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Jo Bateman v SWW reported Nationally again – now in The Times

Jo Bateman’s case was reported gain yesterday, this time in The Times as part of their “Clean it up” campaign.

Jo Bateman is suing SWW for “loss of amenity” due to sewage spills preventing her daily swim, totalling £379.50.

She reckons this sum represents the cost of swimming at her local pool for 54 days plus £50 costs. 

SWW has until Monday to file its defence.

See original post on this story here.

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More on South West Water faced EDDC Scrutiny Committee – Councillor frustration

Preface: Scrutiny committees at district and county perform the same function at local level that parliamentary select committees perform at national level. They should be regarded in the same way. Those with experience of watching parliamentary committees will know that were SWW to face scrutiny at a parliamentary committee with so little preparation, they would be toast.

Recommendations

The final section of the scrutiny meeting with South West Water (SWW) involved committee members agreeing to a set of recommendations for further action.

Final wording will be agreed out of committee but here is the gist:

There should be more frequent communications and liaison between EDDC and SWW. In particular there needs to be a meeting between SWW and EDDC environmental health, and between SWW and representatives of both EDDC planning and strategic planning committees. (The mechanics of how to do this accountability, without involving an impracticable number of people, have yet to be agreed). As SWW is an outside body a Task and Finish Forum (TAFF) was thought to be inappropriate.

What was emphasised by councillors, was that SWW should be asked to bring to meetings technical staff who can answer questions. Councillors were clearly frustrated by frequent answers along the lines “We’ll get back to you on that”.

[For example Cllr. Kevin Blakey (at 20:21 on the second session), asked, given that the originally planned sewage treatment for Cranbrook had not been built and that SWW was claiming that the sewage system was not over capacity, how near was it to capacity, what were the figures? He got no answer to what seems a fundamental fact underpinning SWW’s claims.] 

Lastly, the Leader should be asked to write to central government on sewage issues affecting East Devon. 

Outspoken comments from councillors

During this session there were a number of outspoken comments made by councillors. Owl has chosen three to represent the flavour of the meeting, recorded over three You Tube videos.

From Cllr Maddy Chapman who said that she had never known Exmouth residents so angry.

From Cllr Todd Olive (assistant to Cllr Jung, Portfolio Holder Coast, Country and Environment} who summarised the detailed “no confidence” comments he made in session two.

(These are paraphrased by Owl, from 25:41 of session two recording)

Cllr Olive started by saying trust is earned not given .

At the SWW Beachwise forum meeting in November 2023. A number of actions were agreed including: to hold meetings with EDDC environmental health, with planning.

Once again the same issues are being talked about tonight. This November meeting was followed up by EDDC on a number of occasions including by email no confirmation of these follow ups was ever received. 

Cllr Olive has spoken to members of the public, officers and councillors who all report the same experience with SWW over and over and over again. This evening, he said,  we have heard once again of these actions being pushed into the future with no assurance that these future meetings will ever happen. 

Cllr Olive therefore expressed  that he had no confidence in any promises being kept. Through the chair he asked why anyone should trust anything SWW say. 

In reply, SWW just seem to reiterate their line that these topics should be taken outside the meeting in a “wider context”.

Finally, Cllr Paul Arnott, in answer to a suggestion from Cllr Ian Barlow that a line be drawn under the past and a new start made with SWW, said (paraphrased by Owl from  27:23 of session three recording) that the council has been aware and fighting this problem for a decade.

We have effluent streaming down our roads and coming up through manhole covers, we have lories barrowing raw sewage around the biggest town in East Devon. 

As Cranbrook’ struggles to become a new town its “Jewel in the Crown” country park now has sewage bubbling up through it. 

We have had no answers tonight so we cannot take a pollyanna technocratic approach alone. We have to express what we are hearing as a body politic, representing the people. We cannot just draw a line over what has happened in the past.

Conclusion

Owl’s conclusion is that SWW give the distinct impression they don’t feel they have to answer to elected councillors.

So who do they answer to?

They are clearly in denial that there is a problem, and that this problem is growing.

Owl’s opinion is that as currently constituted, SWW can never make the strategic decisions an ever growing community needs. For example, they decided it was not cost effective to build a new sewage treatment plant for Cranbrook, when we all know that it was set to expand, ultimately to 20,00. In other words they chose a “cheap”, temporising fix.

Not only that, but Topsham controlled by Exeter City is also expanding massively and this sits between Cranbrook and the nearest obvious discharge point, the Exe.

Looks as if they have been well and truly “snookered” by this short-termism!

[To be read in conjunction with Owl’s previous post here.]

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POPCORN FOR THE POP CONS

Extract from London Playbook, Politico

POP CON AT THE READY: The new right-wing Popular Conservatism movement is launched this morning — hoorah! Known as the “Pop Cons,” the group is inspired by lettuce racer Liz Truss and features such glittering adornments as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lee Anderson. Plus Nigel Farage is planning to rock up — in his capacity as a GB News “journalist,” of course, of course. The jamboree kicks off at 11 a.m. in a Westminster venue.

What it’s all about: A vehicle for the Trussite wing of the party, the Pops’ Twitter bio describes itself as a “new movement aiming to restore democratic accountability to Britain and deliver popular conservative policies.” It will lobby for more hardline measures including tough immigration rules, woke war stuff and delivering tax cuts to drive growth, with an eye on both the next manifesto and what happens to the Tory party after election day. 

What she’ll say: Who knows? Not even Liz Truss, it turns out. The former PM will be speaking “from the heart,” and has not prepared a speech in advance, one insider told Playbook. She’s mulling “a big riff on how unelected officials are increasingly preventing elected ministers from delivering what the public have voted for.” So you’ve been forewarned.

And from the times:

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week beginning 22 January

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Let’s cut the green crap – “Drill Baby, Drill”

Minister consulted BP over incentives to maximise oil production, FoI reveals

Thereby proving the Tories don’t give a fig for the environment or reducing poverty – Owl

The energy and climate minister Graham Stuart asked BP about the incentives required to “maximise” extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, documents released under freedom of information rules have revealed.

Damian Carrington www.theguardian.com 

Stuart’s meeting with the corporation’s UK boss, Louise Kingham, last year came days after BP had announced a record profit of $28bn (£23bn) for 2022, raised its dividend to shareholders, and rowed back on its aim to cut its carbon emissions by 2030. Households were also enduring very high energy bills. BP will report its profits for 2023 on Tuesday.

Stuart also asked for advice from Kingham about winning the argument that UK oil production was “good” and part of the net zero transition. Experts have repeatedly refuted arguments that new oil and gas production can increase UK energy security or lower prices.

