But apparently the “event” has yet to happen.

www.independent.co.uk

The major Conservative Party donor at the centre of an alleged “cash for access” row paid £100,000 for a breakfast date with Boris Johnson, it has emerged.

Business tycoon Mohamed Amersi is said to have paid for the early morning meeting with the prime minister after winning a fundraising dinner auction in November 2019.

The £99,500 donation to Tory HQ was reported to the Electoral Commission last January – but Mr Amersi is yet to get his breakfast with Mr Johnson, according to the Sunday Times.

Mr Amersi revealed last week that a group of wealthy Tory donors known as the “advisory board” had been developed to connect the party’s biggest financial backers with ministers.

A client of Tory co-chair Ben Elliot’s concierge company Quintessentially, Mr Amersi said the donors’ group worked in a similar way to the private firm. “One needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben.”

Frustrated by his failure to get his breakfast meeting with Mr Johnson, Mr Amersi reportedly emailed Mr Elliot in June 2020 to complain.

“I know this is unlikely to happen until full lockdown is over but can you ensure this is co-ordinated,” Mr Elliot then wrote to colleagues at Tory HQ. “Who is our internal liaison?”

It has also emerged that the Conservative Party made several payments to Mr Elliot’s company Hod Hill last year.

The party said the payments funded “administrative support” so Hod Hill co-director Jakob Widecki could work with Mr Elliot at Tory HQ, according to the Sunday Times.

It comes as new analysis by The Independent shows just ten wealthy people account for a quarter of all the donations made by individuals to the Tory Party since Mr Johnson became prime minister.

The ten super-rich donors have given a combined sum of just over £10m to the Tories since he entered No 10 – more than 25 per cent of the £38.6m received from individuals in the past two years.

Mr Amersi sits just outside the list of top ten donors, having given £189,000 since Mr Johnson entered No 10. He previously gave almost £300,000 to the party during Theresa May’s three years in Downing Street.

Labour MP Anneliese Dodds, the party’s chair, said the Conservatives had “serious questions to answer” about their dependence on big donors.

The frontbencher told The Independent: “We need to know why the Tories have become so reliant on huge donations from a select group of super wealthy individuals – and what it is that these elite donors are being given in return.

“Boris Johnson has created a cash for access culture in the Conservative Party … He needs to break his silence and explain what he plans to do to ensure there isn’t one rule for senior Conservatives and their cronies, and another rule for everyone else.”

Sir Keir Starmer has demanded that the Tories reveal who was in the party’s club for big donors. “We can’t have this sleaze, this murky cash-for-access,” he said.

Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling has insisted that government policy “is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives – they are entirely separate”.

She said: “All political parties raise money and accept donations in order to pay their staff and campaign in elections.”

Meanwhile, Labour has accused former chancellor Phillip Hammond of breaking the ministerial code, after he reportedly wrote to the Treasury to advocate for a bank he now works for as a paid adviser.

Mr Hammond emailed Charles Roxburgh, the Treasury’s second most senior civil servant, in July 2020 to explain the benefits of a “toolkit” developed by OakNorth to assess borrowers, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, claimed the Tory MP had violated the code of conduct for former ministers and called for the cabinet secretary to investigate. “If the rules are treated with such derision by the former chancellor then the whole system is rotten.”

Lord Hammond’s spokesman insisted OakNorth were offering their toolkit to the Treasury “free of charge” and no rules had been broken.

Tory politics today is solely about holding onto power and financially rewarding those who help them do so. 

And that’s it. 

Actually governing the country is very low down on the agenda.

From today’s Western Morning News:

The leader of Devon County Council says social care is the “albatross around the neck of local government” as he urged Westminster to announce long-awaited reforms to the service.

Conservative John Hart also said successive governments, including the Tory-led coalition and majority Conservatives since 2010, had kicked the issue “as hard as it possibly can” down the road.

“I’m sure they have, because it’s one of these where it’s not an easy answer,” he said.

Under the current system in England, anyone who owns a home or has more than  £23,250 in savings needs to pay for their own care. For many people this means having to sell their property. Only when they have less than  £23,500 do local authorities step in to foot the bill.

Councillor Hart, who has been in charge at county hall since 2009, said it was crucial the government finally announced the shake-up promised by Boris Johnson on his first day as prime minister.

“It’s crucial because social care is becoming almost the albatross around the neck of local government. We don’t know at times just what the heck we’re walking into.

“It’s almost an open cheque book. You can’t be sure what’s going to come through your door tomorrow and you have to be prepared for it.”

The budget for adult care and health in the Devon County Council area, which excludes Torbay and Plymouth, is  £233 million this financial year – an increase of nearly  £22 million on last year.

The council says it will support almost two-thousand older people in residential care, 2,483 receiving personal care and 3,150 who get ‘reablement’ – such as when people get help to live independently after a stroke or are discharged from hospital with limited mobility.

Speaking in 2019 after replacing Theresa May as prime minister, Mr Johnson said: “I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.”

But that plan has yet to be published, with any announcement yet to materialise. Reports in recent days suggest this has now been pushed back to the autumn.

One idea thought to be under consideration is a penny increase in national insurance contributions. However this would go against a Conservative manifesto commitment not to raise taxes.

When asked what the reforms should look like, Cllr Hart said: “I would like to see consistency from government first off. If we have to supply services for people, and we do have to supply services for people, we want to know from the government that they will support us for the services that we have to give.”

He added: “It’s getting to a stage shortly where some decisions are going to need to be taken because, as far as local government’s concerned, everybody says ‘you’re putting the council tax up every year’. We’re getting to a stage where people can’t pay. 

“The other side of that is unless we put council tax up, we haven’t got the money to look after vulnerable people across all ages.” 

In 2010, the Dilnot Commission was set up by the government to address reforms to social care. It proposed a lifetime cap on care costs individuals must pay of between  £25,000 and  £50,000.

However, whilst Cllr Hart said he hoped people could keep more of their own money, he questioned whether the Dilnot proposals would be “feasible,” adding that in some cases the authority is spending more than  £20,000 a year on care per person.

“In nursing homes, the fees are over a thousand pounds a week. Normal care homes are six to eight hundred pounds a week. I don’t know how one is going to handle this, but it is the albatross around local government. It’s almost the albatross around national governments as well.”

The Conservative Party made numerous payments last year to a company owned by its chairman, it can be revealed.

Gabriel Pogrund, Henry Zeffman www.thetimes.co.uk 

Ben Elliot, who was appointed by Boris Johnson to be co-chairman of the Conservatives in 2019 after spending years introducing wealthy donors to the party, oversaw the payment of party funds to his own firm, Hod Hill, between April and August last year.

The Conservatives are refusing to say how much was paid to Hod Hill, a small and unaudited company owned by Elliot, which has no public profile but assets of £2.4 million. It said the payments funded “administrative support” to Elliot, 45, in his role as chairman.

It is understood that the money paid for Elliot’s long-term business partner and co-director at Hod Hill, Jakob Widecki, and one of its employees, to work with him at party headquarters.

Widecki, 33, an Austrian citizen, owns shares in the company, and has also worked for Elliot’s other business, a concierge service for the ultra-rich, for most of the past decade.

The party could not explain why it had not paid Widecki and the other staff members directly, as opposed to giving the money to Hod Hill. It is unclear why the arrangement started or ended.

A party spokesman said: “Neither Ben Elliot nor Hod Hill have benefited financially from their relationship with the Conservative Party directly or indirectly.” It is understood that the two have moved to a separate financial arrangement.

The revelations will add to growing pressure on Elliot over the apparent overlap between his business activities and his role in public life and the party.

He is already facing claims he sold access to his uncle, the Prince of Wales, via Quintessentially, his concierge service. The Tory donor Mohamed Amersi was flown to meet Charles at Dumfries House after paying £15,000 a year to be a member of Quintessentially’s “elite” tier.

It has also emerged that Elliot oversees an elite “advisory council” of donor to the Tories, who for giving £250,000 receive access to the prime minister.

It can also be revealed that the Tories accepted £100,000 from Amersi, a paying client of Quintessentially, in exchange for a breakfast with Boris Johnson.

Elliot has repeatedly declined to say how Hod Hill has made its money. There is no suggestion of illegality or that Elliot has broken any rules.

Amersi bought his breakfast with Johnson for £99,500 in an auction at the Carlton dinner fundraising event in November 2019. The donation was reported to the Electoral Commission in January last year, but the breakfast has not taken place.

