What kind of impact does it have on local democracy? “We don’t know what we don’t know,” says Rasmus Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. “We can’t say for sure it is having a corrosive effect, but there is every reason to be deeply concerned.”

Alexandra Topping www.theguardian.com

This week a damning review found that one of the highest-profile government-backed regeneration schemes in Britain, Teesworks in the north-east, had “a culture of excessive confidentiality” that meant it was hard to tell if it was providing value for money.

That anyone has heard about it at all is in large part down to the dogged reporting of Private Eye’s Richard Brooks, who published his first story about it in March 2022. But it should have been looked at – by a local newspaper – earlier than that, he reckons. “Local journalists should have been scrutinising the mayoral authority and development corporation years before,” he says. “But they don’t have the resources, and that turns into a lack of ability – and will – to scrutinise.”

As the Guardian Councils in Crisis project shows, there is no shortage of stories to be rooted out in the workings of local authorities – but there is a dearth of people to write them. According to the Charitable Journalism Project, there are probably fewer local newspapers in Britain now than at any time since the 18th century, and the number continues to decline: more than 320 local titles closed between 2009 and 2019 as advertising revenues fell by about 70%.

In the last 12 months alone, Reach, publisher of the Liverpool Echo and the Manchester Evening News as well as the Mirror and Express titles, has slashed 800 roles in several bruising rounds of cuts. Local newspaper barons are largely extinct, with much local news local in name only – an amalgamation of copy from news agencies, repurposed content from sister titles, press releases and letters.

What kind of impact does it have on local democracy? “We don’t know what we don’t know,” says Rasmus Nielsen, director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. “We can’t say for sure it is having a corrosive effect, but there is every reason to be deeply concerned.”

Bob Neill MP, chair of the justice select committee, says he worries about the decline in local court reports too. “It’s all part of the same story,” he says. “Fixing it will be very difficult, but at least we have to start having a discussion.”

It’s not just the number of local journalists that has fallen off a cliff: the number of people actually caring about local news, at least as printed by traditional publications, has dropped too. In 2015, 22% of UK adults said they had got news from a local or regional newspaper in the past week; by 2023, the figure had dropped to 12%, according to the Reuters Institute’s annual digital news report survey. In 2020 it also asked those that do read local news if they’d miss it if it went out of business: only a quarter said they would “miss it a lot”.

But people who do follow local news are more likely to participate in political processes and engage in their local community, says Nielsen. It also helps keep local officials honest. “It reduces the risk of mismanagement and increases the chance that local officials vote in line with what their constituents want,” he says.

So, is there anything that can be done to halt the decline? There are small shoots of regrowth with the rise of small independent media like Mill Media and the Bristol Cable; the BBC funds journalists at other regional organisations through the local democracy reporting service.

Last year a cross-party group of MPs recommended that the government should set up an innovation fund, look at ways to make it easier for local news organisations to become charities and encourage more philanthropic funding of local news. They could go further: in Nordic countries, news outlets can apply for direct subsidies from the state.

But at the moment, nothing is being done on a governmental level – itself a political choice. With others unlikely to step into the breach, local news must be its own saviour, says Nielsen, as hard as it is for embattled local news providers to hear. “The harsh fact is news organisations are the ones with the clear and urgent interest in turning this around,” he says. For local democracy’s sake, everyone else must hope that they do.

“[The] design is undistinguished, off-the-peg, alien, like an urban institution with large side walls without windows… all out of keeping with the town and immediate area and failing to reflect the town’s vernacular.

“This prime historic parkland site needs something much, much better than this poorly designed and very damaging overdevelopment.” Objector Mike Temple

“..I thought it perhaps had been the same architect that designed the Bibby Stockholm because it looks about as interesting as that.” EDDC Cllr Ian Barlow.

Will Goddard www.devonlive.com

East Devon District Council’s former headquarters at Knowle in Sidmouth can’t be knocked down to make way for a care and retirement development. The old offices, which were also once a hotel, were severely damaged by fire in a suspected case of arson last March.

Retirement homes specialist McCarthy and Stone wanted to build a 70-bed care home, 53 assisted living apartments for the over-70s and 33 apartments for the over-60s on the site, as well as four semi-detached homes and a terrace of three townhouses which would not have been age-restricted.

A former caretaker’s building would also have been kept, and another purpose-built structure erected for bats.

But now planning permission has been turned down, with one councillor suggesting the plans reminded him of a prison.

The decision followed strong opposition by members of the public at an East Devon District Council (EDDC) meeting this week.

Objector Michael Temple said: “[The] design is undistinguished, off-the-peg, alien, like an urban institution with large side walls without windows… all out of keeping with the town and immediate area and failing to reflect the town’s vernacular.

“This prime historic parkland site needs something much, much better than this poorly designed and very damaging overdevelopment.”

Sidmouth Town Council supported the non-age-restricted houses, but not the care and retirement parts of the proposed development.

Its chair Cllr Chris Lockyear said: “We were opposed to the very large care home and retirement apartments. They are simply too big for that site. They are out of keeping with the area and architecturally very different.

“They will dominate the surrounding parkland and the surrounding houses. They will be visible from Peak Hill and from Salcombe Hill and therefore will change the appearance of Sidmouth both locally and from afar.”

But a spokesman for the developer addressed the potential benefits of the redevelopment. He said: “The council can’t demonstrate a five-year supply of housing and this obviously helps and contributes towards that overall provision.

“In addition, this is a job creation. There are jobs being provided in the care home and the extra care as well as retirement element.

The Knowle ablaze in March 2023 (Image: Copyright unknown)

“That type of accommodation, the mix of accommodation, you’ve got a variety there in terms of care, extra care, open-market housing, there is a balanced community there.

“Commonly, residents will have family, friends, or will be living within the local community. And this does provide them that opportunity to remain part of that. It enables the downsizing of properties.

“So people, worker residents, will be moving in there. Yes, there may be some from outside, but predominantly it will be from within the local area.”

EDDC planning officers had recommended councillors approve the plans, warning it could be difficult to defend an appeal.

A previous application for assisted living properties at the Knowle was allowed at appeal.

