consequences for England’s rivers.

For example, in the Wye valley, home to one of Europe’s largest concentrations of intensive livestock production, Lancaster University found there were 3,000 tonnes of excess phosphorus caused by agriculture seeping into the valley’s waterways.

Other rivers polluted by agriculture include the Axe, which flows through Dorset, Somerset and Devon, the Derwent in Yorkshire, the Ehen in Cumbria, and the Test and Itchen rivers in Hampshire.

Louisa Casson, head of food and forests at Greenpeace UK, said: “Letting industrial farms unleash a chemical cocktail into our rivers and get away with it has been catastrophic for our environment. Liz Truss’s crusade against red tape has been a key contributor and, ultimately, our wildlife and the public have been left wading through the resulting filth in the rivers they cherish.”

The Guardian revealed last week that Truss presided over huge cuts to the Environment Agency’s sewage monitoring system. She implemented a £24m cut from a government grant for environmental protection – including surveillance of water companies to prevent the dumping of raw sewage – between 2014-15 and 2016-17, according to the National Audit Office.

During Truss’s tenure at Defra, the department was taken to court by Fish Legal and the WWF over a change to the voluntary reporting of farm waste dumping. After a judicial review, the Environment Agency inspected the river Axe. It found that from the winter of 2016, 95% of farms had not complied with slurry storage regulations and 49% were polluting the river.

A spokesperson for the Wildlife Trusts explained: “Clearly, cutting farm inspections has left a legacy of significant water pollution.”

Campaigners say Truss’s policy meant that farm visits dwindled for years, and in 2018-19 inspectors visited only 403 farms to check for activities and practices that could cause water pollution. There are 106,000 registered farm businesses in England. Campaign group WildFish calculated that at that rate, farms could expect an inspection every 263 years.

Following the cuts in inspections, by 2019 agriculture had overtaken the water industry as the sector responsible for the greatest number of failures against water targets.

“Farm inspections are not designed to catch farmers out,” said Ali Morse, water policy manager at the Wildlife Trusts. “They ensure that our rivers and seas aren’t polluted, and that valuable soils and nutrients stay in fields and out of rivers. This is in the interests of the farming sector as much as our environment.”

Liz Truss was contacted but declined to comment.

Tory Efficiency minister Jacob Rees-Mogg is planning to sell underutilised government offices in London and the Prime Minister hasn’t used No 10 recently.

He has been working remotely, very remotely. -Owl

[Efficiency-Mogg is reported recently to have spent £1,332 of taxpayers’ cash travelling to, from and around Wrexham by chauffeur-driven limousine – instead of getting there by train, which would have cost £98. ]

Jacob Rees-Mogg to sell London offices as civil servants work from home

Nadeem Badshah www.theguardian.com

Jacob Rees-Mogg has revealed he is planning to sell off £1.5bn worth of government offices in London due to the proportion of civil servants continuing to work from home.

The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency will publish a strategy next week that includes selling property assets over the next three years, with staff working in fewer buildings as part of a new network of government “hubs”, the Telegraph reported.

The proposal is part of a government property strategy aimed at raising £2bn in savings from property sales and efficiencies, and also encompasses the use of modern building materials and energy sources.

Rees-Mogg, who has orchestrated a long-running campaign to encourage civil servants to stop working from home after coronavirus restrictions were scrapped, told the Sunday Telegraph: “We have seen over the last year that expensive office space in central London has been underutilised. Why should the taxpayer be made to fork out for half-empty buildings?

“But moving civil servants to our beautiful counties and towns through the Places for Growth programme will benefit everyone, giving civil servants a better quality of life and helping economic growth outside the capital.

“We are cutting the cost of the public estate so that we can return money to the taxpayer. All spending on government property needs to be justified.”

The Conservative MP for North East Somerset added that transferring civil service jobs out of London would “allow greater savings and mean the government is closer to the communities it serves”.

In April, it emerged that Rees-Mogg had written to cabinet ministers urging them to coerce staff into a “rapid return to the office” and left notes in empty Whitehall workspaces with the message: “I look forward to seeing you in the office very soon.” Labour MPs called the move at the time “patronising” and “passive-aggressive”.

It also emerged that Rees-Mogg was conducting “spot checks” at offices to monitor occupancy rates with senior bosses told to publish figures on the proportion of government staff working from the office.

The minister has also condemned the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) after staff told bosses at the regulator that two days a week in the office is the most they can cope with.

“The FCA has an important job and any sensible person would recognise that spending only two days a week in the office will harm performance,” he told the Telegraph. “We know that people work better when they are together.”

Liz Truss is considering whether to reduce VAT by 5% across the board, which could save families £1,300 a year, it was reported.

Nadeem Badshah www.theguardian.com

The foreign secretary is understood to have discussed the move with her advisers but no final decisions will be taken until the Conservative leadership contest concludes on 5 September, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

The Treasury is expected to present the new prime minister with plans modelled on Gordon Brown’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, where VAT was reduced from 20% to 17.5% for a year, as part of a series of proposals amid soaring energy bills.