Last night Lord Leigh, the senior treasurer of the Conservatives, said: “Anyone who supports any party of any colour and is not a paid MP or full-time official has other interests, that’s true of any other party, it always has been, it always will be, there’s nothing wrong with that.

“The fact is you have a chairman with other interests which are also declared. It is all transparent and open. We need to thank people who help political parties voluntarily because without them we would have a state system, which nobody would enjoy.”

A party spokesman said: “Donations are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission.”

Just 10 wealthy people account for a quarter of all the donations made by individuals to the Conservative Party since Boris Johnson became prime minister, according to new analysis by The Independent.

www.independent.co.uk 

The 10 super-rich donors – nine of whom are men – have given a combined sum of just over £10m to the Tories since Mr Johnson entered Downing Street, more than 25 per cent of the £38.6m received from all individuals in the past two years.

Fears have been raised about the power held by the very wealthiest Tory donors, after it emerged last week that a group known as the “advisory board” had been developed to connect the party’s biggest financial backers with ministers.

Campaign groups said The Independent’s analysis – based on the latest data from the Electoral Commission – showed the “concentrated power” of a small number of big donors.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of Electoral Reform Society said: “These figures show just how concentrated donor power is in UK politics. Political debate shouldn’t be something bought by a few very wealthy individuals.

“The fact that a small group have provided such a large amount of political funding and gained the potential influence that comes with it is of great concern.”

Calling for strict new limits on the amount donors can give, Mr Hughes added: “It’s time to fix the rot and restore faith in politics. We need to explore a cap on donations [and] greater public funding to bring us into line with most advanced democracies.”

Alex Runswick, senior advocacy manager at the Transparency International UK campaign group, added: “These revelations underline concerns that great wealth can secure a privileged audience in UK politics.

“This dependence on a small number of wealthy donors risks shaping policy and decisions in their favour rather than national interest, so the government should legislate to take big money out of politics.”

The donation data shows most of the 10 biggest individual Tory backers since Mr Johnson became prime minister in July 2019 made their fortune in either finance or property.

One of the 10 most generous donors is Jamie Reuben, co-owner of the Reuben Brothers property empire, who has given almost £700,000 to the Tory party thus far during the Johnson era.

His ties with the Tories came under scrutiny earlier this year, when it emerged his company was a co-investor with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) in last year’s failed bid to buy Newcastle United.

Leaked messages from September 2020 revealed that the prime minister had asked his adviser Sir Edward Lister to look into the chances of the deal being revived. When Sir Edward said that he was hopeful the deal could be done, Mr Johnson reportedly replied: “Brilliant.”

Other wealthy Tory donors on the top 10 list include online trading tycoon Peter Cruddas, who has given the party just over £870,000 in the past two years. Mr Cruddas was handed a peerage last year – sparking accusations of “cronyism” from Labour.

In June the anti-corruption campaign the Good Law Project launched legal action over the peerage, claiming that Mr Johnson ignored the advice of the House of Lords Appointments Committee against making the businessman a Lord.

The single biggest individual donor since Mr Johnson came to power is Malcom Healey – the retail tycoon whose company owns Wren Kitchens. He has handed the Tory Party £2m in the past two years.

Labour MP Anneliese Dodds, the party’s chair, said the Conservatives had “serious questions to answer” about their dependence on big donors.

The frontbencher told The Independent: “We need to know why the Tories have become so reliant on huge donations from a select group of super wealthy individuals – and what it is that these elite donors are being given in return.

“Boris Johnson has created a cash for access culture in the Conservative Party … He needs to break his silence and explain what he plans to do to ensure there isn’t one rule for senior Conservatives and their cronies, and another rule for everyone else.”

Last week the Financial Times reported that an “advisory board” donor club, featuring members who donated at least £250,000, was developed to connect Tory supporters with senior figures, claiming meetings have been held with Mr Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The Conservative Party has since refused to reveal which donors have paid to be members of the group, or which ministers have attended meetings after Labour called for transparency.

Leading donor Mohamed Amersi told the FT the group is “like the very elite Quintessentially clients membership: one needs to cough up £250,000 per annum or be a friend of Ben”.

The name was a reference to the Conservatives’ co-chairman Ben Elliot, founder of the luxury concierge service Quintessentially who also reportedly help set up the donor network.

Mr Amersi sits just outside the list of top 10 donors in the past two years, having given £189,000 in the Johnson era. Most of the money – £99,500 – was paid for a breakfast date with Mr Johnson after he won an “auction” at a party dinner event.

Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling claimed that government policy “is in no way influenced by the donations the party receives – they are entirely separate”.

She said: “All political parties raise money and accept donations in order to pay their staff and campaign in elections.”

Earlier this week, cabinet minister Grant Shapps said large donations to the Tory Party from wealthy people should not be “painted as some sort of immoral act”.

The transport secretary also said the British public would not welcome any new limits on the amount donors could give – since he claimed it could mean more money coming from the public purse to fund political parties.

In 2011 the Committee on Standards on Public Life recommended that political donations were capped at £10,000 per donor, per party, per year – but the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government passed up the chance to reform the system.

Campaign groups said it was time for clear limits on the size on donations, urging MPs from all parties to consider new rules to limit the potential for corruption.

“Without limits on the size of political donations, political parties will continue to fail to build broader, more democratic bases of financial support,” said Ms Runswick of Transparency International UK.

“Clearly money does buy access, and the perception that this secures undue influence corrodes trust in our political system.”

Top 10 individual Tory donors since Boris Johnson entered No 10:

• 1. Malcolm Healey – £2m

Owner of Wren Kitchens’ parent company West Retail Group.

• 2. John Gore – £1.4m

Theatre production tycoon.

• 3. Peter Hargreaves – £1m

Co-founder of financial services giant Hargreaves Lansdown.

• 4. Jonathan Wood – £1m

Founder of hedge fund SRM Global.

• 5. Peter Wood – £1m

Founder of Direct Line and Esure insurance companies.

• 6. Peter Cruddas – £872,000

Founder of trading company CMC Markets.

• 7. Sir Ehud Sheleg – £832,000

Tory party treasury who was given knighthood under Theresa May.

• 8. Lubov Chernukhin – £681,000

Ex-banker whose husband was minister for Vladimir Putin.

• 9. Jamie Reuben – £639,000

Property tycoon whose company was part of failed bid for Newcastle United.

• 10. Howard Shore – £609,000

Founder of finance firm Shore Capital and Brexit supporter.