Councillors nevertheless voted to refuse the application on the grounds the design and shape of the two most southerly blocks would not have been acceptable and would have failed to recognise local distinctiveness. They said the scheme would lead to ‘overlooking’, been too overbearing and would have had an adverse impact on the local landscape.

Cllr Ian Barlow (Independent, Sidmouth Town), describing the proposed development as “monolithic”, said: “When I first saw [the design] I thought it perhaps had been the same architect that designed the Bibby Stockholm because it looks about as interesting as that.

“Do we not like our old people? Do we want them to live in what can be best described as a prison block?”

“The Sidmouth Arms is a fantastic pub in Upottery run by a great team and its passionate landlord Martin, who’s from the area and lives locally.

I really enjoyed visiting the pub again and congratulating them on the completion of phase one of their renovation works which begins with brand new toilets.” Simon Jupp (MP for everywhere and nowhere).

Obviously Exmouth pubs aren’t good enough for him.

Paul Arnott 

I’m not quite sure when this prosaic thought first occurred to me but for most of my adult life I have wondered if the definition of being sentient is to know the timeline of your own life.

That ability to name the year you went out with someone, the associated pop record or film, what work you were doing, the contemporary domestic and world events. Year after year.

Yet since the pandemic I constantly meet people who are not at all sure which often quite significant life events happened in the years between 2019 and 2022. When was that family holiday? Has it really been that long since we saw those great friends? What do you mean our town lost its bank five years ago? Surely it was last year.

However, in one area of my life, my memory has continued to receive engraved entries almost to the day, certainly to the week. That area is life as a district councillor, especially since I became Leader in May 2020 just after the pandemic began. Partly that is perhaps out of a sense of duty, but in truth I think it is because until very recently it has been a monumental struggle. And here more than anywhere, memory is important. Sometimes only Memory leads to Justice.

I’ll be very frank. One of the reasons I stood for election in 2019 was that I – and dozens of other candidates – had endured pretty poor treatment at the hands of East Devon District Council. To be specific about one aspect only, the multiple accounts that if you approached it with a sincere problem, and honestly contested an unsatisfactory reply, you would be treated with great discourtesy. Unless your face fitted, and you were close to the then ruling party. Then it seemed there were elements within the council which bent over backwards to help.

When I became Leader, I did all I could to try and courteously take up this cause, to see to it that the council dealt with its local citizens in a timely and courteous fashion in every department. And please don’t misunderstand me, the great majority of our officers, who’d always done their best, seemed to sense a change in culture. But not all, and not where it really could have the greatest effect. Wonderfully, our new senior officer team totally gets this, and it is being put front and centre of our new Council Plan, published soon.

In a few weeks time, I plan to use my Leader’s announcements slot at Full Council to tie up the definitive narrative around the scandal of former Cllr John Humphreys and the repulsive push back from his councillor allies and some former (ex-) officers who sought to impede us getting to the full and final truth of this two decade scandal.

At that speech’s conclusion I will say again that without the twenty-year courage of Humphreys’ victims in seeing his crimes into the court, where he received the longest sentence for historic child sex abuse in UK history – 21 years – he’d still be at liberty now, and East Devon District Council would not be doing what we are doing at Cabinet this week, making our Safeguarding policies fit for the modern world.

For all that we can thank one particular victim’s twenty-year memory. I’ll draw on my own day-by-day memories and notes of the attempts made to stop us getting to the truth. More next month.

Ask the families of Hillsborough, Windrush, Grenfell, the Post Office. To them, to me, Memory leads to Justice. The enemies of justice would have us forget.

Also Richard Foord MP met with NHS property managers 31 Jan and will be pushing them to back this new status – see X posts below.

[NB EDDC would now have to approve of any demolition plans!]

seatonmatters.org 

East Devon District Council has declared Seaton Hospital an Asset of Community Value, which obliges its owners, NHS Property Services (NHSPS), to give the community first refusal in case of disposal.

NHSPS had opposed the move, but EDDC leader Paul Arnott (Lib Dem, Coly Valley), urged them to recognise local public opinion and refrain from appealing against the decision.

This is another step towards securing the whole of the hospital for continuing use as a centre for health and wellbeing.

Exmouth Swimmer suing over sewage leaks at Devon coast

A woman is taking South West Water to court over sea sewage discharges that she claims have harmed her health and prevented her from taking daily swims.

David Parsley inews.co.uk

Retired NHS physiotherapist Jo Bateman has submitted an action to the Small Claims Court alleging that illegal sewage spills into the sea at her local beach in Exmouth, Devon, have affected both her physical and mental wellbeing.

In her claim, Ms Bateman details 54 instances when she believes South West Water illegally dumped sewage into the sea during 2023.

“I could have claimed for many more spills,” Ms Bateman, 62, told i. “But I focussed on the spills that South West Water could not claim were legal and due to storm overflows.”

Ms Bateman is claiming South West Water’s pollution of the Exmouth sea has led to what is legally known as a loss of amenity, which mean she must prove she has been injured.

She claims her daily sea swims help with her depression.

“I make no secret of the fact that I am on anti-depressants,” she said. “But since I have been swimming in the sea every day, my doctor has reduced my dose by half.

“The swimming helps me in all sorts of ways, and I believe the sea is an amenity to anyone that wants to enjoy it.

“It belongs to all of us and South West Water’s actions have meant that amenity is not available to me, and everyone else, all of the time – which it should be.”

While Ms Bateman is claiming compensation, fees and costs of only £379.50. “It’s not a lot of money,” she said. “It’s about the principle that South West Water is polluting our seas and making something that should be available to everyone too dangerous to use.

“I believe I can win this. I know South West Water will probably put up a really expensive lawyer that costs thousands more than my claim, and I’m on my own because I can’t afford a lawyer,” she added.

“If I win my case then this could set a precedent that will open up South West Water to thousands and thousands of claims all around Devon and Cornwall.

“They are deliberately doing damage to our coastline, and they need to be held to account for that.”

Earlier this month, i revealed that millions of litres of sewage had been transported to what the Environment Agency called a “failed pumping station” just 200m from Exmouth’s sandy beach.

One campaigner described it as “willful pollution” by South West Water. The company confirmed one pump at the site had failed but denied untreated sewage was being discharged into the sea.