Energy bills for a typical household will rise to £3,549 a year on 1 October, when a new price cap is introduced, it was announced on Friday.

If the rate of VAT is cut by up to 5% from the current standard rate of 20%, it would be the largest ever reduction.

Truss’s campaign has begun drawing up plans for her “emergency budget” but a source told the Telegraph that it “would not be right for her to announce her plans before she has even been elected prime minister or seen all the facts”.

A 5% cut would cost an estimated £3.2bn a month or £38bn to keep in place for one year, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies research institute.

It would also reduce inflation temporarily by about 2%. Last month, Rishi Sunak announced plans to temporarily scrap VAT on household energy bills if elected prime minister.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government was making the “necessary preparations to ensure a new government has options to deliver additional support as quickly as possible”, adding: “No major fiscal decisions will be taken until the new prime minister is in post.”

Residents in the historic East Devon village of Colyford could get their own council after locals say they do not feel properly represented under the current system. 

Philip Churm, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Villagers submitted a petition to East Devon District Council (EDDC) to carry out a ‘community governance review’; a process which can lead to the alteration or replacement of an existing parish council.

At present Colyford village is covered by Colyton Parish with 13 councillors but many people living south of Colyton say they feel left out of the democratic process.

Julian Thompson is one of the villagers driving the campaign and explained why they petitioned for a new council. 

He said: “People who are living here were finding they weren’t able to have a fair, democratic governance of their local services and things they wanted to get done in the village to the current council, because the current council always out-voted the number of Colyford parish councillors who were sitting on it.”

Mr Thompson said villagers felt the proportion of funds distributed across the existing parish unfairly favoured people in Colyton. 

“Because of the lack of democracy and transparency and clarity about where the Colyford tax had gone, it was very difficult to feel the local people were empowered and be able to look after their community,” he said. 

Mr Thompson and other supporters drafted a four-year financial plan and listed the benefits of having a village council for the community, including:

The village council will recognise the unique and historic identity of the ancient borough of Colyford from 1237 – one of the largest communities in East Devon without its own council. 

Residents will have access to a council that will work hard on their behalf – “by Colyford, for Colyford”. 

Money raised through council tax by Colyford residents will fund improvements in Colyford and not elsewhere. 

Residents will have greater influence on local planning matters, address their unique issues on traffic control and safety and build rapport with the local grammar school. 

Former RAF Air commodore and Falklands veteran Julian Thompson said they have considered all the necessary aspects of the proposal which, if successful, would result in the election of new councillors next May. 

“I have taken a very strict military approach to introducing new capability based on a military line of development,” he said.

“And from that I’ve taken all the inputs from the National Association of Local Councils and Devon village councils, EDDC, other parishes and built a sort of ‘how to introduce initial operating capability for local council’.” 

EDDC independent councillor for Axminster, Sarah Jackson, who is portfolio holder for democracy, transparency and communications said: “It is evident from the recent consultation that the residents of Colyford feel a sense of identity separate from that of Colyton and a clear desire to be self-governed via the formation of a new parish council, and so I am pleased to see this governance review progress to the next stage. 

“It is, however, important that the proposal is now refined and fine-tuned. Part of this will be to determine where exactly the boundary between the parishes will fall. 

“I strongly encourage all those who are consulted on the draft proposal to fully engage with the process so that your views are considered and taken on board.”

The next stage in the process would be to consider submissions and prepare final proposals which could then be submitted to EDDC cabinet in November and full council by December. 

If passed, elections under the new arrangements would take place in May 2023.  

Government plans to reduce sewage spills in English waters fail to include hundreds of storm overflows into estuaries and the sea, according to new analysis.

Saphora Smith www.independent.co.uk 

In the government’s draft storm overflow discharge reduction plan the only coastal overflows that must cut spills are those near designated bathing sites, but it’s not clear what distance is classified as “near” one,  according to the Marine Conservation Society.

Its analysis found that around 600 coastal sites therefore won’t have to reduce the number of times they spill sewage into the sea, some of which could be near Marine Protected Areas.

Meanwhile, for inland waters and designated bathing waters water companies must not discharge sewage more than an average of 10 rainfall events per year by 2050, according to the draft targets. A rainfall event is up to 12 hours of rain.

“Defra can’t provide a list to us of the storm overflows which aren’t going to included [in the targets] – which is ridiculous in itself – so these overflows could be discharging into marine protected areas, shellfish waters or other beaches which are not designated as bathing waters,” said Rachel Wyatt, water quality policy and advocacy manager at the Marine Conservation Society.

The “uncontrolled” dumping of sewage will have a direct impact on England’s estuaries and seas which are “already known to be failing to meet key water quality targets,” said Ms Wyatt. “And there’s nothing to stop water companies from diverting more sewage to these overflows to meet upstream targets.”

The target of 2050 for inland waters and bathing sites is also “nowhere near soon enough,” she added. “Our environment can not wait another 28 years for this impact to stop.”