• T1 and T2 Ash : Fell; crown lift roadside trees to a maximum of 5.2 meters above highway level. Max diameter cut 75 mm. Reasons: one sided crowns dominating small garden, remove to improve light in garden and create space for remaining trees. Create standard highway clearance as high sided vehicles are hitting low branches 19 Simcoe Way Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4URRef. No: 21/2070/TRE | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Reserved matters application for new internal estate road located to the south of Grow Out Building 3 including access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the road and containing additional information and details to satisfy conditions 2,12,15,16,23,25,26,27,30,31,32 and 41 on outline planning permission ref: 09/1107/MOUT in so far as they relate to the new roadway. Land Adj Babbage Way Exeter Science Park Clyst HonitonRef. No: 21/2053/MRES | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Hedge 3, Bay hedge : Reduce by 4-5m to previous trim height to keep the hedge in a good cycle of management. Hedge 5, mixed species hedge L fell to near ground level to resolve the problem of the branches disturbing neighbouring properties. The Bays Coburg Road Sidmouth EX10 8NFRef. No: 21/2065/TCA | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Birch tree (T1) – crown reduction. Reduce height by approximately 3m to leave a final tree height of approximately 10 metres and reduce side crown to leave approximately 4m radial spread Cross Trees Bell Street Otterton Budleigh Salterton EX9 7HSRef. No: 21/2050/TCA | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Crown reduction to the northwest quadrant of the crown to achieve 3 metre clearance from chimney. Maximum diameter cuts of 100mm. Reason: to reduce needle fall on roof and gutters and maintain clearance from chimney Fair View 1 Brackendown West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1NTRef. No: 21/2041/TRE | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Change of use from agricultural land to outdoor leisure pursuits and associated operational development Land North Of The Shrubbery Escot Park Ottery St MaryRef. No: 21/2045/FUL | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• New Build replacement of Barn approved for conversion under 20/2041/PDQ, to accommodate one house and annexe (Class C3). Wishes Broadhembury Honiton EX14 3LNRef. No: 21/2037/FUL | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 Ash. Fell. The tree has a very poor canopy (perhaps due to ash dieback) and is of low amenity value. Additionally the root plate is losing structural integrity thereby compromising its stability. 7 Old Home Farm Rousdon Lyme Regis DT7 3YLRef. No: 21/2029/TCA | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Raising roof height for conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a side dormer and roof lights and erection of porch 33 Parkside Road Exeter EX1 3TNRef. No: 21/2027/FUL | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• The retention and modification of vehicular access comprising removal of gravelled track, bollard lights and gate, and replacement by wooden gate, stone track together with landscaping proposals including new Devon bank and wildflower meadow. Titford Hold Awliscombe Honiton EX14 3PSRef. No: 21/2036/FUL | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Single storey rear and side extension1 Woolbrook Rise Sidmouth EX10 9UBRef. No: 21/2038/CPL | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Refused
• Erection of two illuminated signs Whitty Court Weycroft Avenue Millwey Rise Industrial Estate AxminsterRef. No: 21/2035/ADV | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of 24 ground mounted solar panels on three frames (2 frames of 9 panels and 1 frame with 6 panels) Foxgloves Woodhouse Lane Uplyme Lyme Regis DT7 3SXRef. No: 21/2030/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness for a proposed replacement single storey side extension19 Feniton Gardens Feniton Honiton EX14 3DGRef. No: 21/2028/CPL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Ash : Dismantle to ground level T2, Ash : Dismantle to ground level Reason for works: Ash Dieback Disease (ADD) T1 is severely leaning to the north and may be showing early signs of ADD, removal of tree now whilst still safe for tree surgeons to work on. T2 is showing approximately 50% dieback in crown due to ADD, removal to prevent limb or whole tree failure damaging surrounding area. The Lodge House 7 West Hill Lane Budleigh Salterton EX9 6AARef. No: 21/2039/TRE | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Approval of the reserved matters of access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale children’s day nursery with associated engineering works, infrastructure, car parking and landscaping. Discharge of conditions 6, 11, 14, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 30, 33, and 37 and partial discharge of condition 33 all of planning permission 03/P1900. (This is a subsequent application in respect of permission 03/P1900 which was accompanied by an environmental statement) Parcel TC4A Land South Of Tillhouse Road Cranbrook Town Centre CranbrookRef. No: 21/2021/RES | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of a single storey rear extension, which would extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 3.8 metres, for which the maximum height would be 3.9 metres, and for which the height of the eaves would be 2.7 metres 19 Feniton Gardens Feniton Honiton EX14 3DGRef. No: 21/2032/GPD | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Ash trees, 152, 153,154,155 : Fell. Reason: Trees suffering from significant decline likely caused by ash dieback. A La Ronde Summer Lane Exmouth EX8 5BDRef. No: 21/2026/TRE | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Approval of the reserved matters of access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for retail uses comprising a supermarket and Cranbrook town square, with associated engineering works, infrastructure, car parking and landscaping. Discharge of conditions 6,11,14,17, 22, 24, 28, 30, 34 and 37 and partial discharge of condition 33 all of planning permission 03/P1900. (This is a subsequent application in respect of permission 03/P1900 which was accompanied by an Environmental Statement). Parcel TC4A Land South Of Tillhouse Road Cranbrook Town Centre CranbrookRef. No: 21/2033/MRES | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Approval of the reserved matters of access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the southern side of the High Street comprising 11 retail units (to comprise A1, A2, A3, A4, A5 uses, in accordance with the outline consent (now recognised as falling within Class E)) and 26 residential dwellings, with associated engineering works, infrastructure, car parking and landscaping. Discharge of conditions 6, 11, 14, 17, 22, 24, 28, 29, and 37 and partial discharge of condition 33 all of planning permission 03/P1900. (This is a subsequent application in respect of permission 03/P1900 which was accompanied by an environmental statement) Parcel TC4A Land South Of Tillhouse Road Cranbrook Town Centre CranbrookRef. No: 21/2020/MRES | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Single storey rear extension and lantern over kitchen Summerlee Sid Road Sidmouth EX10 9AHRef. No: 21/2015/FUL | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 4no. windows on front south elevation Hembercombe Cottage Broadhembury Honiton EX14 3NJRef. No: 21/2010/LBC | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of existing conservatory and replacement with a rear extension Prospect House Parsonage Way Woodbury Exeter EX5 1HYRef. No: 21/1994/FUL | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1 to T4, Ash trees – Fell G1, 4 Ash – Fell Reason – Trees showing symptoms of Ash die back and removal appropriate safety management. Meadows End Harcombe Road Axminster EX13 5TBRef. No: 21/2000/TRE | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of roof over existing silage pit Spence Cross Farm House Payhembury Honiton EX14 3JHRef. No: 21/1996/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• A steel lean-to to a silage pit cover Spence Cross Farm House Payhembury Honiton EX14 3JHRef. No: 21/2002/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Relocate bin store already approved 4 Chapel Street Budleigh Salterton EX9 6LXRef. No: 21/2004/FUL | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolition of building and construction of new dwelling house Mcbains Antiques Exeter Airport Clyst Honiton Exeter EX5 2BARef. No: 21/1963/FUL | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey rear extension, and conversion of roof space to habitable use to include a rear dormer. 17 Higher Woolbrook Park Sidmouth EX10 9EDRef. No: 21/1967/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Alterations to fenestration, addition of first floor side window, and replacement of balcony balustrade Flat 4 Carlton Court 12 Carlton Hill Exmouth EX8 2AJRef. No: 21/1979/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• T1 and T2 ash trees – fell ash tees as showing signs of ash die back, reason for works is due to safety. 3 Walden Road Dunkeswell Honiton EX14 4XBRef. No: 21/1965/TRE | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of condition No. 8 (Landscaping) of planning permission ref: 16/1190/FUL to allow for an integration of other proposals by softening the development as a whole and removing roadside planting to improve visability (Retrospective) Straitgate Farm Exeter Road Ottery St Mary EX11 1LGRef. No: 21/1951/VAR | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed internal alterations and construction of a new two storey extension and single storey extension to form a new lounge. Creation of a new vehicular access off Lower Road and construction of a detached garage. Heathfield House Woodbury Salterton Exeter EX5 1ALRef. No: 21/1956/FUL | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 2no. windows on ground floor rear elevation (W01 & W02) Budleigh Cottage Kerswell Cullompton EX15 2EJRef. No: 21/1957/LBC | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• A two storey rear & side projecting Green oak extension, largely glazed Cawleys Farm Wiggaton Ottery St Mary EX11 1PYRef. No: 21/1946/FUL | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Erection of glider trailer store Devon And Somerset Gliding Club Sheldon Honiton EX14 4QWRef. No: 21/1926/FUL | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Single storey front extension and erection of an open front porch to side with alterations to fenestration Little Holt Ebford Lane Ebford Exeter EX3 0QXRef. No: 21/1917/FUL | Validated: Tue 27 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Remove existing cementious render and replace with a lime based render on side (south east) elevation Tolcis Farm Tolcis Axminster EX13 7JFRef. No: 21/1823/LBC | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replace 2no. windows on rear elevation and replace French doors on rear elevation with 1no. single door 5B Fortfield Terrace Sidmouth EX10 8NTRef. No: 21/1818/LBC | Validated: Thu 29 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of conditions No. 2 (Approved Plans) and No. 6 (Landscaping Scheme) of planning permission ref: 15/2753/VAR to allow for reverting to the original green living wall and alterations to landscaping (retrospective) Barton Grange Barton Rise Tipton St John EX10 0ANRef. No: 21/1788/VAR | Validated: Mon 26 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

• Beech tree : Prune lowest two branches touching the roof of the adjacent garage to achieve two metre clearance. Reason : In the interests of visual amenity and to ensure the garage roof is not damaged The Old House Chardstock Axminster EX13 7BTRef. No: 21/1742/TRE | Validated: Wed 28 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Application for 2x stone benches around new tree in memory of Sir John Cave. Millennium Green Bridge Street SidburyRef. No: 21/1502/FUL | Validated: Fri 30 Jul 2021 | Status: Awaiting decision

The waiting list for NHS care in England could rise to 15 million people in the next four years without a significant increase in its current capacity, ministers are warned, amid a cabinet clash over the service’s future funding.

Michael Savage www.theguardian.com 

With senior figures inside the health service warning there is currently “a chasm” between the NHS and the Treasury over the financial settlement now needed, exclusive analysis seen by the Observer shows that NHS trusts in England are on course to spend almost £5bn more next financial year than was anticipated when Theresa May set the service’s funding levels in 2018.