As well as taking legal action, Ms Bateman is also withholding the sewage element of her water bill and currently owes £64 to South West Water.

“I’m not paying for a service that they do not provide,” she said. “I’m not backing down, and I’m prepared to go to prison for it if they force me.

“I’m on an NHS pension and work part-time in a local bakery, but I don’t need much and I get by. I don’t care if I end up with a County Court Judgement as I don’t need to get a loan for anything.”

South West Water, which has until 12 February to file its defence, declined to comment on Ms Bateman’s claim.

A spokesman for the company said: “We take our responsibility to the environment very seriously and are investing record amounts to reduce the use of permitted storm overflows across the region, including circa £38m earmarked for Exmouth up to 2030.”

X link here

The International Monetary Fund has issued a strong warning to Jeremy Hunt against cutting taxes in his budget in March, stressing the need to boost key areas of public spending instead.

Larry Elliott www.theguardian.com 

In updated forecasts for the UK and the rest of the global economy, the Washington-based fund doubted whether the widely anticipated tax cuts would be possible without extra borrowing or post-election spending cuts.

The IMF said the chancellor should be focusing on repairing the public finances after the damage caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine in order to meet growing spending pressures.

An IMF spokesperson said: “Preserving high-quality public services and undertaking critical public investments to boost growth and achieve the net zero targets, will imply higher spending needs over the medium term than are currently reflected in the government’s budget plans.

“Accommodating these needs, while assuredly stabilising the debt/GDP ratio, will already require generating additional high-quality fiscal savings, including on the tax side.”

Hunt is expected to cut income tax in the budget, but the IMF called on the chancellor to increase carbon and property taxes, take steps to eliminate loopholes in the taxation of wealth and income, and overhaul the pensions triple lock. “It is in this context that [IMF] staff advises against further tax cuts,” the IMF said.

Hunt rejected the IMF’s call. “The IMF expect growth to strengthen over the next few years, supported by our introduction of the biggest capital investment tax reliefs anywhere in the world, alongside national insurance cuts to improve work incentives,” the chancellor said.

“It is too early to know whether further reductions in tax will be affordable in the budget, but we continue to believe that smart tax reductions can make a big difference in boosting growth.”

The IMF said it was forecasting UK growth of 0.5% in 2023 and 0.6% in 2024 – both unchanged from October – and with only Germany of the leading G7 industrialised economies expanding more weakly.

With lower inflation likely to boost consumer spending power, the IMF said it was pencilling in UK growth of 1.6% in 2025 – slower than forecast three months ago. “The markdown to growth in 2025 of 0.4 percentage points reflects reduced scope for growth to catch up in light of recent upward statistical revisions to the level of output through the pandemic period,” the IMF said.

Last year, the Office for National Statistics revised up its estimates of UK growth in 2020 and 2021 by 1.8 points in total across the two years.

The IMF said the global economy was gliding towards a “soft landing” after coping with the impact of tough central bank interest-rate action to reduce inflation.

Revising up its growth estimates for 2024, the IMF said a number of big economies – including the US, China, Russia and India – had posted stronger than expected performances in 2023 and it was surprised by the resilience shown.

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s economic counsellor said: “The clouds are beginning to part. The global economy begins the final descent toward a soft landing, with inflation declining steadily and growth holding up.”

Announcing details of the interim World Economic Outlook (WEO), Gourinchas said the IMF expected global growth to be 3.1% in 2023 and 2024, upward revisions of 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points respectively. But he stressed the pace of expansion – which compares with an average of 3.8% during the 2010s – remained slow and there was a risk of turbulence ahead.

The IMF said the likelihood of a hard landing had receded and risks to its forecasts were evenly balanced. Growth could be higher than expected if tumbling inflation allowed deeper cuts in interest rates, if governments facing elections boosted public spending or if artificial intelligence increased productivity.

However, the IMF warned of downside risks including the volatile situation in the Middle East; the possibility that inflation would prove stubborn and signs that investors were excessively optimistic about the scale of interest rate cuts from central banks this year.

Gourinchas said he had been particularly surprised by the rapid improvement in the supply side of the global economy, singling out higher labour force participation rates, the easing of supply chain bottlenecks and lower commodity and energy prices.

He warned that central banks “must avoid premature easing that would undo many hard-earned credibility gains and lead to a rebound in inflation”.

However, Gourinchas added: “Signs of strain are growing in interest rate-sensitive sectors, such as construction, and loan activity has declined markedly.

“It will be equally important to pivot toward monetary normalisation in time, as several emerging markets where inflation is well on the way down have started doing already. Not doing so would jeopardise growth and risk inflation falling below target.

“My sense is that the US, where inflation appears more demand-driven, needs to focus on risks in the first category, while the euro area, where the surge in energy prices has played a disproportionate role, needs to manage more the second risk. In both cases, staying on the path toward a soft landing may not be easy.”

The IMF produces two full versions of the WEO each year, in April and October, then updates its forecasts in January and July. The latest interim WEO revised up US growth for 2023 from 2.1% to 2.5%, China from 5% to 5.2%, India from 6.3% to 6.7% and Russia from 2.2% to 3%.

The eurozone, in contrast, performed less strongly in 2023 than previously forecast and its growth has been revised down by 0.2 percentage points to 0.5%.

The UK has fallen to its lowest-ever position in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, which ranks countries by experts’ views of possible corruption in public services.

Rupert Neate www.theguardian.com 

The UK fell from 18th (out of 181 countries) in 2022 to 20th in 2023, its lowest position since the research was revamped in 2012. It means that, according to the research, Britain is seen as more corrupt than Uruguay and Hong Kong.

The lower ranking coincides with concerns about possible corruption in the awarding of PPE contracts during the pandemic, according to the research published on Tuesday and based on “impartial surveys from experts and business leaders”. The UK was ranked at between the eighth and 11th most transparent country in the world between 2012 and 2021. However, it fell to 18th in 2022, and then joint-20th in 2023.

Daniel Bruce, the chief executive of Transparency International UK, said the findings should act as “a wake-up call for government”.

“The continued fall in the UK’s score shows a country heading in the wrong direction. It’s clear that business leaders and other experts are more concerned than ever about political corruption and the abuse of public office in the UK,” Bruce said.