In 2021, untreated sewage was spilt 66,286 times, for a total of 440,508 hours, within one km of marine protected areas, which are home to some of the most important habitats and marine life in the country, according to the Marine Conservation Society.

Sewage contains bacteria, viruses, harmful chemicals and microplastics which can impact marine life. Microplastics, for example, if ingested by marine life can damage animals’ digestive systems, and even stop them from feeding, resulting in impacts on their growth, development, reproduction and lifespan, it said.

The government consulted on its storm overflow discharge reduction plan earlier this year and is due to publish its final stratgey next month.

Amid the recent scrutiny of the UK’s wastewater disposal, Water Minister Steve Double has said the government has been “clear” that water companies’ reliance on overflows is “unacceptable” and that they must significantly reduce how much sewage they discharge as a priority.”

The Marine Conservation Society’s analysis comes as three French MEPs said the UK was putting the environment, fishermen’s livelihoods and public health at risk by pumping sewage into the sea.

In a joint statement, the European politicians accused Britain of neglecting its environmental commitments made during the Brexit process. A government spokesperson said it was “simply not true” that the UK had “exempted ourselves” of strict targets on water quality.

Meanwhile, The Independent revealed this week that all wastewater companies in England and Wales have failed to meet their targets to tackle pollution of sewage floods.

Public warnings were also issued in the UK about pollution at more than 50 beaches after wastewater firms discharged sewage into the sea and new figures revealed that sewage has been dumped into England and Wales’ natural environment more than a million times in the past five years.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We will be setting out proposals imminently that will provide a comprehensive plan to tackle the issue of combined sewage overflows . We have been clear to water companies that action is long overdue.”

Her “efficiencies” included a £24m reduction to grants for environmental protection, including surveillance of water companies to prevent the dumping of raw sewage, the National Audit Office said.

Meanwhile pollution alerts today, 27 August at Charmouth and Perranporth.

Rob Merrick www.independent.co.uk

Liz Truss failed to hold any meetings with water bosses over the dumping of raw sewage in two years as environment secretary, despite the practice having been ruled illegal.

The likely next prime minister is facing fresh questions about her responsibility for the sewage scandal after records revealed her only talks were to discuss a bug linked to severe stomach upsets.

Yet, two years before Ms Truss took over the environment post in 2014, the UK was found guilty of breaching EU laws over sewage in waterways and given five years to clean up its act.

Labour called the lack of meetings “beyond belief”, accusing the Tory leadership race favourite and her party of “treating Britain as an open sewer”.

Feargal Sharkey, the campaigner for clean water and former musician, told The Independent: “This is absolutely shocking – Truss acted like an absentee landlord while the water companies exploited a national resource.

“The government fiddled the system to hand control and oversight of pollution to the water industry, while the regulator was like a 12-year-old smoking behind the school bike sheds.”

The revelation comes after Ms Truss came under fire for cutting tens of millions of pounds of funding earmarked for tackling water pollution while in the environment brief between 2014 and 2016.

Since 2016, raw sewage discharge in England and Wales has more than doubled, from 14.7 spill events for each overflow to 29.3 in 2021, separate figures have shown.

The summer holidays have been blighted by swimmers being warned to stay out of the water at more than 50 of Britain’s beaches, as the privatised firms continue to pump sewage into the sea.

At party hustings, Ms Truss sought to blame regulators for the problem, accusing them of “mission creep” and saying of the water companies: “They need to be better at dealing with pollution and we need to sort that out.”

But Labour’s research reveals that only one of more than 150 listed meetings she held while environment secretary was with a water company – with United Utilities, to discuss the parasite cryptosporidium.

Jim McMahon, the shadow environment secretary, said: “For Liz Truss to have only ever had one conversation with a water company and none on sewage dumping is beyond belief.

“It shows a lack of leadership on a serious issue that blights our country’s areas of beauty and risks our health.

“Given her actions in actively dismantling the services that protect our natural environment, which led to a sewage surge, it begs the question: what else Liz Truss touches turns to crap?”

Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said: “Liz Truss not only neutered the regulator but enabled water companies to profit from a system that was never fit for purpose.

“Since privatisation in 1989, the industry has ignored its mandate to invest in infrastructure upgrades, instead hosing their profits on dividends and bonuses.”

During hustings last Tuesday, Ms Truss defended her cuts to anti-pollution funding – while the water company bosses have been allowed to enjoy bumper bonuses.

Her “efficiencies” included a £24m reduction to grants for environmental protection, including surveillance of water companies to prevent the dumping of raw sewage, the National Audit Office said.

The Environment Agency has pleaded for both the cuts and its power to properly monitor water companies to be restored – instead of allowing the industry to self-report discharges.

But Ms Truss replied: “There are plenty of things the Environment Agency were doing, that they shouldn’t have been doing,” – without setting out what they were.

The leadership candidate has been asked to respond to the criticism of her for not meeting water companies over the two-year period.