The analysis by the Nuffield Trust finds that NHS trusts also face ending this financial year with an overspend of £5bn, excluding the extra costs of dealing with Covid. Insiders warn that billions more will have to be added to the NHS’s new financial settlement this autumn in the wake of continuing Covid-related costs, reduced capacity and staff shortages.

Several sources said that a “conservative estimate” would see an extra £7bn a year needed on top of existing NHS funding. However, the battle over future funding, set to kick off between health secretary Sajid Javid, NHS England, and chancellor Rishi Sunak this summer will begin with the sides far apart. Ultimately, the prime minister is also expected to engage in the talks.

Writing in today’s Observer, Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, warns the government that the package handed to NHS England at this autumn’s spending review will have a “significant impact on the next general election”. He said the last time the NHS had to deal with comparable waiting lists in the early 2000s, it was handed annual increases of 7% or more.

“The chancellor has, up to now, largely met his pledge of giving the NHS what it needed to cope with Covid-19,” he writes. “But, recently, the Treasury mood music has sharply switched. To recovering the national finances, reducing the NHS share of public spending, and a worryingly misplaced assumption that Covid-19 costs will fall quickly, so the NHS can return to its ‘generous’ June 2018 settlement. Frontline leaders can’t provide the quality of care patients need, and deliver the government’s manifesto commitments, unless they are properly funded to do so.”

Two issues are combining to cause severe problems for the health service’s budget. Millions of patients will be added to existing waiting lists as the Covid pandemic eases and they return to GPs. Meanwhile, Covid restrictions mean that the service was only running at 82% of its 2019 capacity by May this year.

Javid warned last month that waiting lists could reach 13 million people before they begin to fall. However, new analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that the outlook could be even worse unless action is taken. If only two-thirds of the “missing” patients return, with the NHS remaining at 95% of its pre-pandemic capacity over the next few years, waiting lists would still rise to an enormous 11 million within a year and then continue to climb to more than 15 million by the end of 2025.

The IFS found that even in its most optimistic scenario, the number of people waiting for treatment would rise to over nine million next year and would only return to pre-pandemic levels in 2025.

Max Warner, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the analysis, said: “More than four million people were on an NHS waiting list even before the pandemic. Covid-19 has only made matters worse, as millions of people have missed out on treatment and millions more haven’t even been referred on to the waiting list to begin with. There is a real risk that if the NHS cannot find effective ways to boost its capacity – a challenge at the best of times, let alone after a major pandemic – then much longer waiting lists will be with us for years to come.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said huge amounts had already been given to the health service during the crisis, on top of its previous settlement. They said: “We are committed to making sure the NHS has everything it needs to continue providing excellent care to the public as we tackle the backlogs that have built up during the pandemic. This year alone we have already provided a further £29bn to support health and care services, including an extra £1bn to tackle the backlog. This is on top of our historic settlement for the NHS in 2018, which will see its budget rise by £33.9bn by 2023-24.”

Just take the batteries out of the smoke alarm – Owl

Aubrey Allegretti www.theguardian.com 

Boris Johnson is facing mounting anger after it emerged he continued with a tour of Scotland and decided not to isolate despite a member of his team testing positive for Covid-19 on the trip.

A senior government source told the Guardian the prime minister and official were “side-by-side” on several occasions and even travelled together on an RAF Voyager between Glasgow and Aberdeen, but a Downing Street spokesperson said they did not come into close contact.

The civil servant, who is now isolating at a hotel in Scotland, attended an event with Johnson at a police college on Wednesday.

Later that day, he and the staffer flew as part of a small No 10 contingency of about a dozen people to the next leg of Johnson’s two-day tour of Scotland – though they were said to be sat at opposite ends of a large cabin.

The group were tested upon landing, and the official’s result was positive so they went into isolation. Some whose result came back negative were told to make their own way home, while others, including Johnson, finished the tour. The prime minister was then pictured meeting the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, and the Conservative MP Andrew Bowie.

Johnson and several members of the No 10 contingent are not isolating – but a government source said “the whole lot should be”. The Downing Street spokesperson also refused to say if he had been tested since the positive case was discovered.

The prime minister is spending the weekend at Chequers, meaning if he is told to stay at home it will be the second time in a month he has had to spend 10 days in his countryside grace and favour mansion.

After coming into close contact with the health secretary, Sajid Javid, who tested positive for Covid in mid-July, Johnson and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, initially resisted isolating – claiming they could avoid it by participating in a daily contact-testing pilot. However, within hours they bowed to public pressure and said they would self-isolate.

Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said it was clear the prime minister “hasn’t learned anything from what happened last time he tried to cook up a reason to be above the rules everyone else has to follow”.

She said: “Senior Conservatives are really taking the public for fools. This is yet another example of one rule for them and another for everyone else.”

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, also called on Johnson to confirm he had not been asked to isolate again. Referring to the excuse Dominic Cummings used for breaking lockdown rules last spring, Davey said of the prime minister: “If it turns out he has scorned his own government’s policy on self-isolation again, the public reaction will be Barnard Castle on steroids.”

After being approached by the Guardian, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister regularly visits communities across the UK and all aspects of visits are carried out in line with Covid guidance. The prime minister has not come into close contact with anyone who has tested positive.”

Questions still remain, including over when the prime minister last tested negative, if he has the Covid contact-tracing app on his phone, and whether he wore a mask on the flight with the staffer concerned. Government guidance makes clear that in England it is “recommended and expected that passengers wear face coverings onboard aircraft”.

Johnson may also have to cooperate with the test-and-trace scheme set up in England and the separate test-and-protect operation in Scotland.

The rules by Public Health England say “contacts of a person who has tested positive for Covid-19 need to self-isolate at home because they are at risk of developing Covid-19 themselves in the next 10 days”, adding: “They could spread the virus to others, even before any symptoms begin.”

A contact is defined as someone who has had face-to-face contact with a person who has the virus from two days before they tested positive; been within 1 metre for one minute or longer; or been within 2 metres for more than 15 minutes – either as a one-off or added up together over a day.

It also includes someone who has “travelled in the same vehicle or plane as a person who has tested positive for Covid-19”, raising the chances Johnson’s flight with the staffer could yet see him forced into isolation.

Though he is fully vaccinated, everyone contacted by test and trace must still quarantine. The rules will change on 16 August to allow those who are fully vaccinated to avoid isolation.

Johnson faced calls to bring the date forward but resisted doing so, saying it was important people continued to follow the existing isolation rules to avoid spreading the virus.

His trip to Scotland was also mired by a joke he made that Margaret Thatcher gave a “big early start” to green energy by closing coalmines, which was denounced as “unbelievably crass” by the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

“Visitors are not getting a good experience, locals are frustrated and systems can’t cope”.

Cornwall’s services are struggling to deal with an influx of visitors.

By Johnny O’Shea www.bbc.co.uk

With more Britons holidaying in the UK, Visit Cornwall estimates there are about 210,000 visitors, up from a usual peak of 180,000.

Beaches are busy, traffic heavy and the situation at the hospital is described as “dire” by its medical director.

Malcolm Bell, head of Visit Cornwall, said some “visitors are not getting a good experience, locals are frustrated and systems can’t cope”.

The county’s only 24-hour Emergency Department – at the Royal Cornwall Hospital serves the 560,000 residents – has been incredibly busy, with waiting times often more than four hours.

Medical director Allister Grant called the situation “unprecedented”.

The hospital said about 30% of those attending the Emergency Department are not registered with a Cornish GP, and were assumed to be visitors.

The number of Covid patients in the hospital has also increased, with 22 inpatients with the virus on 3 August.

South West Water said the demand in Cornwall was about 10 megalitres more water per day compared to this time last year, which was “the equivalent of between 50,000 to 75,000 people’s water use per day”.

The company said the demand is “putting a strain on the network” although reservoir levels are “looking healthy”.

However, for plenty of business owners the economic boost is welcome after a difficult 18 months, with an estimated £1bn lost in visitor spending.

In Padstow, Cherry Painter from Cherry Trees cafe said it is “absolutely amazing. It’s unprecedented – we have never had the crowds like this before. People realise this is where to come after lockdown. They are all enjoying themselves.”

Many businesses are also facing staffing shortages exacerbated by those being contacted by the NHS Covid app and told to self-isolate.