“We need urgent action from ministers – not just words – to restore much-needed confidence in the integrity of political and public life.”

The total corruption perceptions index score awarded to the UK was 71 out of 100 (where zero means a country is perceived as highly corrupt and to 100 means it is perceived as very clean). It is the lowest the UK has ever scored on the index, and a drop of two points on 2022 and nine on 2018. The UK has experienced the biggest five-year decline of any western European country, according to the research.

The score is based on data from eight independent sources, including the Economist Intelligence Unit and the World Economic Forum. “All surveyed experts and business executives for their views on abuses of public office for private gain and bribery in the UK,” Transparency International said.

The anti-corruption charity said the scandal around the awarding of PPE contracts during the pandemic and concern that “both the UK government’s anti-corruption champion and independent advisor on ministerial interests [had] resigned”.

It added: “The data shows that while perceptions of bribery generally are improving, there are growing concerns over cronyism and patronage in politics, and its effect on the management of public funds.”

Denmark is ranked as the least corrupt, followed by Finland and New Zealand. South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Somalia are at the bottom of the rankings, meaning they are seen as the most corrupt. The US is 24th.

In 2011, two senior council managers in north London put together a PowerPoint graph that they felt might help kick off a useful discussion with colleagues about the future of local government. What would happen, they asked, if town hall funding flatlined, while demographic pressures continued to rise steadily?

Patrick Butler www.theguardian.com

The answer, they suggested, lay in what became known as the Barnet Graph of Doom. It indicated that the council would, within 20 years, expend all its available resources on meeting the needs for adult social care and children’s services. There would be simply be no cash left for libraries, parks, leisure centres or even bins.

The Graph of Doom became a kind of meme in policy circles, a bleak joke, reality check and austerity warning. The late former head of the civil service Bob Kerslake was known to feature it in presentations. Birmingham city council produced its own version in 2012, labelled the “Jaws of Doom”, which its former leader Sir Albert Bore suggested depicted the “end of local government as we know it”.

“We were trying to explain to colleagues that just as the party was over for bankers [post-crash], so the era of growth would be over for the public sector and there would be less money around,” recalls Nick Walkley, Barnet’s chief executive at the time. “It was not meant as a predictive model. We wanted people to start thinking through strategic priorities.”

Back then, though, austerity was in its infancy, and local government was still relatively brimming with confidence and resources. There was widespread disbelief that such a scenario could come to pass, and the graph would often be seen as a provocation, says Walkley: “Even at that time it seemed quite shocking that an authority would have to choose between libraries and adult social care.”

Thirteen years later, the graph of doom has not come to pass, at least not yet. But it has proved far more prescient an indicator of travel than its authors envisaged. Council funding has shrunk by roughly 40% over the period, demand for social care has continued to rise, and councils have made room for these growing costs by shutting down other services.

Top-tier local authorities’ remaining spending power is increasingly dominated by adults and child social care, for which they have defined legal and regulatory duties. The two services can take up as much as 70% of council budgets, at the expense of what have come to be known as “discretionary” services such as parks, leisure centres, arts, youth clubs, children’s centres, community buses, recycling and climate change.

But has even this endless squeezing reached its limit? Conservative-run Hampshire county council warned in October that it would face financial “meltdown” within the next 18 months without some kind of government intervention. It was no longer possible, it said, to meet the boundlessly growing cost of social care simply by continuing to reduce or close non-core services.

Some councils are starting to discuss a graph of doom-ish scenario, where the price of keeping statutory social care services in place is the abandonment of the rest of the council’s functions. Next year, Hampshire argues, either the government bails out councils, or it reduces their statutory burden to allow them to do less. “These are not problems we can fix on our own,” it says.

Looking back, Walkley says it was assumed the graph would never come to pass because the government would step in to solve the crisis in adult social care. It was an age of optimism for councils, and doing nothing did not seem to be an option. But ministers ducked the social care funding question, and the need for children’s services has exploded unchecked. “We never envisaged an un-solution,” says Walkley.

Another South Devon council has taken aim at developers who don’t meet their obligations to provide affordable housing for local families.

Guy Henderson – Local Democracy Reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Teignbridge councillors will soon vote on a motion which accuses developers of ‘deception’ around their commitments to build affordable homes and play areas.

Now their counterparts in the South Hams have fired their own salvo in the battle to make sure housing developments include enough sufficient affordable properties. 

Discussing their action plan for housing and homelessness, councillors underlined their existing policy for a minimum of 30 per cent of new South Hams’ homes to be affordable.

But developers often cite figures which show that it would be unviable for them to meet the 30 per cent threshold.

Cllr John Birch (Lib Dem, Totnes) said on one major local development for almost 200 homes, no affordable housing at all were constructed.

He said: “Because the financial viability study says they are only making £30million, they can’t afford to do it. This is totally unacceptable and we as a council need to resist this approach.

“There is evidence of us being too soft as a council when applying this policy.”

And Cllr Nicky Hopwood (Con, Woolwell) added: “I don’t give a damn if a developer can afford it or not. If they can’t afford it, don’t build the houses there.

“If we are ever going to solve the housing crisis in the South Hams we need to get the 30 per cent. We have a serious shortage.

“We need to say that we as a council will not accept developers saying they can’t afford anything.”

However, council leader Julian Brazil (Lib Dem, Stokenham) pointed out that when the council had turned down developments that failed to meet the threshold, government inspectors had overturned the decisions.

“Sometimes it is out of our hands,” he said. “But the mood of this council is absolutely right.

“We said 30 [per cent]. We mean 30. If you go outside of that you’ve got to have some damn good reasons.”