The UK’s oil and gas body granted 24 new drilling licences to BP and other companies last Wednesday, following 27 licences in October and with more to follow in the coming months. The chair of the UK’s official climate advisers said in January that “further licensing [is] inconsistent with climate goals”. The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that any new fossil fuel developments were incompatible with reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

“Drilling for new North Sea oil will undermine the UK’s climate commitments and won’t ensure energy security, yet the minister cynically sought BP’s help to try and ‘win’ the opposite argument,” said Chris Garrard, of the campaigns and research organisation Culture Unstained, which made the FoI request.

“What’s more disturbing though, is that days after BP had announced record profits, he seems to assure BP that there are incentives and money to keep its polluting fossil fuels flowing, all while the public struggled to pay their energy bills,” he said.

The documents released include a heavily redacted readout of a meeting between Stuart and Kingham on 17 February 2023. Stuart asked: “Where do you think we are in terms of having the right incentives in place to maximise recovery from [the] North Sea and keep making the case to win the argument why producing it in the UK is good, and is part of the net zero transition, to make sure we minimise our imports?”

He said: “The money is there, making incentives and structures to allow it to flow.”

Stuart also asked Kingham for information to use in making the argument for new North Sea production: “We will be using oil and gas and, if we don’t do it ourselves, we will be spending that money elsewhere. Adding that up I would like a number saying do we really want to spend x billions relying on foreign imports.”

Large sections of Kingham’s responses are redacted, with government officials citing “commercially confidential information”. But she said: “Ideologically, you need to think where to do tax or incentives, because you won’t get the investment.” She also said BP was “proud of [its] work and the jobs it creates and ever cleaner barrels”, adding that the argument would be “amplified by some social media and ads”.

Tessa Khan, at the campaign group Uplift, said: “BP’s got a nerve telling our government that the industry needs more tax breaks and subsidies or they won’t invest, in the middle of a cost of living crisis driven by energy bills and when it’s just announced $28bn in profit.”

“What’s really egregious, though, is the minister responding that ‘the money is there’ for profiteering oil giants at the same time as it’s just cut off vital support to millions of households who literally can’t afford to heat their homes,” she said. “There’s no question at all about whose side this government is on.”

A government spokesperson said: “Minister Stuart is absolutely right to be backing domestic oil and gas, as the UK will still be using oil and gas even when we reach net zero in 2050. It is good for our energy security, supports up to 200,000 jobs and has brought in £400bn in tax revenue to date [over the past 50 years] which has been used to help families with the cost of living and fund public services. The £6bn raised by our energy profits levy on oil and gas producers alone helped us pay around half a typical household’s energy bill last winter.”

“Ministers will continue to meet with energy companies to encourage investment into the UK and end reliance on costly foreign imports of liquefied natural gas with higher emissions,” she said.

A spokesperson for BP said: “BP is a major UK-headquartered company with plans to invest significantly in the UK’s energy systems and transition. As such, we have regular meetings with government departments. This discussion focused on how the UK could continue to attract investment and maintain pace after the US Inflation Reduction Act in both today’s oil and gas system and in renewable and low carbon projects.” The act supports renewable energy.

Fossil fuel companies have received £80bn in UK government support since 2015. Most of the 24 new drilling licences were granted to foreign companies. On Friday it was revealed that an oil and gas company owned by a major Tory donor, which had previously been fined for illegal flaring, was awarded one of the drilling licences.

In January, the former Conservative energy minister Chris Skidmore resigned as an MP in protest at the party’s dash for oil and gas, calling the policy a “tragedy” that is “wrong and will cause future harm”.

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Rishi Sunak Admits He Has ‘Failed’ To Meet His NHS Waiting List Pledge

Rishi Sunak has admitted he has “failed” to meet his key pledge to cut NHS waiting lists.

Kevin Schofield www.huffingtonpost.co.uk 

The prime minister made bringing them down one of his five promises to voters at the start of 2023.

Instead, waiting lists have gone up by around half a million since then.

In an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV, Sunak admitted “we have not made enough progress”.

Morgan then asked him: “You failed on that pledge?”

The PM replied: “Yes, we have.”

Morgan said: “You said, NHS waiting lists will fall. In fact, they are slightly coming down now. But the waiting list is still nearly half a million more than it was at the start of last year. Do you accept that?”

The PM said: “Yes. And we all know the reasons for that and what I would say to people is look we’ve invested record amounts in the NHS, more doctors, more nurses, more scanners.

“All these things mean that the NHS is doing more today than it ever has been. But industrial action has had an impact.”

Junior doctors and consultants have been taking strike action for well over a year, although NHS nurses did agree a settlement with the government.

Sunak also promised to halve inflation, cut debt, grow the economy and stop the small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel.

Of the five pledges, only one – halving inflation – has definitely been achieved.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “Rishi Sunak has finally admitted what has been blatantly obvious to everyone else for years – the Conservatives have failed on the NHS.

“Where Sunak has failed, Labour will succeed in getting the NHS back on its feet. We did it before and we will do it again.”

Lib Dem health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: ”Finally Rishi Sunak has admitted he has failed to cut NHS waiting lists, leaving millions of people waiting for appointments they desperately need.

“For years this Conservative government has driven our NHS services into the ground, leaving local health services struggling to cope. Enough is enough, Sunak needs to reverse his planned real-terms cuts to NHS spending.”

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Sunak’s £1,000 Rwanda bet ‘totally out of touch with working people,’ says shadow minister

Rishi Sunak has been accused of taking a “depraved bet” with broadcaster Piers Morgan over whether deportation flights to Rwanda will take off.

Faye Brown news.sky.com 

The prime minister is facing a backlash after appearing to accept the £1,000 wager about the stalled asylum policy.

Talk TV presenter Mr Morgan said: “I’ll bet you £1,000 to a refugee charity you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election. Will you take that bet?”

Mr Sunak then shook hands with Mr Morgan and said “of course I want to get people on the planes”.

The prime minister was immediately criticised by opposition MPs, who accused him of “gambling with people’s lives” and reducing vulnerable people “to a crude bet”.

The SNP have even reported Mr Sunak to his own independent adviser on ministers’ interests over what the party said was a potential breach of the ministerial code.

In a letter to Sir Laurie Magnus, SNP Cabinet Office spokesperson Kirsty Blackman said Mr Sunak’s actions fall “below the high standards people should expect of those in public life” and may breach ministerial code rules on avoiding conflicts with private interests.

The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, in a post on X, said: “The lives of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet reduced to a crude bet. It’s just a game to these people. Depraved.”

Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth said: “Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping £1,000 bets.

“It just shows that Rishi Sunak is totally out of touch with working people.”

Green MP Caroline Lucas said: “Words fail me that PM & Piers Morgan can be so callous about awful Rwanda policy that they place a bet on it.

“These are people’s lives they’re gambling over. Yet Sunak thinks nothing of agreeing a £1k bet. He’s supposed to be the head of government, not a punter in a casino.”