Next door to Ms Painter, Richard Walker from Padstow Fish and Chips said: “We are up by about 25 to 30% on a normal peak summer season. But that is made even busier by the fact we have a significant lack of staffing so we are having to manage on much less staff than we would normally.”

The Headland Hotel in Newquay has lost 21 staff in this way, causing it to close off some of its accommodation.

Increasingly, individuals have also been cashing in by letting their houses out to visitors, or opening a spare field as a pop-up campsite.

“Lots of local people, which you cant criticise them for have suddenly decided they can make a few thousand if they rent out their property and either go somewhere else or move in with mum and dad”, Mr Bell said.

Ali Arnison arrived on Friday, 30 July, for a long-awaited week-long holiday in Newquay with six of her family. By Wednesday they had returned home to Leeds.

“There are so many cases of Covid down there, no staff in restaurants… but they’re still packing people in.

“Ridiculously busy supermarkets with no staff and empty shelves. Even remote beaches were heaving, just no escape at all from the crowds. I feel so sorry for the locals.”

She said they were disappointed to end their holiday early, but “safety comes first”.

The latest figures show infection rates in Newquay West of 792.7 per 100,000 people, well above the averages for Cornwall of 248 and for England of 270.

When the sun was shining on Wednesday local people reported that Cornwall was “busier than ever”.

In Perranporth, which has a resident population of 3,000, lifeguards estimated a peak of 14,000 people on the beach: “We don’t get days like that very often.”

The car parks, and their overflow sections, were full by mid-morning and people took to parking along any available route into the town.

This meant parking on verges, and in housing estates several well away from the beach, and traffic jams winding for miles along the small roads and country lanes.

Tracy Brown has missed two cleaning jobs because of getting stuck in traffic this week but said: “I’m upset I have lost money after the last 18 months we have had, being self employed, but my biggest concern was the care in the community.

“Elderly people are sat in the beds waiting to be got up, given breakfast and even medication. But with a two-hour wait in traffic this is dangerous.”

At Porthcurno in west Cornwall, and Porthcothan on the north coast, some beach goers returned to their vehicles to find tickets on their windscreens after a visit from Devon and Cornwall Police and Cornwall Council.

Penzance Police said: “Porthcurno was again brought to a stand still… due to inconsiderate parking by visitors attending the area.”

It warned: “Inconsiderate parking like this may result in the delay of emergency services and put lives in danger.”

Kim Hayward, from Porthcothan – a small village with a beach near Padstow, north Cornwall, said: “I’ve never known it as busy as it is at the moment.

“We welcome them with open arms but I just wish that when they came they had some consideration for other people.

“We put bollards around to stop them parking on the junction, but they have parked the other side of the bollards on the road which makes it even worse than it was before.”

An anonymous caller to BBC Radio Cornwall said she and her husband “feel like prisoners in our own home” since a pop-up campsite was authorised next door to them for the first time this summer.

“It is so hectic. I can’t cope with it,” she added.

‘Anti-tourism’

Mr Bell said: “The biggest factor is the restriction on travelling abroad which has meant that most if not all of the accommodation is full with the only vacancies coming when people cancel, or get pinged.

“This summer is a one-off but it is also a bit of a siren to say we can’t be here again in normal circumstances.”

Mr Bell said an anti-tourist feeling has been growing in recent years among people for whom Cornwall is home.

He thinks this can be partly put down to the 10,000 or more additional properties that are now available to let through online platforms like AirBnB.

“Up until about 10 years ago we were losing bed stock in Cornwall. In 2018-19 we were holding numbers but we weren’t growing. And up until 2019 there wasn’t that much anti-tourism feeling.

“We don’t want to be here where the visitors aren’t getting a good experience, the locals are frustrated and the systems can’t cope.”

In order to “reduce the peak and capacity in August”, he wants every property being offered to let, to be officially registered “so we at least know what is going on”.

He said without a reduction “we will end up in a place we don’t want to go, a very dangerous place which is the quality of experience for the visitor will go down, the price will go down, and we will end up with over-tourism”.

“The last thing I want to see is Cornwall being destroyed by tourism.”

There are no beaches, no seagulls, and in some places there are more cows than people. This is summer 2021: the year that Britons sought social distancing as much as sun, sea and sand.

Josh Halliday www.theguardian.com

Demand for rural retreats in counties such as Worcestershire and Staffordshire has soared this summer as people swapped the Algarve and Costa del Sol for the countryside, data from travel websites shows.

Camping and caravan trips to Staffordshire – which is nearly 100 miles from the nearest beach – have increased by 300% compared with 2019, according to pitchup.com, while bookings in the landlocked counties of Worcestershire and Cambridgeshire have more than doubled.

The traditional honeypot resorts of Devon and Cornwall, which together attract about 10 million tourists a year, have seen the usual influx of visitors this summer. But nervousness around Covid-19 has meant that some of the UK’s less-obvious – and, crucially, quieter – destinations have enjoyed a huge tourism boost.

“There’s an element of anxiety as people are emerging from lockdown,” said Dan Yates, the founder of pitchup.com. “People are tiptoeing an hour away for one or two nights … and that’s why you’re seeing counties like Worcestershire seeing the demand as well as continued demand for places like the Lake District, Devon and Cornwall.”

Uncertainty around the UK’s ever-changing travel restrictions has meant millions of people have ditched their annual foreign getaway. AirBnB said domestic holidays account for 82% of nights booked so far this year. And rural retreats are becoming vastly more popular, accounting for nearly half of all bookings this year compared with 23% in 2019.

In previous years, AirBnB’s most in-demand properties have been in exotic locations abroad: last year’s favourite was a Greek cave, and a Balian treehouse took top spot in 2019. This year’s hottest listing was a luxury “Pigsty” on a farm in Winchester (£200 a night, almost fully booked until January).

Although there is evidence of a rural renaissance, travel experts are reluctant to call time on the traditional bucket and spade holiday. All of the top 10 searched-for towns on campsites.co.uk this summer was a beach resort, said the website’s founder, Martin Smith. Newquay, one of Cornwall’s rowdier spots, was the most sought after destination.

Away from the campsites, however, people have looked for lesser-known retreats as many hotels and short-term lets in Devon and Cornwall have been fully booked for months. None of AirBnB’s top trending seaside destinations this summer were on the popular south-west coast.

Instead, tourists have swarmed on the seaside resorts of Seaburn, near Sunderland, and Ingoldmells and Sandilands, near Skegness, according to the site. On the south coast, Sandgate in Kent and Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex had the biggest increase in bookings.

On the Isle of Anglesey, an astronomical rise in visitors has not been wholly welcomed. Campers have been pitching up illegally on beaches and private land, some leaving behind rubbish and creating a huge drain on resources, said Michael Thomas, the council’s tourism manager.

“It’s great that there has been a massive increase in visitors,” he said. “The downside to this is a lot of people are turning up with motorhomes and tents without booking places and they’re putting a massive pressure on our infrastructure. We’ve probably got a 500% increase [in visitors] because people are coming in the hope they will get somewhere and then we’re faced with the cleanup.”

In Staffordshire, however, tourism officials were over the moon with a near-300% rise in campsite bookings. The county has been busy promoting its many jewels since lockdown restrictions began to ease in April. Its gems include the rolling hills of Cannock Chase and Peak District, as well as the theme parks Alton Towers and Drayton Manor.

Philip White, the deputy leader of Staffordshire county council, said on Friday he was overjoyed to see people discover the county’s lesser-known qualities: “The huge range of attractions in Staffordshire is well known, but the beauty of our countryside is one of the UK’s best-kept secrets. We’ve been focusing on telling people about what we have to offer, how easy it is to get here and all there is to do so we’re delighted to see it paying off.”

Anthony Mangnall, MP for Totnes & South Devon and Judy Pearce, leader of South Hams district council are the authors of Friday’s “Thunderer” column in  the Times.

Where do Neil Parish and Simon Jupp stand on this? – Owl

Anthony Mangnall, Judy Pearce www.thetimes.co.uk

South Devon is home to some of the most extraordinary views, landscapes and coastlines. As representatives at both a local and national level we are only too aware of the privilege that we have in speaking up for such a unique part of the country.

While our businesses, tourism and hospitality industries were put on hold during the worst of the pandemic, our previously deserted beaches are now packed, our high streets bustle with residents and tourists alike. As a result our local economy is booming. While this is welcome, it comes at a cost.

Such are the demands from the visitor economy that thousands of homes are being moved from long-term rentals to Airbnb lets. Many who live and work in the area are being issued with eviction notices so landlords can capitalise on the boom in holiday rentals. Only 16 properties are available for long-term rent in the district council area of South Hams, with a population of 86,000.