• T1: Willow – crown reduce by 2-3 metres, maximum diameter of cuts 60mm. T2: Ash, fell to ground level. T3: Ash, fell to ground level. G4: Elder & Sycamore, fell to ground level. T7: Ash, dismantle to ground level. T8: Ash, dismantle to ground level. G9: Sycamore & Ash, fell or dismantle to ground level. G10: Ash 2 no. of, dismantle to ground level. T11: Ash (multi-stemmed), coppice at 2-3m above ground level, finished height to be confirmed. Furness Orchard Greenway Woodbury Exeter EX5 1LWRef. No: 24/0130/TCA | Validated: Fri 19 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T376, Lime : crown raise to 3m over public footpath to comply with the Highways Act 1980, maximum diameter of cuts (MDC) 50mm. T377, Rowan : remove epicormic growth from base, MDC 25mm. G1001, Limes (group of 4) : repollard, MDC 75mm. Brinkburn Court Manor Road Sidmouth EX10 8SBRef. No: 24/0127/TRE | Validated: Fri 19 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolish existing conservatory and replace with new single storey extension, convert the existing garage to form usable space. 3 Upper Churston Rise Seaton EX12 2HDRef. No: 24/0122/FUL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawful development for single storey rear extensionLower Wessiters Lodge 19 Marlpit Lane Seaton Devon EX12 2HHRef. No: 24/0121/CPL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Refused
• Certificate of Proposed Lawful Development to replace summer house and pump room to existing outdoor swimming pool with new building.Sowden Lodge Courtlands Lane Exmouth EX8 5ABRef. No: 24/0119/CPL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Approved
• Discharge of condition for 23/1201/FUL : Condition 3 (arboriculture/tree protection/parking and storage). Southernhay Lower Broad Oak Road West Hill Ottery St Mary EX11 1XHRef. No: 24/0111/DOC | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1: Sycamore – crown lift to approximately 3m from ground level to remove the lower two limb/s encroaching into the garden toward the property. Crown reduction of up to 3m, reducing and shaping leaving appropriate growth points. 2 The Bothy Rousdon DT7 3YDRef. No: 24/0117/TCA | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of conditions for 23/1908/FUL : Condition 4 (external materials) Coomb Bank Farm Cooks Lane Axminster Devon EX13 5SJRef. No: 24/0116/DOC | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Unknown
• Erection of illuminated and non-illuminated signs to the exterior of the building. The Three Tuns 133 High Street Honiton EX14 1HRRef. No: 24/0104/ADV | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Discharge of conditions for 21/0651/FUL : Condition 3 (materials), Condition 4 (landscaping scheme) Rutton Rull Lane Whimple Devon EX5 2NXRef. No: 24/0107/DOC | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• G1- Mixed species, mostly Beech and Willow- Crown lift to up to 5m to clear from lawn and garage. T1- Redwood – crown lift to approximatley 2.5m above roof. Birch House 4 Birch Grove West Hill EX11 1XPRef. No: 24/0109/TRE | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Larch: fell and remove stump. Cherry Tree House Church Hill Musbury Axminster EX13 8BARef. No: 24/0094/TCA | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Holly Tree : fell T2, Silver Birch : fell T3, Silver Birch : fell Abergrange Long Hill Beer Devon EX12 3HURef. No: 24/0092/TCA | Validated: Mon 15 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Replacement PVCu windows and new entrance door. 3 Beacon Cottages Talaton EX5 2SARef. No: 24/0091/FUL | Validated: Mon 15 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, poplar – reduce by approximately 10m and re-shape to leave a natural form. 17 Highbury Park Exmouth EX8 3EJRef. No: 24/0086/TRE | Validated: Mon 15 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of rear extension, loft conversion with new roof and timber cladding on South East and North West elevations 11 Harcombe Lane Sidford Devon EX10 9QNRef. No: 24/0075/FUL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of Condition Number 2 [Approved Plans] on planning permission 22/2083/FUL (Single storey side/rear extension with raised decking, enclosure to front porch, installation of 29 x solar panels to roof and erection of a single storey home office with 12 x solar panels installed to roof.) Proposal for change in roof covering for home office from roof slates to zinc style standing seam roofing. 2 Seaward Close Branscombe Seaton EX12 3AWRef. No: 24/0082/VAR | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Demolish existing garage. Construction of a two-storey rear extension, single story [garage] extension on south/west elevation, and raising existing roof with a change in materials Old Orchard Whalley Lane Uplyme DT7 3UPRef. No: 24/0068/FUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Conversion of former antiques shop to new dwelling. Antiques Centre Old Station Yard Station Road Colyton EX24 6HARef. No: 24/0065/PDMA | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Raising of roof to match adjoining neighbours and construction of rear dormer extension. 38A Rolle Street Exmouth Devon EX8 2SHRef. No: 24/0062/FUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed loft extension comprising hip to gable roof extension to south-west (rear) elevation and extension to north-east (front) elevation with hipped roof to match existing and proposed side porch extension on south-east elevation. 18 Willow Avenue Exmouth Devon EX8 4QSRef. No: 24/0064/FUL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Works to car park including the installation of four electric vehicle charging bays with their own dedicated charging unit and associated lighting and electrical equipment Marks And Spencer Foodhall Royal Avenue Exmouth EX8 1ENRef. No: 24/0063/FUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• T1, Oak approx 14 metres high and 14 metres wide at all points; to pollard back to previous pollard position when work last carried out in 2016.8 Campion Way Honiton EX14 2YRRef. No: 24/0055/TRE | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Withdrawn
• Change of use of land from agricultural use to storage (within Use Class B8) for the siting of self-storage containers with gravel hardstanding and erection of security fencing and gate (part-retrospective] Burrow Farm Broadclyst EX5 3JARef. No: 24/0045/FUL | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Prior approval for the conversion of existing barn to two dwellings Lower Pilehayes Farm Woodbury Salterton EX5 1QERef. No: 24/0018/PDQ | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed installation of gully drains and a central stone drain adjacent to driveway and another gully drain across the driveway. The Old Pump House Holyford Lane Colyford EX24 6HWRef. No: 24/0022/FUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Construction of single storey annexe on side/North elevation. 5 Springfield Membury Devon EX13 7ABRef. No: 24/0031/FUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Flat roofed dormer to the north/east (side) elevation, to replace the existing dormer 65 Scott Drive Exmouth Devon EX8 3LFRef. No: 23/2763/FUL | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Certificate of lawfulness of existing use for the continued use of land as mixed use farm park and caravan and camping site, and land used for purposes ancillary to that mixed use Farway Countryside Park Farway Colyton EX24 6JLRef. No: 23/2752/CPE | Validated: Tue 16 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Proposed swimming pool with summerhouse/plant room Wild Orchids Harcombe Road Axminster Devon EX13 5TBRef. No: 23/2637/FUL | Validated: Thu 18 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Variation of conditions 2 (materials) and 3 (approved plans) of planning permission 05/1078/FUL, (First floor and single storey extensions with alterations), to amend the materials and design Mill Stream Bungalow Colyton EX24 6EURef. No: 23/2605/VAR | Validated: Fri 19 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Installation of solar array with associated infrastructure, access and landscaping Winslade Park Clyst St MaryRef. No: 23/2506/MFUL | Validated: Wed 17 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision
• Loft conversion with front dormer and rear rooflights and alterations to external materials and replacement of existing windows and doors. 3 Sea View Common Lane Beer Devon EX12 3EURef. No: 23/2400/FUL | Validated: Mon 15 Jan 2024 | Status: Awaiting decision