The prime minister’s official spokesman said the exchange with Mr Morgan showed he is “confident that those flights are getting off the ground”.

Asked if Mr Sunak believes he has taken the bet, the spokesman added: “I think what the clip presents is his absolute conviction in this legislation.”

Mr Sunak has made the Rwanda plan central to his promise to “stop the boats” and curb migrant crossings in the Channel. The government has spent at least £290m on the policy but no flights have taken off yet.

Time is running out to get flights in the air ahead of the next election, expected in the second half of this year.

Mr Sunak was dealt a huge blow last year when the Supreme Court ruled that the policy was unlawful.

He has put forward legislation aimed at avoiding future legal challenges, but this is facing heavy opposition in the House of Lords, which could significantly stall the bill’s passage through parliament.

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East Devon second home owners face a council tax bill hike amid new ‘double charge’ powers

Thousands of second homeowners in East Devon face a hike in their council tax bills from 2025 after the district council backed charging double.

Almost 3,000 second home owners in East Devon could see their council tax double from next year, writes local democracy reporter Will Goddard.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 means that councils can now charge double council tax on properties that are “substantially furnished” but no-one’s sole or main residence.

They can also now define a property as empty after just one year of it being unoccupied and unfurnished, rather than two years previously, and can charge 100 per cent or more on top of the normal council tax bill based on how long it has been vacant.

It is hoped the changes will allow more properties to be brought back into use for the local community.

East Devon District Council (EDDC)’s cabinet backed the new powers this week. They will be put to the full council soon to be ratified.

Currently 2,760 properties In East Devon are second homes. Owners will have to start paying double council tax from April 2025 if the proposals are approved.

There are also 221 properties in the district have been empty for more than one year (but less than two). These owners will have to pay double council tax from April this year.

Funds raised would be set aside to tackle housing challenges only.

Cllr Paul Hayward (Independent, Axminster) warned of a potential loophole in the law.   He said: “There is a risk that some owners of a second property, I might say perhaps unscrupulous owners, may try to avoid their responsibilities for the additional premium by registering a person living in the property even though the residence remains elsewhere.

“That is unavoidable. If people wish to do that, and I suppose some people’s inclination will be to do so, then Libby and her team [of council officers] will be watching for it, and they do have a great many tools to deal with this sort of, essentially, fraud and abuse.”

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‘One of my political career highlights is Devon’s new devolution deal’ – John Hart

John Hart 

I’ve been extremely lucky to have had a long and satisfying career in local government. Some of my political opponents might say too long.

But one of the most satisfying moments is set to be the completion of our devolution deal with the Government to transfer powers and funding from Westminster and Whitehall to Devon.

We’ve worked closely with our colleagues in Devon’s eight district councils, our towns and parishes, the National Parks and Torbay on our proposals over a number of years.

And you may have seen that the Levelling Up Minister, Jacob Young, was here last month to sign the ground-breaking deal.

Last week both my Cabinet and Torbay’s Cabinet backed the proposals and we are now embarking on a public consultation to ask you what you think. We’ll also be consulting business leaders, local government colleagues and our universities and colleges and, all being well, we will be able to conclude the deal later this year.

I firmly believe this will be one of the most ground-breaking developments in decades for the one million people we represent in Devon and Torbay.

Under our proposals we will have stronger links with Homes England to develop more affordable housing – a vital necessity for thousands of local people who currently don’t have anywhere safe and warm to call home.

That will also feed in to an improving economy because many businesses are currently hamstrung by the lack of homes. Even if they can recruit a suitably qualified person, they often can’t find anywhere to live.

We will also work more closely with employers and our schools, colleges and universities to ensure we have the skilled workforce our economy needs and we will take direct control of adult education to enable us to create thousands of new training opportunities.

The initial agreement with the Government will also see us receiving £16 million to invest in new green jobs, homes, skills and business growth and accelerate our transition to a net-zero economy.

Devon and Torbay would work in a more integrated way to improve public transport and introduce a single ticketing system for travellers.

And there would be a significant boost to high-growth business sectors such as advanced marine engineering, defence and digital

None of this will require new layers of bureaucracy. We have resisted a directly elected Mayor. That can work well in urban areas but not somewhere like Devon with its spread out population and scores of communities with their own individual identities.

Instead councillors who you have already elected to represent you on our county, district and unitary councils would come together with leading figures from business and education to make decisions.

I have always said I believe we can do things more efficiently and more effectively here in Devon for the communities we know rather than decisions being made in London.  I believe this is a real opportunity for us to take the initiative and make a real difference to people’s lives in ways that matter to them the most, tackling the shortage of affordable housing and the need for more investment to support local businesses. It will bring new training and re-training opportunities and enable us to increase productivity and help people working here to boost their pay and have a better standard of living.

In means Devon and Torbay will have a new and very different relationship with the Government – one where we will have a stronger voice in Whitehall and an ability to influence policy for the benefit of our residents, communities and businesses.

It’s just the beginning of the new opportunities on which we can build.

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Lower Otter Valley to be declared a National Nature Reserve

The official declaration ceremony will take place on Friday, February 16, when a plaque will be unveiled at Lime Kiln car park at 11am.

[Owl hopes the unveiling and ensuing day-long celebratory event won’t be marred by the appearance of SWW contractor’s “Clear Flow” tankers. These were reported to have been there recently and have been spotted now working on the storm surge tank situated under the Marine Parade. See they’re pumping out the bilges in Budleigh]

Philippa Davies www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

The site of the completed Lower Otter Restoration Project is to be declared a National Nature Reserve.

The Otter Estuary Nature Reserve covers an area of almost 90 hectares (more than 222 acres) in the lower Otter Valley at Budleigh Salterton, including the iconic Otter Head at the mouth of the River Otter.

It will be an extension of the existing Pebblebed Heaths Nature Reserve and will give the area the highest level of conservation possible under UK legislation.

The official declaration ceremony will take place on Friday, February 16, when a plaque will be unveiled at Lime Kiln car park at 11am.

During the rest of the day there will be an event for the local community to celebrate the recognition of the area as a nature reserve.

The land is owned by Clinton Devon Estates and managed by the Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust. 

The Lower Otter Restoration Project, which was completed last year, was carried out by the Environment Agency in partnership with Clinton Devon Estates, who own the land. The project saw the River Otter reconnected with its historic floodplain, creating around 55 hectares (nearly 136 acres) of carbon capturing wetland, which is set to become internationally important as it attracts an increasing variety of wading birds. 

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The Tories starved councils, thinking no one cared. Now they’re bust – and we care very much 

Britain is discovering that the local is political, that civilisation begins with good access to social care and regular bin collections. Slash funding to local authorities over 14 years by at least 30% in real terms because Conservatives believe they are unloved, do nothing useful and, in any case, local politicians can be blamed for local cuts, and inevitably baleful consequences begin to emerge.