Wit and wisdom from our award-winning stable of columnists and guest writers, including Caitlin Moran, Matthew Parris, Rod Liddle and Dominic Lawson.

For years there has been a balance between holiday rentals and primary residences. That balance saw schools, hospitals and lifeboat stations (to name a few) catered to by locals. This is often no longer the case as all these and many other businesses struggle to find the staff they need. Towns and villages which are thronged in the summer are ghostly quiet in winter.

At a local and national level more needs to be done to return that balance between holiday homes and primary residences. First, we must introduce legislation to close the loophole that allows second homes, advertised as holiday rentals, to avoid council tax by registering for business rates and getting small business rate relief. Every holiday home puts pressure on local services and they must pay their share. We have campaigned vociferously for this change in the law and welcome the chancellor’s announcement earlier this year that he will do so but it cannot come soon enough.

Second, a nationwide survey should be conducted to gauge the impact of Airbnb-type rentals. This could include lost tax receipts and the effect on long-term rental markets in rural and urban areas.

Third, newbuilds must be built with local affordability targets in mind, including section 106 legal agreements that can be registered against the property title to ensure they are primary residences in perpetuity. We have already achieved this in Salcombe and look set to do so elsewhere in south Devon.

The visitor economy is hugely important to this area. We welcome it, but Devon and the southwest must have functioning communities that offer more than just a seasonal visitor economy.

This particular case illustrates that some new found freedoms, such as the freedom to enjoy the “night time economy”, still have the potential to become super spreading events.

Exeter at 571 new cases per 100,000 people, and rising, is also one of the cities with the highest rates in England. The pandemic is far from over. – Owl

A Covid-19 infection spike in Lincoln has been pinpointed to a nightclub in the city, health bosses have said.

BBC News 03/08/2021 www.bbc.co.uk

New cases increased by 83% to 649 in the week to 29 July, giving the area England’s highest infection rate of 654 per 100,000 people.

The Wharf and University district, a popular destination for bars, clubs and restaurants, recorded a rate of 1,140.

Natalie Liddle, from Public Health Lincolnshire, said the majority of cases were in people aged under 30.

“We are currently managing a cluster of outbreaks in and around Lincoln – and we’ve seen a particular increase in cases linked to the night-time economy,” she said.

“We are particularly dealing with one large outbreak at the moment, [and] that has impacted a large number of people.”

Ms Liddle declined to name the venue involved.

Ms Liddle, who is programme manager for infection prevention and control, said the outbreak had also coincided with a “natural spike” in case numbers, with Lincoln continuing to follow slightly behind the national trend in terms of peaks.

“Unfortunately for us, it’s coincided with us coming out of lockdown,” she said.

She urged anyone who had not taken up an offer of a jab to do so, adding that it was more important than ever, especially as there were now no rules regarding social distancing, testing or vaccination status for nightclubs.

“We don’t want to scaremonger but, for us, the biggest thing we can do right now is really amplify that message about the importance of the vaccine programme,” she added.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last month that people attending nightclubs and other large venues where crowds gather would be required to be fully vaccinated from the end of September.

Meanwhile, cases in most other parts of the county have fallen.

North East Lincolnshire has seen one of the sharpest drops with case rates decreasing by nearly 50% in the week to 29 July.

The area recorded a rate of 471 new infections per 100,000 people compared to 805 in the preceding seven days.

The England average currently stands at 292.

It is a remarkable and tragic example of bureaucratic amnesia, and one that deserves the full attention of the authorities now, and indeed when the public inquiry into the government’s Covid response eventually starts.

Editorial: www.independent.co.uk

Almost two decades ago, a detailed plan of how the UK should respond to a Sars-type coronavirus was drawn up by public health officials. They carefully examined the experience of the 2002 Sars outbreak in east Asia. Fortunately, the active virus at that time was not infective enough to trigger a global pandemic and was contained within China and its surrounding countries.

Nonetheless, the opportunity was taken to envisage what precautions should be taken if a subsequent episode developed in a more sinister fashion. The report was drawn up in 2005, apparently shelved and forgotten, and has only now come to light via a freedom of information request.

Too late to have any impact on decision-making now, had it been “remembered” in the early, panicked months of 2020 it would have been a useful guide and blueprint. From what can be gathered from the detailed eye-witness account of Dominic Cummings and other stories, Whitehall was by turns complacent, bewildered, panicked, and then disastrously slow and disorganised in its response to this unfamiliar crisis.

Yet what was clear from the first cases identified in Wuhan province, China, was that this was a coronavirus, and one with some features in common with the Sars, or avian flu, infections some years earlier. But the UK’s various public health authorities, along with the government, based their planning on the assumption that it would cause an influenza-style epidemic. It was the wrong diagnosis, and the outbreak could have been better managed if the correct lessons of past experience had been acted upon and the 2005 plan implemented.

The 2005 document makes for eerie reading. Its prescient recommendations included limiting travel, stopping “super-spreader” events, building stocks of appropriate protective equipment, “clear and transparent communications”, building surge capacity in hospitals, and rapid testing. In the event, all of those measures were implemented, but too slowly and with consequent loss of life. It even created a framework of six “action levels”, roughly equivalent to the tiers and stages later used to guide restrictions and relaxations.

The lesson learned now from this sorry story should be that the government needs urgently to create contingency planning for civil emergencies that may seem remote but which could, nonetheless, cause huge disruption, loss of life and economic damage.

So-called “black swan” events are not predictable, by definition, but there are certainly areas of threat to national infrastructure that deserve to be planned for, with regular “exercises” and a designated lead agency or government department, as well as named individuals, responsible for keeping data.

The banking crisis of 2008-09 was only the latest financial panic to expose the fragility of the credit system, prompting the Bank of England to plan for future responses. There is also the continuing risk of a mass hacking attack on the national digital infrastructure, covert activity from hostile foreign powers, energy shortages, and, of course, climate change, and the floods, damage to buildings, and droughts that could flow from that.

History suggests that, for whatever cultural reasons, the British response to an impending existential crisis has generally been a mixture of denialism, amateurishness and improvisation, and usually with disastrous consequences.

The nation has hardly ever been prepared for any war it has had to fight, for example, but the Dunkirk spirit should not be relied upon. Where, for example, is the plan for a response to the arrival of some heavily vaccine-resistant new coronavirus variant? It would be reassuring to know that Whitehall hasn’t already forgotten the lessons of what went wrong last spring.

Covid cases have fallen in every part of Devon except Torridge.

Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter exmouth.nub.news 

In the latest seven-day period (up to 25 July) cases fell by 2,335 across the county, a drop of almost 35 per cent on the previous week.

Plymouth had the largest fall, with new cases declining by almost half, from 2,549 to 1,344.

Last week the city saw numbers rocket by 1,126 (85 per cent), taking cases per 100,000 to 935, nearly three times (188 per cent) higher than the national average at that time.

Mid Devon recorded a similar drop with new cases falling by 135 (41 per cent).

Torridge fared better this week than last, although the number of infections rose, bucking Devon’s overall trend.

The area recorded 209 new cases, 19 more than the previous week. But the rate of Torridge’s increase is more promising: in the previous week, cases rose by more than 145 per cent.

Overall, new Covid-19 infections dropped by a quarter (23 per cent) across Devon’s district councils (which means everywhere except Plymouth and Torbay), although this is behind the one-third drop nationally (33 per cent).

Hospitalisations

Forty-five patients were admitted to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth with Covid-19 in the seven days up to Sunday 25 July, the latest date for which figures are available. This is 12 more than the previous week.

In Exeter, 29 patients were admitted to the RD&E, also 12 more than the previous week.

The Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs several hospitals in the area, admitted 11 new covid patients, while Torbay Hospital admitted 14.

Deaths

Two people died in Devon this week as Torridge registered its first deaths within 28 days of a positive test in more than five months.

The number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test since the pandemic began is 1,048 in Devon, including 206 in Plymouth and 156 in Torbay.

A total of 129,583 people have now died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test in the UK, a rise of 439 in the last seven days.

Vaccinations

As of 28 July, 87 per cent of adults in the Devon County Council area have now had their first dose of a vaccine, with 72 per cent having had both.

In Torbay, 85 per cent of adults have had their first jab while nearly 73 per cent have had both doses.

The gap in the number of adults who have had both their first and second doses in Plymouth fell slightly this week, narrowing by two per cent. The numbers are now sitting at 82 per cent and 65 per cent respectively.