Angela Rayner has accused the Conservatives of cynically applying a “sticking plaster” to council finances to get through the next election, as local authority leaders warn that more will go bust next year.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com

The shadow communities secretary said Labour was “under no illusions” about the financial mess it would inherit in local councils if it gained power, after the Tories “took a sledgehammer” to budgets for more than a decade.

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, was forced to bail out councils in England last week with a £600m funding pot to prevent a rebellion of Tory MPs who fear losing their seats. But figures shared by the Institute for Government show it would take more than £7bn in extra cash to get local government funding up to the same levels as 2010.

Analysis by the Guardian of 13 years of council spending data lays bare the scale of cuts to services. Between 2010-11 and 2022-23, real terms spending per head on cultural services was cut by 43%, on roads and transport by 40%, on housing by 35% and on planning and development by a third, with more cuts pencilled in for this year.

Council leaders from across the political divide told the Guardian the extra money announced this week was welcome but would not be enough to prevent further cuts in the coming years.

It is understood the government is exploring options for a fresh austerity drive in councils for after the next general election, after Michael Gove said his Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities would force councils to develop “productivity plans”.

The warnings from the levelling up secretary will add to Labour’s fears that the Conservatives are pursuing a scorched earth policy of underfunding public services in order to spend its spare cash on tax cuts to boost Sunak’s electoral prospects.

“It’s hard to see where productivity is coming from without it being a mask for further privatisation or reductions in services,” said James Lewis, the Labour leader of Leeds city council. “It feels like austerity is going further yet again.”

In an interview, Rayner said libraries, sports centres and youth provision were “not a garnish” and rejected calls from some Conservatives to reduce the types of services that councils had to offer.

“What’s very clear to me is that we are going to inherit a very difficult situation because the Tories have brought [councils] to the brink, offering them a very small amount of money now which cynically to me is about them trying to just get them over the line for a general election,” she said.

“But it’s not going to do anything about the long-term problems that we would inherit and we’re under no illusions about the scale of those problems.”

She said Labour would have to look at the overall state of public finances if it were to take power in the next year, but it would want to move to multi-year funding settlements to help councils plan better and make sure money was directed to the areas that needed it the most.

Asked about the risk of more council bankruptcies in the next few years, Rayner said: “Yes I’m absolutely worried about that. And I think councils up and down the country are worried about that. They’ve seen these added costs … temporary accommodation, children’s services and the pressures of the cost of living crisis that’s been created by the Tories – this real perfect storm for local authorities.”

Four local authorities fell into effective bankruptcy in 2023 – Birmingham, Nottingham, Woking in Surrey and Thurrock in Essex.

Roger Gough, the Conservative leader of Kent county council, said he had warned Sunak 15 months ago the government was “sleepwalking into financial disaster” amid dramatically escalating pressure on local authorities.

He said: “The fundamental situation is unchanged. The extra funding is welcome, and it’s important for us to not be too dog in the manger about this. But the fundamental pressures are still there. We are experiencing these as are other authorities across the country.

“We all know the cavalry is not going to be coming over the hill in terms of government funding, and that will be true frankly if there is a change of government. We all have to work within the world we’re living in.”

Stephen Houghton, the Labour leader of Barnsley council, who also chairs a group of 48 urban councils in the north of England, Midlands and south, said there was likely to be a “surge ofsection 114s next year” if more money was not provided – referring to the mechanism councils use to declare effective bankruptcy.

He said it “would be churlish” not to welcome the extra £600m but it would not be enough to match inflation and demand-led pressures on local authorities. “It won’t solve the problem. It will get us through to next year but what happens the year after that? Unless something substantial happens, we’re looking at a lot more councils struggling.”

In Birmingham, where the council has been placed in special measures by the government after its effective bankruptcy in September, officials plan to shrink the authority by 15% over the next two years. Others planning deep cuts include Bradford, Kent, Hampshire, Stoke-on-Trent and Somerset.

Tim Oliver, the Conservative leader of Surrey county council and chair of the County Councils Network, said he thanked the government for last week’s “highly unusual, if not unique” bailout package. “But I might say post general election we’ll be back.”

“The sector has been reasonably clear. With increased demand, there’s a funding gap of £2-3bn over the coming years.”

The former Conservative communities secretary Eric Pickles said local council funding should be overhauled altogether, including a review of business rates, revaluation of council tax at the point of property sales and an end to the government “topslicing” the central pool for council budgets.

“Whoever is the next government, if you did it the first year, you would begin to see some benefits from it by the fifth year,” he said. Pickles also backed three-year funding settlements for councils as “something I always wanted to do”.

Many Conservative MPs say privately that the £600m bailout is only a temporary solution. One senior Conservative MP said it was “a step in the right direction but the budget will need more to prevent council cuts due to the cost of energy and cost of living”.

Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP and leader of Nottinghamshire county council, said the cash increase was a “victory”, but that there were structural pressures authorities were facing. “There’s no political benefit of going into an election saying we’re shutting down your library and your youth centre. It’s not going to work. We do need to support and protect local services.”

A government spokesperson said: “We have recently announced an additional £600m support package for councils across England, increasing their overall proposed funding for next year to £64.7bn – a 7.5% increase in cash terms.”