“Even I don’t believe there’s 3,610; we’ve got to get them out and visible” Alison Hernandez.

No wonder Shaun Sawyer is going! – Owl

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has called for a more visible presence of officers across the region. The PCC Alison Hernandez was visiting Tiverton and the constituency’s newly elected MP, Richard Foord, when they met at the Lowman Green station on Tuesday, August 16.

Ms Hernandez said: “The biggest thing, regardless of what resources policing has, is that police officers and staff work relentlessly and tirelessly to try and keep crime out of Devon and Cornwall. We are the second safest area in the country, and we are about to have the highest number of police officers we’ve ever had of 3,610. We must help our community believe they are on their side by being more visible. Even I don’t believe there’s 3,610; we’ve got to get them out and visible.

“That’s the job of the new chief constable that I’m in the process of recruiting at the moment, and I look forward to announcing who that will be soon.”

She spoke about the reopening of the station’s front desk, which is due to take place in November.

She said: “The job adverts have been out and I’d like to thank everybody who promoted those available jobs. We should have a fantastic member of staff who will be here Monday to Friday, 10 am until 3 pm, and we can’t wait to get it open.”

Despite Ms Hernandez campaigning for the Conservatives, she welcomed new Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord to Tiverton: “We want somebody who’s here to represent the community, who can go to their MP and share with them the issues that are affecting them in this constituency.

“I’m here as well as the PCC, but the MP has access to Government departments and to caseworkers who can help them support a community member in trying to get an issue dealt with.

“Policing is here for people, and if there are issues, I want them to report them to the police. I know that our 101 phone line is really busy, particularly during the summer, but there’s the online report, webchat, email, and Crime Stoppers. I’m encouraging people to report, particularly drug dealing, on 0800 555 111 completely anonymous.”

Mr Foord said he had been impressed with the hard work of officers in Tiverton and across Mid Devon.

“We’re both here today to talk about policing across Tiverton and Honiton,” he said. “We just had some members of the public come up to us and tell us about some issues that are affecting them, and I think that illustrates how opening a front desk is very effective at engaging with the community. I’d also like to see that happening at the Honiton police station.

“I’m seeing the fantastic work today of police not just in Tiverton, but across constituency area. They’re working as hard as they can with their limited resources.

“I’m certainly behind the front desk opening here in Tiverton. As a Liberal Democrat MP, I would like to see more resources put into policing. I know that across Devon and Cornwall Constabulary last year, 21,000 crimes were closed without a suspect being identified. Of course, these are the things that can be overcome with more resources for policing by the Government.”

He added that issues of antisocial behaviour were regularly brought up while out campaigning. He said: “People often talk to me about antisocial behaviour in towns. Racist graffiti is something I’ve already had constituents coming to me with concerns about, and I think we need to get on top of that before it becomes a bigger issue in the community.”

“This is a government trying to spin its way out of a problem it only sees as needing to manage from a PR perspective. Our rivers and coasts are paying the price for this complacency and the public are angry.”

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com 

The UK government’s strategy to tackle sewage discharges is a “cruel joke”, critics have said, after ministers laid out plans to stop the pollution.

George Eustice, the environment secretary, announced that water companies would have to invest £56bn over 25 years into a long-term programme to tackle storm sewage discharges by 2050.

This investment will be used to increase the capacity of companies’ networks and treat sewage before it is discharged to protect public health and prevent pollution, while also reducing all discharges. Failure to meet these targets, the government said, could lead to firms facing substantial fines or having to return money to customers.

However, critics say these payments will end up being put on customers’ bills and force the public to pay as chief executives continue to receive large bonuses.

Under government plans, by 2035 water companies will have to improve all storm overflows discharging into or near every designated bathing water, and improve 75% of overflows discharging to high-priority nature sites. By 2050, this will apply to all waterways.

But according to analysis of the proposals by the Liberal Democrats, by 2030 there will still be 325,000 sewage dumps a year on Britain’s beaches, as well as in lakes, rivers and chalk streams.

The Lib Dems’ environment spokesperson, Tim Farron, said: “This government plan is a licence to pump sewage on to our beaches and in our treasured rivers and lakes. By the time these flimsy targets come into effect, our beaches would have been pumped full of disgusting sewage, more otters will be poisoned and our children will still be swimming in dangerous water.

“This is a cruel joke. The government is going to hike water bills to pay for cleaning up the mess made by water companies. The same companies who awarded their executives multimillion-pound bonuses this year and paid out over £1bn to their shareholders. Whilst they roll in the cash, we swim in sewage. The whole thing stinks.”

The government has said that under its plans, bills will not go up until 2025. Sources also said they would not allow companies to profit from environmental damage.

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

Eustice said: “This is the first government to take action to end the environmental damage caused by sewage spills. We will require water companies to protect everyone who uses our water for recreation, and ensure storm overflows pose no threat to the environment.

“Water companies will need to invest to stop unacceptable sewage spills so our rivers and coastlines can have greater protection than ever before.”