Will Hutton www.theguardian.com 

The first round of cuts in everything from youth services to the provision of public lavatories could go by largely unnoticed, but now we are at a tipping point. Thus, cumulatively, local authorities have closed 60% of public toilets since 2010: three in four people report shortages in their area. Core provision of support for helpless elderly people and disadvantaged young people is increasingly stretched, and on occasion almost abandoned. Local authorities as builders of social housing on any scale are a distant memory. Neglect and civic shabbiness have settled over every community in the country, with a refurbished library or civic centre a rarity. It turns out that a vibrant local public realm is as important to our wellbeing as the private.

The financial crisis in local government, as a cross-party committee of MPs reported last week, is now out of control. Denied the financial wherewithal to fulfil their basic statutory duties, nine councils have effectively gone bust since 2018 – five, the latest Nottingham, in the last 12 months – with the Local Government Association predicting that one in five risk that fate over the next two years. The financial vice in which councils are locked – eviscerated resources alongside ever-rising demand – is airily dismissed by ministers as the consequence of mismanagement, profligacy and the pursuit of absurdly grandiose schemes, confident that councils are not a popular cause. Local government can be hung out to dry.

Yet just as the condition of our prisons is a yardstick of our civilisation, so is the vigour of local government and the esteem in which it is held. As privation piles on privation – the closure of a much-loved library or gallery, roads whose resurfacing is long overdue, care homes that are disgracefully overcrowded and understaffed, even the inability to contain growing populations of vermin – the cumulative impact is forcing recognition that there must be change. We are all being diminished.

It was Margaret Thatcher who began this assault. If local democracy threw up local politicians with different political agendas to hers she would rein them in under the guise that there should be no challenge to a sovereign parliament. Thus the 1986 Local Government Act, which simply abolished the metropolitan councils governing most of Britain’s urban population – notably Ken Livingstone’s Greater London Council – and the outlawing of “propaganda on the rates”. Her next step was to try to eliminate those hated rates and substitute them with a flat rate poll tax: councils should live on short rations and only get central funding if they toed the government line. The ensuing revolt helped trigger the end of her prime ministership.

Britain’s politicians of all parties read the runes. She had succeeded in degrading local government, but in the process made constructive reform toxic. For over 30 years, nobody has dared revalue the residential property values on which the revised council tax was based in 1991, creating a revenue shortfall of up to £20bn a year, as Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies roughly estimates. So regressive is this tax that the Economist reported last week that Buckingham Palace is charged less than a three-bedroom semi in Blackpool. Local government’s role in our national life has decayed and shrivelled.

Councils try everything to escape the vice. One London council, Barnet, took the Thatcherite mantra to heart, and contracted out virtually all its local services in 2012. It has been an expensive fiasco – and a newly elected Labour authority is bringing services back in house to stop budget overruns and regain lost efficiencies. The more general trend, as Professor Andy Pike writes in Financialization and Local Statecraft, has been to try to turn easy credit and rising property values to civic rather than private advantage – a strategy adopted by local politicians of every political hue as central government starves them of resources. But lockdown, rising interest rates and a property market recession has turned that into no less of a fiasco.The system is bust. The secretary of state for local government, Michael Gove, has offered a £600m sticking plaster to stave off a debacle during an election year, but the quid pro quo is capped council tax increases and unspecified productivity improvements. In fact, as the MPs’ committee recommends, local government needs an immediate unconditional £4bn. Fat chance. “Localism” – declaring that control must be given back to localities – may be the new rage, but there is no parallel desire to give local government the financial capacity to be a creative local actor, let alone fulfil its statutory duties. What is required is a commitment to the value of local community, and reforms to support it.

A minimal starting point, as academics Kevin Muldoon-Smith and Mark Sandford argue, is the re-establishment of an annual needs assessment local area by local area – just as other G7 countries such as Italy, Germany and Japan do – suspended in the cause of austerity in 2013. Then, like nearly every other advanced economy, there must be a system of equalising every local authority’s financial capacity to meet those identified needs, and the creation of a statutory body independently to negotiate the rolling financial settlements that result. Beyond that, it is obvious that the system of property taxation needs an overhaul: it can’t be right that the rich property owners pay proportionately vastly less than their poorer peers. On top, enlarge what local government can do – it can help in everything from decarbonising the economy, building social housing and addressing knife crime.

Labour electoral “ strategists” will cavil at such commitments for fear they will be attacked by the Tory party. But even pensioners, the bedrock of the Tory vote, can be persuaded that civic pride and public amenity, whether a public library or a public toilet, are invaluable. Labour should have more confidence. We can’t go on like this.

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New borrowing could push Devon’s debt beyond £500m

Extra borrowing that Devon could need if it fails to secure emergency funding for education would push its debt beyond half-a-billion pounds.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

The county council may need to secure an extra £50 million in loans for its spending plans in 2024/25 if it doesn’t receive cash from a scheme called the Safety Valve, which provides grants for local authorities with large education funding blackholes.

Devon’s special education needs and disabilities (SEND) cumulative deficit is expected to hit around £165 million by the end of March.

Although the council has submitted its application to Safety Valve, it hasn’t had confirmation about the funding it might receive.

Recently council officials have expressed hope it could be in the region of £70 million to £100 million.

Members of the council’s corporate infrastructure and regulatory services scrutiny committee heard that financial forecasts suggested £50 million in borrowing would be needed for the financial year starting in April if the council was unsuccessful in its Safety Valve bid.

“While we are hopeful of an agreement with the Department for Education to help resolve the SEND deficit, it would be presumptuous to take the funding into account before a decision has been made,” Mark Gayler, from Devon’s finance team, told the committee.

“So we think we will need £50 million of new external debt.”

He added that due to the recent repayment of £47 million of external debt and the SEND deficit, that the council’s cash balances could drop to around £60 million by the end of March.

That would make it inadvisable to fund new borrowing from reserves, Mr Gayler added, although any it could get is likely to be at a lower interest rate than loans it had just repaid.

If the council did borrow the extra £50 million, it would push its external debt levels to £511 million.
 

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More parking spaces for Exmouth

Part of Exmouth’s estuary coach and lorry park near the railway station is to be converted into new car parking spaces. 

Will Goddard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

The adjacent estuary long-stay car park will get 86 new spaces, reducing places for lorries, buses and coaches from 16 to 12. 

It comes as many people report difficulties finding anywhere to leave their vehicles in the town because of the clashing parking schemes of two different councils. 

They are Devon County Council’s new residents’ parking zones in parts of Exmouth, including the nearby Colonies area, and East Devon District Council (EDDC)’s all-day £2 winter car park offer, which runs until the end of March. 

On average fewer than two people paid for parking each day at the estuary coach and lorry park between April and December last year.