More on the impact of austerity with more to come as the PM considers tax cuts. – Owl

More money is needed to help Devon develop innovative ways of reshaping its adult social care services as the department targets £30 million of spending cuts.

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

Devon’s adult social care lead, Councillor James McInnes (Conservative, Hatherleigh & Chagford) said he had told a Westminster cabinet member this week that “things need to change” if councils are to be given the time and resources to develop adult social care services to respond to increased and changing demand.

The budget, health and adult care scrutiny committee heard this week that Devon relies too much on expensive and resource-intensive bed-based and residential care, and that it is trying to help people achieve greater autonomy through in-home care and technology.

Council officers acknowledged they had been behind in terms of reviewing the services that individuals receive, noting that care packages are often set up at a time of crisis, but that assistance could be reduced if patient recovery is monitored more regularly.

Some speakers suggested the council might be offering too many services to too many people, and that better case-by-case reviews could help it distribute its resources better.

Cllr McInnes was speaking as the proposed budget for the 2024/25 financial year, which begins in April, showed the authority expects to spend more than £360 million on integrated adult social care.

Increased demand and rises in the national living wage have pushed the department’s costs up by £50 million.

About £30 million in potential savings, cuts and additional income have been identified to mitigate that. However, this still means that adult social care is costing the county £20 million more than it did this financial year.

Cllr McInnes urged central government to reconsider its approach to social care funding to help nurture innovation.

“I don’t think there’s enough money,” he said.

“Money isn’t the only answer, and it needs to be a dual approach as we need to innovate and change how we deliver services, but one thing I would plea for – and which I discussed with a national cabinet minister last week – is that for things to change and be innovated. We need the space, and the financial space, to do that.”

He said councils are battling year in, year out to balance budgets, and extra funding would provide allow councils to improve how they offer adult social care.

Council officers said an aging population, a rising number of people seeking help, also commonly with more complex requirements, and a rise in working age adults with mental health problems, were the key factors putting pressure on the service.

Devon’s rural geography adds a further challenge, they said.

Councillor Caroline Leaver (Liberal Democrat, Barnstaple South) felt the word ‘savings’ actually means real-terms cuts.

“I think it means there will be fewer services for the most vulnerable people, and I’m struck by the number of different savings specified,” she said.

“The question for me is what the savings or cuts mean in practice, and who the affected people will be and how many?”

Councillor Carol Whitton (Labour, St David’s & Haven Banks) didn’t have a problem with the department looking at ways to do things differently if it achieves better value for money and meets residents’ demands.

She told councillors: “Last year at this scrutiny meeting, we missed some of the lines that were in the budget about how individual users and groups were being impacted, and I think as a committee we should be given that information.”

She added there had been a “great deal of public concern” about changes in adult social care provision, and that this could have been mitigated before steps were taken.

Councillor Richard Scott (Conservative, Exmouth) said it is important to remember where the money comes from that pays for services.

“We never consider the person paying for it, we don’t look at council tax and how regressive it is as it generally impacts on people that have less,” he said.

“We are providing too much and not reviewing it quickly enough, and we need to understand why.”

Devon’s finance lead Angie Sinclair said spending on adult and children’s services represents almost 80 per cent of the council’s budget, but that moves had been made to curb the rise in spending in these departments.

“The increase 12 months ago in adult social care was nine per cent, and 18 per cent for children’s services, but we are working hard to pull that back and this year the rises are six per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, which is a significant improvement on last year,” she said.

“We are doing the best as a team to get the best value in terms of affordability and better outcomes as doing the right thing should cost us less.”

Devon’s chief executive Donna Manson added that better collaborative working with the NHS, as well as district councils, is playing a positive role in ensuring money is better spent.
 

More than 100,000 trees are being planted in north Devon as part of efforts to boost temperate or Celtic rainforests, some of the UK’s most magical but endangered environments.

Steven Morris www.theguardian.com 

The trees are being planted close to surviving pockets of rainforest at two spots close to the coast and one inland.

Among the trees that will be planted is the almost-extinct Devon whitebeam, which is only found in the English West Country and in Ireland. It can reproduce without fertilisation, creating seeds that are genetic copies of itself. Its edible fruit used to be sold at Devon markets as “sorb apples” – celebrated in the DH Lawrence poem Medlars and Sorb-Apples (“I love you, rotten,/Delicious rottenness.”)

Helped by volunteers, schoolchildren and community groups, the National Trust is hoping to establish 50 hectares (123 acres) of new rainforest across three sites. About 38,000 trees will be planted near the sea on Exmoor, 20,000 at Woolacombe and Hartland, and 50,000 inland at Arlington Court, near Barnstaple.

Temperate rainforests, also known as Atlantic rainforests, are characterised by their damp conditions, making them the perfect home for a unique variety of rare ferns, mosses, liverworts, lichens and wildlife including pine martens, pied flycatchers and stoats.

Over the centuries, the temperate rainforest, which used to run the length of the western seaboard of the UK, has deteriorated largely due to air pollution, invasive species, diseases such as ash dieback and general lack of care.

John Deakin, the head of trees and woodlands at the National Trust, said: “All that’s left are fragments, covering only 1% of Britain and limited to small patches in Devon, Cornwall, north and west Wales, Cumbria, the west of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland.

“As a result, the rare specialist plants that depend on this habitat desperately cling to the remaining fragments for survival, with some of the woodlands we care for in north Devon containing nearly the entire global population of some of these species, such as the Devon whitebeam. Without urgent action, these unique plants could soon be facing extinction.

“We are working on expansion, rather than just preservation. This is important because the conditions many of these rare plants thrive in are not necessarily conducive to disturbance, which makes regeneration tricky. But, by planting on the edges of these existing woodlands, we can ease the pressure caused to the existing delicate vegetation and instead help the woodlands evolve outward.”

Bryony Wilde, project manager at Arlington Court, said: “Through this tree planting, we’re helping to create a living landscape where both nature and people can thrive. These trees will not only provide a habitat for wildlife but also fix carbon into the soil, purify air and water, and provide a place for people to enjoy.”

Devon is a good place to experience a temperate rainforest, with places like Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor, an upland oakwood, cherished for its flora and enchanting feel.