Jim McMahon, the shadow environment secretary, said: “Instead of governing, it’s clear that the Conservatives have taken up writing fiction, as this document is neither a plan, nor does it eliminate sewage dumping into our natural environment. Under the government’s weak improvement ‘target’, based on last year’s data we’d face another 4.8m sewage spill events in our country between now and 2035.

“Last year Tory MPs had the opportunity to vote meaningful action into law, but blocked measures that would have progressively eliminated the discharge of raw sewage in our natural environment.

“Britain deserves better than a zombie Tory government that is happy for our country to be treated as an open sewer. Labour will use the levers of power to hold reckless water bosses to account legally and financially, and toughen regulations to prevent them from gaming the system.”

Stuart Singleton-White, head of campaigns at the Angling Trust, said: “Defra’s claim these are the strictest targets ever for water companies … sounds impressive. It isn’t, and the government know this is a weak plan that falls short of what is needed. What’s more, this plan falls short of the commitments made in the Environment Act and fails to take on board the recommendations of its own storm overflow taskforce.

“This is a government trying to spin its way out of a problem it only sees as needing to manage from a PR perspective. Our rivers and coasts are paying the price for this complacency and the public are angry.”

Enjoy what’s left of the summer

“Of course, I will look at what more can be done. But the way I would do things is in a Conservative way of lowering the tax burden, not giving out handouts.” Liz Truss to Financial times 6 August

Rishi Sunak Says Scientists Were Too ‘Empowered’ Over Covid Lockdowns

Rishi Sunak says he “wasn’t allowed to talk about the trade-off” of lockdowns during earlier phases of the pandemic, criticising government public health interventions and scientific advisors.

Ned Simons www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The Tory leadership contender said one of the government’s biggest mistakes was giving too much power to scientists and claimed the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) edited its minutes to hide dissenting opinions.

The former chancellor made the statements in an interview with the Spectator magazine.

“We shouldn’t have empowered the scientists in the way we did,” he said.

“And you have to acknowledge trade-offs from the beginning. If we’d done all of that, we could be in a very different place. We’d probably have made different decisions on things like schools.”

Sunak added it had been “wrong to scare people” during the pandemic with images such as posters showing Covid patients on ventilators.

Sunak claimed Sage removed some opinions from its final minutes, but said a Treasury official would listen to the meetings and brief him on the omissions.

“The Sage people didn’t realise for a very long time that there was a Treasury person on all their calls,” he said.

But Lee Cain, who was No.10 communications director during the period of the pandemic, hit back.

“Huge admirer of Rishi Sunak but his position on lockdown is simply wrong,” he said.

“It would have been morally irresponsible of the govt not to implement lockdown in spring 2020 – the failure to do so would have killed tens-of-thousands of people who survived Covid.”

It comes as Sunak prepares to go head-to-head with Liz Truss once again in the penultimate hustings of the leadership race on Thursday.

Ahead of the Norwich hustings Truss put her focus squarely on the issues facing the East Anglian area, citing her plans of tax cuts, supply-side reform, better regulation and targeted investment zones.

Truss also pledged to tackle trade union strike action, such as that at the Port of Felixstowe this week.

Work starts next week

Network Rail’s contractors are making use of a five-day rail closure for works elsewhere on the railway with work starting on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August.  

www.radioexe.co.uk 

Feniton floods frequently (image courtesy: East Devon District Council)

The end is in sight for floods in Fention, according to claims by East Devon District Council.

Work is to begin on the undertrack rail crossing for a new culvert pipe that is a key element to the village’s flood scheme.

It is the third phase of a flood prevention scheme and will link to drainage works which will divert surface water from around the village.

The completed scheme will reduce the flood risk to the 65 homes plus help prevent disruption to the primary school and local transport.

The railway crossing work has been planned for many years but has been delayed due to its high risk, complex nature, and funding for the project.

However, the Network Rail’s contractors are making use of a five-day rail closure for works elsewhere on the railway with work starting on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August.  

The scheme will involve the building of a works compound and a manhole chamber on either side of the railway, before making use of the railway closure for engineering works to place the culvert under the railway.

The work is due to completed by 7 October. 

The council doesn’t want people to congregate on the highway bridge. They say it is too narrow with no footway and will have increased vehicle movements during the work.

Both sides of the railway are private property with no public access

If every second homeowner in Cornwall took part, £5.4m could be re-distributed from the “uber-rich”, who would hardly notice the payment, to people who desperately need help in one of northern Europe’s poorest regions.

Any comments from Rishi or  “No Handouts” Liz? – Owl

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com 

Second homeowners in Cornwall are being urged to donate their £400 government energy rebates to impoverished neighbours facing hardship this winter through a scheme launched on Friday and backed by business leaders, charities and politicians.

Those behind the Donate the Rebate scheme says that if every second homeowner in Cornwall took part, £5.4m could be re-distributed from the “uber-rich”, who would hardly notice the payment, to people who desperately need help in one of northern Europe’s poorest regions.