Cllr Olly Davey (Green, Exmouth Town) told a meeting he thought 12 spaces for coaches and lorries would be “sufficient” and 86 new car parking spaces “would make a difference”.

He said: “I walk past [the coach and lorry park] on a regular basis. I’ve never seen more than six or seven vehicles in there, and that’s a busy day. 

“I did take a photograph recently, there wasn’t a single vehicle in that lorry car park.” 

But Cllr Brian Bailey (Conservative, Exmouth Littleham) disagreed, saying there would not be enough spaces for coaches. 

He said: “In the summer, there are as many as 14, 16 coaches a night, and they stay for a period of usually two weeks with foreign students.  

“This is a good income for Exmouth, and it’s been established with the English language school for many, many years, and these proposals would disrupt that entirely as far as I can see.” 

Cllr Geoff Jung (Lib Dem, Woodbury and Lympstone) thought the council should be “working really quickly” to provide more car parking spaces in the centre of Exmouth. 

He said: “There is a big issue with car parking spaces at Exmouth now and there are people saying that something needs to be sorted out immediately. 

“People were moaning on Facebook today that they can’t get into Exmouth to do their shopping. 

“We’ve got a coach park that is hardly used, a lorry park that is hardly used, and we’ve got people very concerned that they can’t find a parking space in Exmouth.  

“And I would have thought that we need to get something sorted very quickly for the residents and the traders of Exmouth before it’s too late.” 

The new spaces in the estuary long-stay car park are expected to cost EDDC around £55,000 to £65,000 to create. but are expected to bring in additional income. 

Devon County Council said last month that it introduced its Exmouth residents’ parking scheme “following a consultation and concerns raised by local residents” and that it “aims to remove all-day commuter parking in residential areas and ensures that residents have priority to park within their own area”.

Map of new spaces at estuary long-stay car park, Exmouth (Image courtesy: EDDC)

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Suspected sewage leak closes Sidmouth rugby pitches

While Simon Jupp concentrates on opening toilets in the Sidmouth Arms in Upottery, Richard Foord’s constituency. 

(And now boozing in Sidbury).

Sidmouth is “Up in Arms” about sewage leaks affecting their rugby pitches.

Cheers!

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Police tax rise seen as “necessary” for “poor value for money” rated force.

“You may have to forgo a Pot Noodle a month to pay it.”

Setting aside this lighthearted trivialisation of Hernandez’s latest tax hike, consider her record since being elected in 2016.

In December Owl reported that an in-depth inspection of all 43 police forces in England and Wales across eight criteria  in 2021/22 shows Devon and Cornwall the tenth worst force.

They scored particularly badly in responding to the public, and managing offenders and suspects, with a score of 1. It only got a 2 for investigating crime, and strategic planning and value for money. 

A year ago Owl reported that about a third of the new “Bozzer” recruits (Boris Johnson’s promise to add 20,000 to the force) she boasted about getting in 2019 (and we are paying for) are voting with their feet and leaving.

Last July her, newly recruited Chief Constable was suspended whilst under criminal investigation over serious allegations of sexual offences,

Finally, remember Hernandez spends 70% more of your Council Tax as EDDC does. (Council Tax is split: 73% DCC; 12% Police; 7% EDDC; 4% Fire; 4% Towns & Parishes)

Police tax rise seen as “necessary”

Alison Stephenson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

A 4.95 per cent increase in the police element of council tax which equates to around the cost of a Pot Noodle a month for an average household has been unanimously supported.

The dehydrated fast food beloved by students current costs about a pound.

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel agreed the rise of £12.96 a year which will mean an annual cost to a Band property of £274.50 for police services.

Police and crime commissioner Alison Hernandez, who has raised tax by just over £100 a year since she came to office in 2016, said this income from taxpayers combined with an increase in the central government grant and savings of £5.4 million, would allow officer numbers to be maintained at 3,610, the highest ever in the force, and improve public contact.

The commissioner said she had focused on the things the public told her mattered, like high numbers of visible police and investment in communities by reopening more front enquiry desks at police stations which were closed in the austerity years after 2010.

Desks will open at Exeter, Tavistock, Honiton and Liskeard, bringing the total of additional police stations open to the public to 18.

Ms Hernandez said public confidence in policing nationally was at an “all time low” because of police abusing power in “unimaginable ways”, the judicial system being riddled with delays, and officers distracted from things that really mattered. On top of this there is political uncertainty. It promises to be “a turbulent year” for policing.

But she added that on a local level there had been some great examples of robust policing, staff retention is good and performance is improving, with calls to the highly criticised 101 phone service now being dealt with within 11 minutes on average and a call back facility being well-used.

Presenting a balanced budget to the police and crime panel for 2024/25 she laid out her intentions to spend £9.6 million to help victims and maintain Devon and Cornwall as one of the safest police force areas in the country. This includes funding ‘Safer Streets’ projects and victim services, and improving road safety.

The panel was told that during 2022/23 nearly 30,000 victims of crime were referred to support services commissioned by Ms Hernandez.

Violent crime, which has increased by 12 per cent since 2019, will be a focus for the force, and in particular violence against women and girls. The commissioner said people had requested money be spent on this for the first time.

Police officers and support staff will get a three per cent pay rise next year and employee pension contributions will increase by just over four per cent to 35 per cent of pay, an increase in cost to Devon and Cornwall of around £7 million. Additional funding for this has been included in the police settlement from the government. Staff costs make up 85 per cent of the police budget.

Councillor Laura Wright (Lab, St Thomas, Exeter) said pay increases should be expected, claiming they had been frozen for many years.

She said students were exempt from paying council tax but there is a ot of student accommodation in Exeter and Plymouth and she questioned whether landlords could pay it as “they all benefit from police services.”

Members said the doubling of council tax on second homes, which many district councils in the county have agreed to come into force in 2025/26, would help the police budget in future.

Cllr Philip Hackett (Ind, Broadheath) said he agreed with the rise, but the public wanted to see more improvements and he wasn’t convinced the 101 services is working yet.

Cllr Sally Hayden (Lab, St Budeaux, Plymouth) said she supported the rise which was necessary to  ”keep the streets safe”.

“It is the cost of a Pot Noodle a week if you pay council tax over 10 months. It doesn’t sound a lot, but there are many people who are on the threshold of poverty and it’s a struggle so this could be a meal for them once a week.”

Acting chief constable Jim Colwell said this year would be more about “compassion, common sense and quality” and less about figures, widgets and managing demand.

“We took our eye off quality in my opinion so it became a game of numbers instead of focusing on outcomes for our victims of crime and communities.”

He said 24 new neighbourhood officers would be joining the force this year and that Devon and Cornwall had been the most successful of all forces in increasing their officer numbers during the government’s “uplift” programme with £3.4 million of funding.
 