The UK total is currently at 88 per cent for one dose and 72 per cent for both doses. A total of 84,737,932 jabs have now been given across the country.

In the Exmouth Nub News, Simon Jupp appears to sing from a different hymn sheet to John Hart. in the Exmouth Journal.

Perhaps Robert Jenrick didn’t make him a copy addressee to his “Dear John” letter? The key message being Robert Jenrick says councils with common history and identity should work more closely together on existing boundaries to deliver a better deal for their residents, and won’t be required to elect Mayors or become combined authorities.

Doesn’t look like he has received the John Hart: “We need to present a united front to the Government” message either or he would have mentioned “Team Devon”. 

Owl isn’t surprised, Tories seem to be incapable of presenting a coherent message at the moment.

Owl’s advice: stick to the pub crawl Simon.

East Devon MP says a ‘conversation’ is needed about turning Devon’s councils into a single unitary authority

Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter exmouth.nub.news 

What’s the current system?

In Devon we have one county council, eight district councils, and two unitary authorities (Plymouth and Torbay).

The county council and district council ‘partnership’ is called a two-tier system.

What’s being proposed?

We could see a unitary authority for the whole of Devon – that means all of the current councils would combine into one council.

Or, we could see Exeter promoted to a unitary authority in the same way as Plymouth or Torbay.

—–

Earlier in July, it was announced by the government that five councils in Somerset are to be replaced by a single unitary authority. If matters progress as expected, the county and four district councils will cease to exist on 1 April 2023.

A similar slimming down for Devon’s local government has been discussed for years, often meeting with fierce debate.

Between 2007 and 2010, significant energy was put behind attempts to reorganise Devon’s two-tier structure.

The two options on the table included a unitary authority for the whole of Devon. The other would have promoted Exeter to its own unitary authority.

The Exeter option was given the green light by the Labour government only to be scrapped when the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition came to power.

But the issue is still bubbling away. Speaking this week, several Devon’s MPs declined to dismiss the idea outright, citing the potential efficiencies and cost-savings of streamlined local government services.

Simon Jupp, Conservative MP for East Devon, said; “I believe we need a conversation as a county about the future of local government and value for money for the taxpayer.

“I don’t think a single council covering the whole county would be advised by government due to the significant size of our population.

“However, our neighbouring counties have all now decided to reduce the number of councils to help neighbouring communities work stronger together, build better services and squeeze every taxpayers’ penny.”

Kevin Foster, Conservative MP for Torbay, said: “Over the next two years it is right councils across Devon focus on the recovery from the coronavirus, rather than their own structures, yet in the longer term a discussion about a unitary system of local government for Devon is inevitable as the two-tier structure disappears across England, having already been abolished in Wales and Scotland.

“Unitary structures work well across the south west and few in Cornwall would now argue for a return to the previous two-tier structure abolished in 2009.

“Torbay should be a pro-active part of any discussion about how a unitary system would work across Devon and the potential boundaries of new councils created to cover the current two-tier area, for example, Torbay becoming part of a wider South Devon Unitary.

“A core part of any move to unitary status would also be deciding how communities across Devon could still shape and influence items which related to their own community.”

Meanwhile, Selaine Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon said: “Devon is a very big county so would one unitary work here? I think there are benefits of having local councils.

“The joy of North Devon council is that it’s here in North Devon and therefore it properly understands the people of North Devon and the local area, whereas when a lot of issues arise I know our county council is a very long way away from us.

“But similarly I do think there are benefits from a unitary and I think talking and working in the pandemic with different authorities and knowing what’s gone on in Cornwall I think there are some advantages of having a bigger authority managing everything in one place.

“To bring planning and infrastructure and schools all into one body so they’re not separated I can see some advantages to this.

“So I think it’s something we should probably look to in case there are advantages that we can benefit from moving forward.”

Councillor Philip Bialyk (Labour), leader of Exeter City Council said that, having spoken to council leaders across the county, that a unitary authority “is not the direction we would want to go.”

“However, we do feel there are a number of areas we can work together in the interests of Devon and we will hopefully be bringing a county proposal to government for a county deal which clearly will be lead by the county with all the district councils participating.”

“We think this is the best way to have a collective forum in which we can do the best things for Devon.”

Cllr Bialyk said discussions for this proposal were in an early stage at the moment and included Devon County Council and other district councils and said that he hopes it would “bring forward a good deal for Devon.”

Asked what areas he would like to see these councils collaborate on he said that was all part of the discussion, adding: “We are diverse county. Rural meets urban. We’ve got to make sure we get the right mix.

“We’ve got to try to make sure that we get an attractive proposition to government which reflects the needs of our residents.

“We know what we want in Devon. We’ve got to get around the table. We’ve got to get our heads together and that’s exactly what we all want to do.

“We want to work together with the county council and we feel we can get a good deal which represents everybody.”

Explaining his thoughts of a unitary authority for Exeter, like that which almost came to pass early in the 2010s, he said: “That’s not on the agenda.

“I’m not giving that any thought because that’s not a possibility. We are a strong sovereign district council, we want to remain as that.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service in July last year about the potential to unify Devon councils, leader of Devon County Council John Hart (Conservative) said: “I have no wish to open up a guerrilla war and start something and get us into a position that might not be resolved in the short term and argue with the districts for years on end and ruin the current good relationship.”

Councillor Rob Hannaford, leader of the Labour group, added: “There is clearly no appetite in Devon for another costly and disruptive reorganisation of our local government.

“To blow everything up now would be an act of political vandalism to our local communities, and a terrible barrier to making the progress that we need to make across the whole county.”

In his ‘Levelling Up’ speech on 15 July, the prime minister set out a new County Deals system that would look to devolve more power to local communities. More details will be announced in the Levelling Up white paper, due later this year.

Commenting on the potential for unitarisation in Devon, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said:

“We’re open to discussion with councils about unitarisation where there is a good deal of local support.

“We are clear that any reform of an area’s local government is most effectively achieved through locally-led proposals put forward by those who best know the area, the very essence of localism to which the Government remains committed.”

The MHCLG said it was conscious that councils are more focused on service delivery than any structural changes in the wake of the pandemic.

They said they want to see the Levelling Up White Paper before developing proposals for local government reform or county deals, as they did not wish to see councils spending money on developing new proposals at this time.

The department said that there will be no requirement to unitarise for the forthcoming county deals.

In his latest press article, John Hart explains that government thinking on power devolution may have changed. He intimates that “three homes” Robert Jenrick is now suggesting councils with common history and identity should work more closely together on existing boundaries to deliver a better deal for their residents. And he won’t require elected Mayors or combined authorities.

This is to be welcomed, especially as Owl was under the impression that Cllr Phill Twiss was, King Lear like, plotting to divide the County.

He ends by saying:

“The South West has long been the poor relation when it comes to funding. I will continue to work with councils of all political colours across the region to be a voice for the South West in Westminster and Whitehall and to campaign for a fair deal for local people.”

Too true, when was the last time a government of any colour took any notice of The South West?

Owl’s advice: start rocking the boat John!

United Front needed to ensure Devon does not remain poor relation

John Hart, Leader DCC, this week’s Exmouth Journal

Just a couple of months ago we had elections for Devon County Council and I don’t recall a single voter raising the issue of local government reorganisation with me.

I’m sure that’s not a huge surprise to you. Suffice to say, it’s always been my view that most people just want us to provide a good school for their children, to look after the elderly and the vulnerable, to deal with potholes and to empty their bins on time.

They don’t much mind if that’s done by unitary councils, district councils or county councils as long as it’s done effectively and efficiently and their council tax is affordable.

So I was interested to receive a letter last month from the Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick, outlining his thinking about devolution and how councils could work more closely together to drive the recovery from the pandemic. Previously, Government thinking on devolution has always favoured elected Mayors or new tiers of bureaucracy but he is now suggesting councils with common history and identity should work more closely together on existing boundaries to deliver a better deal for their residents. And he won’t require elected Mayors or combined authorities.

I’ve written here before about Team Devon which I set up with Devon’s district and town and parish councils to respond swiftly to all the extra needs and requirements of our people during the pandemic. Working with community groups and local volunteers, I believe we have delivered for Devon during the pandemic and used the additional money that was available effectively and efficiently. And our regular meetings of council leaders and chief executives throughout the crisis has brought us closer together – no matter what our individual political colours. That’s true on a wider scale with South West Councils of which I’m privileged to have been re-elected as chairman. The organisation represents 33 county, unitary and district councils stretching from Cornwall to Gloucestershire and Wiltshire as well as police, fire and rescue services, national parks and town and parish councils. A region that size obviously has differences. But we also have many issues in common, with the economic recovery from the pandemic as our most urgent task alongside support for our vulnerable residents and our vital tourism, hospitality and food and farming sectors.