The number of people asking for food parcels in parts of Cornwall has increased by 75% in the past 12 months, while 1,500 people are in emergency accommodation and more than 21,000 are on housing waiting lists. At the same time property prices continue to increase, inflated by people from other parts of the UK snapping up homes as bolt-holes or as investments.

Rob Love, the chief executive and co-founder of Crowdfunder, which has set up the campaign and has its headquarters close to the beach in Newquay, north Cornwall, said it was a way of redistributing money from the “haves to the have-nots”.

He said: “In times like these, we cannot just rely on governments, charities or corporations: we need a more efficient way to redistribute wealth to those who really need it. We’ve got to get ourselves out of this national emergency and everyone has got to play a part.”

Love said he thought the government’s energy bills support scheme was “quite generous” but added: “It doesn’t get all the money to the right people.”

He pointed out that millions of pounds would be going to wealthy people – probably including some MPs – who owned properties in Cornish second home hotspots such as Rock, St Ives and St Mawes. “We’re not against second homeowners. We’re not angry with them and we’re not hassling the government. We are providing a mechanism that gets the money to the right places.”

Second homeowners who want to take part are being asked to go on to the Donate the Rebate site and specify the Cornish charity they would like their rebate to go to. Love said Cornwall was the obvious place to start but he hoped to expand the scheme to other places with lots of second homes.

Monique Collins, the manager of Disc, a drop-in and share centre in Newquay, one of the organisations that will benefit from the scheme, said it was currently helping providing food and help with electricity bills to 98 families and 55 single people – an increase of 75% on this time last year – and she expected the number to double this winter.

“I’m dreading the autumn and winter,” she said. “We’re heading for a catastrophe. Newquay and places like it have become a playground for the uber-rich and they need to contribute.”

Harriet, 23, who uses Disc, said her situation was “dire”. The mother of a 15-month-old boy, Noah, said her electricity bill had trebled since March. “I don’t know what I’m going to do this winter. It may be a choice between food and power. Already I haven’t been able to do a proper food shop since May. I make sure Noah has his food but then buy bits and pieces for me as I go along.”

She said she got angry when she walked around Newquay and saw people in luxurious second homes. “It’s so unfair. Expensive apartments are being built when what we need is affordable homes.”

Julian German, a Cornwall councillor whose patch includes St Mawes, said: “We have an obligation to our neighbours who are struggling, to help them where we can. The poverty some people are facing in Cornwall is astounding.”

Kim Conchie, the chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said: “People shouldn’t have to choose between feeding their families or turning the heating on this winter. We have got a fundamental disparity between people who live here and those who have second homes here.”

He said he believed many people who had visited second homes for years and had made connections in the community would donate – but accepted that hard-nosed investors looking to make a profit out of a Cornish property might be harder to reach.

“Second homeowners have a duty if they are going to benefit from the wonderful place we live and work in to contribute. I think this is a fantastic moment when they can really make a gesture. Every second homeowner should be doing this, to salve their conscience and make a difference.”

Details of the campaign can be found at www.poor-nextdoor.com.

“Neil, you are no Claire Wright!” – forget it and stick to farming – Owl

Neil Parish is plotting a remarkable political comeback. The disgraced former Tory MP, who quit after being found watching porn in the House of Commons after claiming he was searching for a combine harvester online, is looking for redemption.

David Parsley inews.co.uk 

And he hopes to find that by standing as an independent in the Tiverton and Honiton seat he was forced out of earlier this year.

This would mean overturning the 6,144 majority won in spectacular style by the Liberal Democrats’ Richard Foord, who overturned Parish’s own 24,239 majority in June – the largest ever majority lost in by-election history.

“I’ll run as an independent if I think I can win,” the 66-year-old farmer reveals.

“Am I trying to rehabilitate myself? Well, yes, it is partly that, but it’s also I do have a genuine desire to continue to fight for what I have done throughout my political career.

“I think I can do some good both for people, for food, for farming, for society.”

He rules out running for reselection as a Tory – “once you’re out you’re out” he notes, “I don’t think they would have me.”

If he does run as an independent he may be up against his successor as the Tory candidate – Helen Hurford – who told BBC Radio Devon listeners last week that she will not be a “one-trick pony” and intends to have another shot at the seat next time round.

Having spoken to hundreds of Tory voters during June’s by-election it was clear to me that Mr Parish remained a local favourite.

“He was a silly boy wasn’t he, but it’s not on the same level as what other Tory MPs have been up to,” was the sort of comment many Tories in the constituency would make.

The election is probably two years away, however. So having got over the shock of being ousted after 12 years in Parliament Mr Parish, a farmer and former Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, is about to launch an agricultural podcast.

“When it all happens, you feel as though you have to race around for solutions,” he says of the furore that surrounded his Commons breach. “I’ve stopped racing and I’m taking things more calmly now.