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When a Citizens Advice has to close despite demand being ‘off the scale’

In the end it was just £27,000. That was as much as the local district council said it could scrape together, but it was still a 50% cut in core grant funding and ultimately not enough to prevent Mansfield Citizens Advice service from becoming a casualty of the financial crisis raging through England’s local authorities.

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com

Just over a week ago, when it became clear there was no more room for manoeuvre, the charity’s board of trustees took the decision to close for good, after 41 years serving the Nottinghamshire ex-mining town, one of the UK’s most deprived areas. “It’s devastating,” said its chair, Carmel Reilly. “There’s no other place for clients to go.”

Mansfield Citizens Advice’s prime task has been fighting poverty, its staff and volunteers providing practical help to a local community struggling with soaring debt, eviction and poverty. It was clear about its social justice mission: “People need someone on their side, who will do battle for them,” said Reilly.

Last year it provided expert financial advice to nearly 2,500 local people, helping them manage debts, apply for social security benefits, and resolve rent arrears. Times have been hard in recent years – industrial decline followed by austerity, pandemic and a cost of living crisis – and demand for its services have been off the scale.

Despite just a handful of staff and a budget of just £300,000, its return on investment was impressive last year: advisers got £800,000 of clients’ personal debts – on average £7,700 per person – written off. More than £1.1m in benefit entitlements was secured. By stopping tenants being evicted, it estimates it saved local landlords £268,000.

Its work had the additional benefit of shoring up people’s wellbeing, as well as their bank accounts, and preventing costly state interventions later on, said Reilly. The loss of the service, she reckons, will result in higher rates of stress and mental illness, and greater need at the GP surgery and the council’s homelessness department.

Mansfield district council’s grant to Citizens Advice was £55,000 – a so-called core costs payment that enabled the charity to pay staff and overheads. That base funding in turn allowed it to pull in project grants of about £250,000, a fragile economy of social investment that now looks about to collapse.

The council is struggling with a £5.4m deficit over the next three years. The local councillor Craig Whitby said the decision to cut funding was difficult, but made with the “utmost care and consideration”. An unsuccessful 11th hour attempt was made to scramble together a solution using cash earmarked for councillors’ allowances. Ultimately, he added, it was “essential for the financial health and stability of our council”.

Citizens Advice nationally estimates that local authorities collectively provide a third of its local branches’ funding. The risk is that these grants will be viewed as “discretionary” – and therefore expendable – by stricken councils seeking options to cut back to “basic minimum” levels of service. The current funding crisis was “deeply troubling”, said Citizens Advice’s chief executive, Dame Clare Moriarty.

In the leafy Surrey commuter town of Woking, the socio-demographic profile is very different to Mansfield, but its local Citizens Advice service too faces the prospect of closure from April after Woking borough council embarked on a drastic cuts programme, announced that it was scrapping its £180,000-a-year core costs grant.

Its chair, Laurence Oates, told the Guardian it helped 6,725 clients last year, providing help with universal credit and disability benefits, housing, family advice, and referrals to other local charities such as food banks. It estimates that every £1 invested in Woking Citizens Advice in 2022-23 saved the NHS and other public services £6, amounting to over £2m.

Woking council’s well-publicised bankruptcy last year, with debts of over £1bn, means it can no longer afford to invest in services it has no legal obligation to provide – even a vital community charity like Citizens Advice that saves it money in the long run and is at core of the local voluntary ecosystem.

“Our role is to protect vulnerable citizens in Woking – we are a lifeline,” said Oates. “For the people we serve, there will be a lot of unmet need, and we can’t see how that gap will be filled.”

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South West Water faced EDDC Scrutiny Comittee on Wednesday 1 February

Ahead of the meeting EDDC posed 12 searching questions, see below.

The key strategic questions concern: whether or not sewage handling capacity (divided by SWW into “Hydraulic” and “Treatment”) is at, or near, capacity; and why SWW, a statutory consultee, never appears to object or raise concerns to planning applications that will clearly add to waste water flows within the network.

Cllr Geoff Jung revealed the existence of a report commissioned in 2010 jointly by Exeter, Teignbridge and East Devon councils providing an independent assessment of future strategic sewage needs. Remember that EDDC’s last strategic plan dates from 2013, after that report was published. 

Owl understands that this report indicated widespread capacity problems to the east of the Exe. This is something obviously crucial to development within the whole EDDC area.

This report is still a “live” planning document in Exeter, but not, it seems in EDDC.

[This raises the question: was someone asleep on their watch during the Tory “jobs led, policy on” build, build development strategy, the consequences of which, in terms of housing targets, we are still living with?]

This is something EDDC leader Cllr Paul Arnott said he wanted answers to.

It was a long meeting, recorded on the EDDC Youtube channel in three sections. Recordings of the question and answer sections of the meeting can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2. A third part records the subsequent discussion by councillors.

Owl’s instant takeaway is that SWW appeared evasive and seemed to think that their “Water Fit” reporting system (that excludes discharges into rivers) was the answer to many of the issues.

Councillors generally appeared dissatisfied with many of SWW responses.

Owl will report at greater length in due course.

Questions for South West Water (SWW)for East Devon DC Scrutiny Committee 1/2/24 

1) In 2023 there were ten non-permitted spills from SWW assets that affected East Devon Bathing Waters. Communication from SWW is highly inconsistent, with an apparent reliance on the Environment Agency (EA) to notify Environmental Health Colleagues due to shellfish beds. The notifications to the EA are often hours after the original incident and do not take into account the Council’s beach management function. Why is communication from SWW so inconsistent and how can you ensure you alert our beach safety officer immediately when there is a non-permitted spill affecting one of our bathing waters, rivers, or beaches? 

2) It was particularly disappointing to read in the media in reference to the spill on the 5th and 6th of January 2024 at Exmouth, that SWW were saying that advising the public of spills was the responsibility of beach managers. SWW had not notified EDDC that a second pipe burst had taken place or to work together to manage this issue. Why were we not informed of this occurrence? 

3) When there was a manhole ‘blow off’ and discharge at the Hamm, Sidmouth on 4/12/23, it was reported to the EA as being ‘minor with no significant release of effluent’. However the entire river walk some 100m long was full to knee deep with discharge? Please can you clarify SWW definitions of the levels of discharge. 

4) Have the uprated pumps installed in Exmouth resulted in more breaches/bursts (due to increased flow rates)? Is this an issue you recognise and is it related to aging infrastructure? If so what specifically are you doing about it? 

5) Is the combined system at its capacity? If not, why are we seeing more s pills (consented and unconsented) and what are you doing about this specifically?

 6) In the Water fit document you say that you are working towards no more than 20 permitted discharges per bathing water per year. In 2022 you claimed that good progress had been made in this regard. Why in 2023 was this progress lost? For example, Exmouth had 40 discharges in 2023 vs 19 in 2022. Was this related to 2023 being a ‘wetter’ year and if so are you reviewing your conclusion that progress is ‘being made’ as it seems reliant on the weather? 