We all have a common goal in tackling climate change and reducing our carbon emissions. We must also stimulate our economy by improving communications with the rest of the country – whether that is physical infrastructure or digital – ensuring fast broadband coverage for our rural areas at an affordable price and promoting greater skills and employment for our young people.

We need to present a united front to the Government to ensure we do not remain the poor relation when it comes to funding and that we get a fair share of cash for levelling-up.

We have worked hard to support the region and been particularly active in lobbying to improve the resilience of our road and rail network.

We need to improve the supply of affordable housing for our young families who are often priced out of buying a home where they grew up. And we have to move swiftly to ensure that the professionals we are seeking to attract here like nurses, teachers and social workers can find suitable accommodation.

The South West has long been the poor relation when it comes to funding.

I will continue to work with councils of all political colours across the region to be a voice for the South West in Westminster and Whitehall and to campaign for a fair deal for local people.

Campaigners have threatened to blockade all routes into Cornwall in protest against second homeowners in the county.

Lee Trewhela www.devonlive.com 

Kernow Matters to Us, a Cornish campaign group, said it is making a stand against non-locals coming into the area, in an attempt to ensure every “Cornish person” has one first.

The group said it was discussing the possibility of blocking routes including the A30 and Tamar Bridge if the problem was not addressed.

A spokesperson said: “It is within our power to do these things and there is little to stop us.”

The comments come as it was announced that a protest will be held in Truro later this month to highlight the growing housing crisis in Cornwall.

It was previously revealed dozens of former council homes are being illegally let as student accommodation and AirBnBs for the sake of profit.

Kernow Matters to Us said this keeps these properties extremely high in rent and inaccessible to the people who need them.

Cornwall Council announced in 2019 it would take legal action against homeowners who did not abide by the covenants attached to the sale of former council homes.

However, there are now concerns that the promise of taking action dropped off the radar after council officers were diverted to other roles due to the Covid pandemic.

A Kernow Matters spokesperson said: “We cannot live like this any longer, and we won’t accept growing mass homelessness of people in Cornwall and ever-expanding house prices becoming an accepted part of life.

“We demand action, we demand change, we demand dignity.

“We are not just bartenders, ice-cream servers, and lifeguards, we are people who deserve to be able to rent and buy where we live.

“This is a protest to demand immediate, emergency action from our MPs and Westminster to tackle this crisis.

“We deserve affordable housing and rental properties. Cornwall is not a playground, it is not just a tourist-hot-spot and nice place to live by the beach if you have the cash for it – it’s our home, it’s our culture, our family, friends, livelihoods – and we can’t even afford to live here.

“No more second homes. No more exorbitant rents. No more holiday lets over council homes. Enough is enough.

“Cornwall Council building cabins is not enough, and does absolutely nothing to address the roots and growing catastrophe of this crisis.

“Come to the protest, show your support, and you can share your story or someone else’s in living through and experiencing this housing crisis.”

Formed during 2015 to proclaim and celebrate Cornish culture, history, language and music “whilst speaking out unashamedly for the Cornish,” Kernow Matters’ members support the Cornish National Minority.

They are urging people concerned about housing issues in Cornwall to attend the demo on Truro’s Lemon Quay on Saturday, August 21.

The protest is asking for the following demands:

• “That (MPs) George Eustice, Scott Mann, Sheryll Murray, Steve Double, Derek Thomas and Cherilyn Mackrory commit to sending a public joint letter to Parliament, demanding immediate and material action to end the housing crisis.
• That all six of Cornwall’s MPs commit to participating in a community-led Housing Crisis Action Plan Group.
• That Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor and the newly formed Conservative-led council agree to the demands of a housing crisis petition, which has been signed by 44,581 people as of July 31 to:
• Levy a higher, more stringent tax on second homes which recognises the threat they pose to local communities.
• Close the loophole which allows them to be classed as ‘businesses’ allowing them to tap into locally allocated funds and in some cases avoid paying council tax altogether.
• Work quickly towards outlining firm strategies to cap local rents in keeping with local incomes so that local families are not left homeless.
• Use the funds accrued from taxing second homes properly into building FIRST and ONLY affordable homes for local families.”

Bella Smith, 21, from Newquay, who has organised the Truro demonstration, told CornwallLive : “We need the government to truly address and commit to ending Cornwall’s extremely high poverty rates and housing crisis – we need action on many things including second home ownership, the illegal letting of former council houses as Airbnbs, a limit on holiday lets, and much, much more.”

“The low tax, low regulation regime combined with globalisation ended up widening income disparities in a way that not only hurt those at the bottom of the income distribution, but ended up having adverse macroeconomic effects.”

Editorial www.theguardian.com  (Extract)

….Gertjan Vlieghe was appointed to the bank’s rate-setting committee by then-chancellor George Osborne and has proved a thoughtful commentator on the UK economy. On the verge of stepping down, his valedictory speech made last week is remarkable for going beyond the usual banker’s fare.

The great weakness of the UK, he says, lies in the policies it has followed for decades. “The low tax, low regulation regime combined with globalisation ended up widening income disparities in a way that not only hurt those at the bottom of the income distribution, but ended up having adverse macroeconomic effects.” Those effects include very high levels of debt held predominantly by households and low levels of workplace productivity, which is the result of businesses not investing. Add all those together, Mr Vlieghe suggests, and the UK is stuck in a deep rut of low growth and low rates. In other words, the exact hue of Conservative most worried about low [interest] rates has been a cheerleader for the very policies that mean we are stuck with low rates. To fix this situation, the central banker proposes stronger trade unions, much tougher rules on competition and higher taxes. Such policies are not in the bank’s gift but the government’s. Will Boris Johnson implement them? If he did, he might legitimately call them “levelling up”.

Many areas across Devon have recorded more than 50 cases of Covid-19, according to the latest figures.

Charlotte Becquart www.devonlive.com

Devon had 15 coronavirus hotspots of more than 50 cases between July 24 and 30, data published by the Government has revealed.

The biggest cluster – area where three or more cases have been reported – was Central Exeter, with 78 confirmed positive tests.

Four other areas of Exeter recorded over 50 cases. They were: Countess Wear & Topsham (59), Heavitree West & Polsloe (63), Pennsylvania & University (56), St James’s Park & Hoopern (68).

In the Torbay area, three areas recorded more than 50 cases. They were: Chelston, Cockington & Livermead (60), Paignton Central (59), Shiphay & the Willows (56).

In Plymouth, Cattedown & Prince Rock had 54 cases, City Centre, Barbican & Sutton Harbour recorded 65, Ham, Beacon Park & Pennycross had 54, Honicknowle & Manadon had 57, Lipson had 60, Millbay & Stonehouse had 69 and Mutley had 61.

North Devon’s highest number of cases was 39 and was recorded in Braunton. South Hams’ biggest cluster was Totnes Town with 45 cases.

In the Teignbridge area, the highest number of confirmed positive tests – 38 – was recorded in Starcross & Exminster.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Exeter has the third highest infection rate in England.

According to data from the PA news agency, based on Public Health England data from 3 August, the case numbers have increased from 484 positive tests to 712 in just one week.

To paint an accurate reflection across the 315 local areas in England, PA has calculated the case rate to show how many people would have coronavirus if there were 100,000 people living in the city.

In Exeter, there are the equivalent to 541.8 cases per 100,000 of the population, sitting slightly below Lincoln with 717 and Middlesbrough with 550.4.

Plymouth has the tenth highest Covid-19 infection rate in the country – although the city’s infection rate did fall in the latest set of data.

In the Torbay area, the council’s director of public health confirmed multiple care homes have been reporting Covid infections.

Dr Lincoln Sergeant said that 17 residents and six staff in local care homes recently tested positive for the virus, with nine cases in one home alone.

The premises involved have not been revealed by the health director.

One unvaccinated resident was taken to hospital, although no deaths have been reported as a result of the outbreak.

Last month, infections in Torbay reached their highest recorded level since the pandemic began, with 960 cases in the week commencing 11 July.

Since then rates have fallen, with 564 new cases recorded in the week commencing 25 July. You can read more about this here.