“I think I’ve arrived at a point where I’m accepting of the situation, and I’m moving onto something where I think I can do some good for people.”

So, part one of his redemption will see him launch a new career in broadcasting with a podcast on which he will discuss the issues of interest to him and many of his constituents – farming.

Perhaps the theme tune could be a certain smash hit from West Country legends The Wurzels.

“I’m not sure when it will launch, maybe next month,” says Mr Parish. “It will be looking at the sort of the interests I’ve had in in Parliament in the constituency, which are food, farming, and environmental issues like rewilding.

“I’m developing it as I go along really, but the initial idea is that I will get guests on, experts in each topic we are covering.”

Mr Parish runs his own family farm – hence his interest in the Claas Dominator combine harvester that got him into trouble in the first place – and hopes the podcast will get him back amongst it with his former voters. If that proves successful, then part two of the plan may not appear as ambitious as it first sounds.

Like pretty much everyone else, Mr Parish is convinced Liz Truss will win the keys to No 10, but he, and his wife Sue, voted for her opponent and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak. However, he has not been impressed with how the leadership election has gone down with voters so far.

“It’s been fairly disastrous, to be honest,” he says. “They’ve not really come up with anything terribly dramatic. Nothing to really tackle to cost-of-living crisis. I have some fear and trepidation, to be honest with you, about where it’s all going.

“I just think at this particular moment in time, we’ve got to concentrate on getting people through the energy bill crisis.

“The question for the Conservative Party is will they settle down, under whoever is leader? I’m going to hold fire on that one and give them some time, as I think the country will.”

He does not, however, hold fire on Ms Truss’ tax cutting strategy to ease the economic pain already hitting millions of households across the nation – and show he’s still a politician.

“Tax cuts, in the long run, can stimulate an economy but I think in the short term that they won’t, and they could be inflationary. We’re already talking about 18 per cent inflation, so I just don’t think this is the right time to cut taxes.

“Even Margaret Thatcher, in the first instance didn’t cut taxes. She only did that later, after she’d got inflation under control.”

PS Neil Parish voted alongside Simon Jupp last October to defeat the Lords amendment which would have placed a legal duty on water companies in England and Wales “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.“

The way the cost of renewable electricity is determined in the UK’s energy market is “bonkers”, Octopus Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer has suggested.

Dimitris Mavrokefalidis www.energylivenews.com 

Greg Jackson said: “The UK has an outdated way of running its electricity market, which is why renewable electricity is costing more during a gas crisis.

“The way it works is that every half hour there’s a single price for electricity in the UK, and it’s set by a process in which National Grid procure the generation to meet our needs from generators every half hour. And they pay a single national price to all those generators.

“So, companies like Octopus face a single price regardless of whether we are buying renewable or non-renewable electricity. In fact, to make it worse, renewable typically costs more because we either have to pay for certification or to pay for what’s called balancing costs.”

Business Secretary had previously stressed that the link between gas and electricity prices cannot stay forever.

Mr Jackson explained that companies are not paying only the national price of electricity, which is set by gas, but they pay extra costs on top for it to be renewable.

Octopus boss added: “This is bonkers. Fundamentally, we need a market reform that enables all to see the benefit of cheaper, renewable electricity. What we really need is market reform and dramatically more renewable generation to bring the cost down.”

Last week, energy suppliers, including ScottishPower and E.ON called on the government to create a ‘special fund’ that would enable the industry to ‘freeze’ customers’ bills for two years.

“The countryside and coastline is being eaten up by huge caravan parks. And there’s a chronic housing shortage, partly because homeowners are renting their properties to the lucrative holiday let market, rather than local people.”

Maisie Lillywhite www.devonlive.com

A Londoner who swapped the Big Smoke for the Devon countryside has explained the way in which holidaymakers are ‘eating up’ the county. At one point, many people would simply drive through Devon as they made their way to our neighbouring county of Cornwall, but our beautiful part of the UK has become a holiday destination within its own right, although it is still less popular that its next door neighbour.

Journalist Suzy Bennett wrote in the Telegraph that she moved to our neck of the woods 14 years ago, ditching London’s towering skyscrapers for Devon’s ‘raw, wild countryside‘. But Bennett now claims that the Devon she moved for has been lost as the county has become more popular with tourists.

She wrote: “No longer is it a place you pass through on the way to Cornwall, but a destination in its own right. Single-track roads are clogged with cars and tourist coaches.

“The countryside and coastline is being eaten up by huge caravan parks. And there’s a chronic housing shortage, partly because homeowners are renting their properties to the lucrative holiday let market, rather than local people.”

When new properties are put up for sale in Devon, Bennett notes, there is fierce competition, with the journalist claiming that a whopping total of 70 prospective buyers viewed a cottage that was put on the market. Following the pandemic, the popularity of ‘staycations’ has skyrocketed, leading to overtourism in some parts of the UK, which occurs when there are too many visitors to a particular destination.