7) Why have all EDDC bathing waters exceeded the ‘no more than 20 permitted discharges’target in 2023 (Sandy Bay 21, Exmouth 40, Budleigh 44, Sidmouth 28, Beer 32, Seaton 31). What specifically are you doing to reduce discharges at our beaches going forward? Will SWW be subject to any punitive measures for breaching this target?

 8) In regard of the updates issued by Beach Live/Water Fit what does it actually mean when an Event Duration Monitoring sensor is put in maintenance status? Given that many of these occur during the hours of darkness and high tide making it clear no actual maintenance is occurring?

9) SWW state that the discharges from combined sewer outfalls are not sewage but ‘stormwater’. Given that the any discharge from a sewer is by definition ‘sewage’ how do you justify this? Whilst the overflow may be due to storm water, it is mixed with sewage and will pick up contaminants from this. 

10) Can you explain why there have been spikes in E. Coli and Enterococci bacterial load at Exmouth following these ‘discharges of storm water’ ? data here Open WIMS data

11) We are concerned that SWW do not raise concerns with planning applications which will clearly add to wastewater flows within a network which clearly cannot cope. In relation to this: 

a. From previous Scrutiny meetings we understand that there are 12 SWW officers commenting on planning applications that affect SWW assets. What is the process for deciding which applications to comment on? 

b. How does SWW consider the cumulative effect of separate applications on the sewerage system? 

c. How does SWW take this information and plan for infra structure improvements and capacity building? 

d. What are your plans to stop spills and ensure there is capacity in the network for future property growth? Please note: Our Planning Committee have previously asked for information from SWW on connections capacity and network upgrades with no response. 

12) There were over 4000 tanker movements in Exmouth in 2023. Why are you tankering Sludge from Kilmington STW to Maer Lane STW Exmouth, rather than to the STW at Countess Weir which has significantly better road access?

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‘I plan fewer outings’: Britons on the scarcity of public toilets

Urinating in public made the headlines this week with the news that at least two men have recently been fined for doing so in the Hertfordshire countryside. Dacorum council and many others class the act as a littering offence.

Clea Skopeliti www.theguardian.com 

A Royal Society for Public Health survey in 2019 found that three in four people in the UK reported a shortage of toilets in their area. A decline in the maintenance of public facilities over the years has left many, including older and disabled people and those with young children, having to plan carefully or being forced to rely on private businesses. It has also significantly affected gig economy workers and people sleeping rough.

Four people explain the impact the reduction in public toilets has had on their wellbeing.

‘Another thing that makes life with chronic illness harder’

Annie, 72, who has multiple sclerosis (MS) and related bladder problems, said the availability of accessible public facilities had worsened over the years in her area. “I used to know the location of pretty much every public toilet in Bolton town centre, but these are now fewer and not always easy to access,” she said, explaining she has mobility problems.

Annie has an MS card, which gives her access to hospitality venues’ facilities, and a Radar key to open locked public loos. “The M&S in the town centre, which was so handy, shut last year. It’s been an issue since well before the pandemic,” she said. Things may be changing, however, after Bolton council last year announced a £225,000 scheme to create more disabled toilets.

Progressive MS and concerns about accessing facilities mean Annie has moved much of her social life online to Zoom. “I plan fewer outings than I might otherwise do, and it limits where I can go. If I’m not going to have access to a toilet, I try to be home within an hour. Sometimes this proves too long, leading to ‘accidents’ which can be embarrassing and uncomfortable.”

She said she limits fluid intake if she has to go out for longer than an hour. “The lack of public toilets is just one more thing that makes life with a chronic illness harder than it needs to be.”

‘Children need the toilet very frequently’

For those with young children, a lack of public toilets can make planning a day out unnecessarily complicated. John Zhang, 40, said his visits into the central London with his partner and five-year-old daughter had become less frequent due to this. “It’s hard to find toilets, unless we pay £3.95 each for coffees or go to museums. I have to plan ahead where to take my child – children need to go to the toilet very frequently, they can’t hold it. And sometimes in small cafes, there’s not always a toilet [for customers]. It takes away the enjoyment of visiting.”

Zhang, a tour operator, has noticed this decline over the past decade, and believes it negatively affects tourism. “You see more people just peeing in the streets now – it’s not good for the city’s economy and small businesses. Tourists complain that they can’t find toilets. Sometimes, when there are public toilets, you have to use coins to pay – [but] not so many people carry cash and they often don’t give change. It’s not nice to see people peeing in the street, and if you gave them a choice they wouldn’t.”

‘It is a source of anxiety going anywhere new’

A shortage of facilities means Bob, 70, can struggle with going to unfamiliar places. “Like many men of my age, I have an enlarged prostate, meaning I need to urinate frequently and often at short notice. You need to have a constantly updated mental map of public toilets, which is possible for my local area but it is a source of anxiety going anywhere new.”

Bob, who is retired in East Sussex, said it had been a problem for years, including in Norwich and London, where he previously lived. “There aren’t enough public toilets where I live – many have been closed in recent years and not replaced.”

He sees the issue as part of a wider trend towards privatisation of public spaces and facilities. “I am concerned that the trend to close public toilets and rely on access to commercial facilities will continue until the very idea of ‘free’ public services disappears.”

‘There is evidence of soiling in public areas’

Others pointed to the degradation of the environment and their local area. Elspeth, a retired teacher in mid Wales, said she worried that local councils could close some toilets in the national parks where she enjoys spending time, with public health implications.

“There are still some public toilets in Pembrokeshire and the Brecon Beacons. [In places] where there are no toilets there is evidence of soiling within car parks and nearby hedgerows, which is revolting and unsafe,” Elspeth said. In Wales, the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 requires each local authority to produce a local toilet strategy.

Elspeth drew a comparison with New Zealand, following a visit there. “I have been astounded by [their] quality and quantity of public toilets, even in the most remote locations. This investment in a public need has meant their countryside has remained pristine. Their toilets put us to shame.”

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Water bills to rise above inflation in April

Water companies are forecasting an above-inflation rise in average household bills in April, drawing criticism from campaigners.

Kevin Peachey – Cost of living correspondent BBC

The average annual water and sewerage bill is expected to rise by 6% in England and Wales, up £27 to £473, says suppliers’ trade body Water UK.

In Scotland, water and waste charges will go up by 8.8%, a rise of £36.

Water firms have been facing intense scrutiny after the dumping of sewage into rivers.

“Next year will see record levels of investment from water companies to secure the security of our water supply in the future and significantly reduce the amount of sewage in rivers and seas,” said David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK.

He said companies in England and Wales would invest more than £14.4bn in the next financial year, the highest annual investment on record.

Bills can vary

The average expected bill is calculated by companies, and will be above the latest inflation rate of 4%, which charts general price rises. Actual individual bills can differ significantly owing to regional variations and usage levels for those on a meter.