In many honeypot British holiday destinations, housing proves to be a big problem, with local residents often having to up sticks and move away. Those who own homes in ‘staycation’ hotspots often earn much more money renting their properties out to holidaymakers than they would local people.

Visit Cornwall has decided that it will start asking holiday home owners to register their property with the county. After registering their property, homeowners would have to meet certain guidelines on health and safety to keep the property registered; it is believed that this would prevent unscrupulous owners from registering properties in the county, whilst protecting the safety of tourists visiting Cornwall.

The Express reported that Cllr Karen Kennedy, who is the Torbay Council councillor for Churston with Galmpton recently said: “We have to say this loud and clear, we are in a housing crisis. We have got to do much more than the basic minimum to alleviate the current problem.”

Kennedy claimed that some businesses are struggling to recruit workers for blue collar jobs because it is now so expensive to live in the English Riviera.

The bus industry regulator is investigating complaints about the reliability of Stagecoach Devon services and has been told public confidence in the operator is at an all-time low due to its ‘dire’ customer service and handling of complaints.

Edward Oldfield www.devonlive.com

The Traffic Commissioner has already held a hearing into concerns about cancellations and short-notice service changes. But a second session is now being planned after new concerns were raised by Devon County Council. The councillor in charge of public transport told the Commissioner passengers were angry about the company’s “failing” customer service.

Cllr Andrea Davis warned that changes to schedules in August amounted to service cuts, mostly in Exeter. She added that she feared that “even after these reductions, there will still not be sufficient driver resource in the Exeter depot which is likely to result in continued lost mileage.”

The councillor said she was writing a follow-up letter after the Exeter Highways Committee concluded in April that the service in Exeter was “not fit for purpose”. She told the Commissioner: “Lost mileage is still apparent and the communication of lost journeys and response to customer complaints and enquiries is dire.”

Cllr Davis added that “customer confidence in Stagecoach has never been lower, the public are angry – and I do not blame them! The customer service response from Stagecoach is failing and usually non-existent, and if you do get through to someone, they are located in Scotland with little or no knowledge of the local network.”

The second letter from Cllr Davis to the Commissioner followed a report on Devon bus services to the council’s Cabinet in July. She said “the situation has got worse rather than better” and alleged that the authority had seen no evidence of improvements claimed by the company.

Her letter also complained about local services being hit by drivers being switched to large events, giving the example of a concert at Powderham Castle and the Teignmouth Air Show. She told the Commissioner that on the day of the events “the level of failure on regular services increased substantially”.

Cllr Davis said that had led to the council deciding to no longer approve short-notice route applications. She concluded that change was needed to prevent planned improvements being “negated by the negative situation Stagecoach have forced us into here in Devon.”

Stagecoach responded that bus operators across the country are facing challenges including a skills shortage and the ongoing effect of the pandemic. A spokesperson apologised for the impact on customers and said the company was committed to working with the Traffic Commissioner on its recovery plans.

In a letter to the West of England Traffic Commissioner Kevin Rooney in June, Cllr Davis warned that services had got worse since the previous autumn which was the focus of his initial investigation. Her letter followed a meeting in April of the Exeter Highways Committee which concluded that the bus service in Exeter and its travel to work area was “currently not fit for purpose”. The committee blamed service cuts, cancellations without notice, lack of real-time information, lack of zero-emission buses, the “disappointing” level of government funding, and the driver shortage.

Cllr Davis acknowledged that bus operators had faced “a challenging couple of years” due to the pandemic. She said Stagecoach Devon was facing a “severe” shortage of drivers affecting reliability and the confidence of customers. The councillor said the authority’s transport team was working with the operator to ensure a “sustainable network” would be in place when extra government funding ended in October. She said that there was “a lack of up to date, accurate information being available” to passengers about service changes.

A Stagecoach South West spokesperson said: “We take our responsibilities to deliver reliable and attractive bus services to our local communities very seriously. However, bus operators across the country are facing a difficult environment, with skills shortages affecting many sectors of the economy as well as the continuing overhang from the pandemic and other challenges impacting the delivery of local bus networks to normal high standards. We are sorry for the impact these factors, several of which are outside our control, are having on our customers. We remain absolutely committed to working constructively with the Traffic Commissioner as we progress our recovery plans.”

Earlier this week Stagecoach announced changes to its timetable across a network covering Plymouth and South Devon to build a “sustainable bus network” to meet the changing needs of customers. It said there had been changes in travel patterns following the Covid-19 pandemic, and the aim was to attract more passengers in the long term.

Since March 2020 buses have been supported by central Government funding to maintain essential services due to the impact of the reduction in passenger numbers because of the pandemic. The latest round of financial support is due to run out at the end of September. The Government has announced a two-year Bus Service Improvement grant for Devon of £9million capital and £5million revenue, way short of the £34million revenue funding requested.

Under the 1985 Transport Act, bus operators state which services they wish to run on a commercial basis, including timetables, routes, and fares. The Local Transport Authority’s role is to look at where services are not provided commercially and tender routes deemed an essential social need.