In England and Wales, Wessex Water and Anglian Water are at the top end of the scale, with average bills set to increase to £548 and £529 respectively, while Northumbrian customers will see the lowest average bills of £422.

A host of companies were told by regulator Ofwat last year that they would have to limit rises owing to missing key targets on leakages, supply and reducing pollution.

The watchdog has also told suppliers that they must offer help to those who were struggling with bills.

“We are very aware, for those who are already struggling, this will be a real worry. As such, water companies must do all they can to protect those who are most in need of a helping hand,” said chief executive David Black.

More than a million households in England and Wales get cheaper bills through companies’ social tariff schemes, saving them an average of £151 last year. Around half of households in Scotland receive financial support with water charges.

Five water companies use some of their own profits to help fund social tariffs, with consumer groups are calling for others to join them.

Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said: “Almost a fifth of households say they struggle to pay their water bill and these rises will heap even greater pressure on low-income customers.

“If water companies are serious about rebuilding trust in the sector they should use some of their profits to help people who cannot afford another bill rise.”

Separately, Ofwat is considering proposals by water companies in England and Wales to increase bills by £156 a year by 2030 to pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges.

The increase would allow infrastructure spending to almost double to £96bn, Water UK said.

However, there has been public anger at the amount of sewage being discharged into rivers and seas and continued cost of living pressures.

There is also an ongoing consultation into water charges in Northern Ireland.

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Revealed: watchdogs and water bosses had dinner at private London club to discuss future

“While they schmooze over how to spin bad news as good, we the public are wading through the poisonous effluent of their combined malpractice and ineptitude.”  – James Wallace, the CEO of River Action UK

Water company bosses and the chairs of the regulator Ofwat and the Environment Agency went for dinner at an exclusive private members’ club to discuss how to quell public anger over bill rises and sewage spills, the Guardian can reveal.

Helena Horton www.theguardian.com

Campaigners have said the private meeting is an outrageous example of “regulatory capture” as Ofwat and the Environment Agency are supposed to hold water companies to account, rather than help with their public relations.

Iain Coucher, the chair of Ofwat, and Alan Lovell, who chairs the Environment Agency, met for dinner with Gill Rider, the chair of South West Water, Christine Hodgson, who runs Severn Trent, and Keith Lough, the chair of Southern Water. Heidi Mottram, the CEO of Northumbrian Water, was also invited but did not, it is understood, attend.

Emails between those who attended, revealed to the Guardian under freedom of information laws, indicate that the dinner was the third held in 2023 as part of continuing discussions about how to handle communications around sewage spills and bill rises. These issues have attracted huge public outcry because of the environmental destruction caused by the dumping of human waste in English waterways.

On this particular occasion, referred to as the “chair’s dinner” in the emails, the water bosses and government representatives met on the 25 September to eat in the opulent Segrave room, a private dining room in the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), Pall Mall. The menus for the restaurants at the RAC offer venison and wild mushroom pie for £26.75, a tasting menu at £90 a head, or a fish pie for £19.

The exclusive club is called “the palace in Pall Mall” and says on its website that it “boasts a dining experience for every occasion”, as well as 108 bedrooms, a business centre, a marble swimming pool and Turkish baths, four squash courts, a gym and treatment rooms. Annual membership of the club costs £2,230. It’s a favourite club of the royals, and is currently chaired by Prince Michael of Kent. The RAC is a haunt of businessmen, counting many millionaires among its members.

In the gilded dining room, the group were greeted with drinks at 6.30pm, and were served dinner at 7pm. The FoI emails reveal that the Ofwat and Environment Agency chiefs discussed topics including “navigating the coming months, particularly to manage perceptions”.

They discussed how to shape the conversation around bill rises when these are announced to the public, with emails revealing they asked: “Given the debate on bills/affordability how do we carefully message the increases?” and “How do we describe the ambition of the plans (national infrastructure improvements, storm overflow management etc), balancing between addressing heightened scrutiny and affordable and deliverable outcomes?”

The water quality campaigner and former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey said the private dinner was outrageous and an example of “regulatory capture”. He said: “In my view here we have a clear case of regulatory capture – industry and regulators, both of which are currently under enormous amounts of public scrutiny and criticism, acting in tandem trying to avoid anything remotely looking like transparency and/or accountability. This is pretty damned outrageous.” He also called for the chairs to resign.

James Wallace, the CEO of River Action UK, added: “It is outrageous that the government is holding private meetings – using taxpayers’ money – with water industry bosses on how to greenwash their dreadful performance on river and coastal pollution. One minute they threaten prosecution, the next they guzzle Château Margaux.

“While they schmooze over how to spin bad news as good, we the public are wading through the poisonous effluent of their combined malpractice and ineptitude.”

The 11 water suppliers in England and Wales will in the coming days publish their new household charges, which will take effect from April. In early February, the industry body Water UK will then announce how much bills have increased on average. Last year they went up by £31 to £448. The likely announcement of a price hike will anger the public after years of sewage dumping, high executive pay, debt levels and big dividends.

It is possible that this was discussed further at another recent dinner: an email from Lovell to the attenders confirms another meal to be held in January 2024, weeks before the bill hikes were to be announced.

He said the September 2023 dinner was a “productive discussion between attendees”, adding that he looked forward to the next. He also asked the water companies to release storm overflow – sewage pollution – data early, on 1 January 2024. They did not do this.

Another hot topic on the agenda at the dinner were the “events at Thames Water”. The beleaguered company has faced financial woes and auditors have warned that without a cash injection it could go under by April. Last year, it emerged that contingency plans for its collapse were being drawn up by the UK government, amid fears that Britain’s biggest water company would not survive because of its huge debt pile. Other water companies are thought to be facing similar, though less severe, financial pressures.

Severn Trent, Northumbrian Water, Southern Water and South West Water declined to comment on the record.

An Ofwat spokesperson said: “Ofwat remains focused on holding water companies to account on behalf of customers and has imposed fines and performance penalties worth £250m in the past few years. At this meeting we made clear to the chairs of water companies our dissatisfaction on progress in reducing pollution, the use of storm overflows, and concerns about the impact of proposed bill rises on customers, especially the most vulnerable.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “It is not unusual for the Environment Agency chair to meet his counterparts at water companies. These are working meetings used to challenge companies on their performance and drive forward improvements that we, as a regulator, expect to see. To suggest otherwise would be highly inaccurate.

“At the September 2023 meeting, the EA chair made clear his disappointment with water company performance; reiterated the need for rapid investment and the sharing of good practice, and outlined actions he would be taking forward at the Environment Agency, including continued rigorous enforcement.

“We are continuing to robustly hold water companies to account, with strengthened regulation and £150m in fines secured through prosecutions since 2015.”