Last year, Devon Wildlife Trust announced t it was planting a temperate rainforest in the south of the county, on the slopes above the River Dart.

The plight of the temperate rainforest has been highlighted by the writer and environmentalist Guy Shrubsole, who has been leading a project to map the surviving fragments.

According to the Sun and Daily Mail, Tory MPs are shaving their beards off because they have have been told it is a turn off to voters.

Sources have provided an image of what a Simon shorn might look like – and, no, it’s not deep fake AI!

Dear Reader, judge for yourself; but it doesn’t work for Owl.

With or without a beard he still looks like a well-fed Tory.

Will he do it?

Watch this face!

Richard Foord Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Defence)

In support of economic growth, Elizabeth Truss cut £235 million from Environment Agency budgets when she was at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Rather than bringing economic growth, that served to bring sewage growth: sewage discharge doubled between 2016 and 2021. I was delighted to hear yesterday that the Government will adopt my Water Quality Monitoring Bill, but will they also restore some of the cut Environment Agency funding to bring back powers as well as duties?

Kemi Badenoch Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government), Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), Minister for Women and Equalities, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, President of the Board of Trade, Minister for Women and Equalities

A spending review, where we can look at these things, will be coming up shortly, but I really have to challenge much of what the hon. Gentleman said. It is a misrepresentation to say that the issues going on with sewage are to do with the actions of my right hon. Friend Elizabeth Truss. This Government have been taking reforms through the Environment Act 2021 to improve the situation throughout multiple Governments, including the one in which his party, the Liberal Democrats, participated during the coalition. So it is very wrong to make that case.

Link to debate

Post Office bosses secretly decided in April 2014 to sack forensic accountants who had found bugs in their IT system, documents obtained by the BBC show.

The prime minister’s spokesperson, referring to the alleged plan to sack the forensic accountants, said: “We take those reports extremely seriously. It is right that we have an inquiry to look into this.”

By Andy Verity www.bbc.co.uk

They also reveal the government had knowledge of the decision, taken by a Post Office board sub-committee, codenamed “Project Sparrow”.

Former sub-postmaster Alan Bates said it was further proof of a “total cover-up”.

The Post Office said it would be inappropriate to comment.

Downing Street said it was taking the reports “extremely seriously”.

The independent forensic accountants Second Sight played a key role in exposing the scandal, finding flaws in the Horizon computer system which generated false evidence of cash shortfalls at sub-post offices, leading to wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters.

Post Office bosses kept insisting their systems were robust.

But they made a concession following pressure from MPs, offering to set up a mediation scheme to deal with what they said was a small number of cases.

The documents reveal the Post Office planned to pay a total of only £1m in “token payments”, or compensation, to sub-postmasters as it suppressed evidence of computer bugs in 2014.

But it was a vast underestimation of the eventual cost of the scandal, which is now expected to be more than £1bn.

Details of the Project Sparrow discussions were not disclosed in evidence to sub-postmasters as they challenged the Post Office through the courts in 2017-2019.

“It’s been a cover-up from start to finish,” said Alan Bates. “That’s coming out now. It’s undeniable.

“And this is what we’ve been up against all the way. We’ve always known they were covering up – it’s just been very difficult to find proof,” he added.

The secret plan to sack Second Sight is revealed in the minutes of two Project Sparrow meetings in April 2014.

The minutes were released in heavily redacted form in 2021 after former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells disclosed the existence of Project Sparrow.

Now the BBC has obtained the unredacted minutes, showing what the Post Office didn’t want the public to see.

Project Sparrow

The Project Sparrow sub-committee was led by Post Office chair Alice Perkins and included chief executive Paula Vennells, alongside the Post Office’s most senior internal lawyer, general counsel Chris Aujard, and Richard Callard, a senior civil servant at UK Government Investments, then a division of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The unredacted minutes for 9 April 2014 show the sub-committee asking for a paper to be prepared on the role of Second Sight and “options to support them or reduce their role”.

Three weeks later, on 30 April 2014, they agree on a plan to bring the investigation of sub-postmasters’ cases “within the control of the Post Office”, removing Second Sight from its role of investigating sub-postmasters’ cases independently.

However, that decision was kept secret from Parliament and the public as the Post Office claimed Second Sight’s independent review supported its approach to sub-postmasters’ complaints. The Post Office was then seeking to defuse the scandal through a mediation scheme, which excluded many victims from compensation.

Bugs in the system

Nine months before the committee met, Second Sight submitted a report on 8 July 2013 identifying computer bugs that raised doubts over the reliability of Horizon data used to prosecute sub-postmasters.

A week later, on 15 July 2013, the Post Office was warned in formal advice written by its own lawyer Simon Clarke that it was in breach of its legal duties because sub-postmasters who had been prosecuted should have been told about the bugs.

The next day, 16 July 2013, the Post Office board expressed concern that Second Sight’s review exposed the business to claims of wrongful convictions.

Yet the Project Sparrow minutes from April 2014 show Paula Vennells, Alice Perkins and the other members discussed closing or speeding up the mediation scheme and planning to pay minimal compensation to sub-postmasters.

That followed advice from lawyers Linklaters that they had only “very limited liability in relation to financial redress”.

The minutes show the committee asking for a paper to brief them on making “token payments” to sub-postmasters applying to the mediation scheme, trumpeted in public at the time by ministers as a solution to sub-postmasters’ complaints.

“The cost of all cases in the scheme going to mediation would be in the region of £1m,” the unredacted minutes state.

Members of the committee knew sub-postmasters wouldn’t be happy and that there was a “real risk” that “many applicants will remain dissatisfied at the end of the process”.

On 30 April 2014, following advice from Chris Aujard, the committee decided not to make any “ex gratia” payments – meaning payments to struggling sub-postmasters to help them while their cases were examined.

They also asked for a paper to be prepared on options for closing or speeding up the mediation scheme.

Second Sight’s interim report in 2013 did say that it had found no systemic flaws in the Horizon system. But the word “systemic” had a specific meaning – that no flaws could be found in every single post office branch.

What the Post Office didn’t say was that it also made an unwelcome finding, identifying incidents where defects or bugs in the Horizon software “gave rise to 76 branches being affected by incorrect balances or transactions which took some time to identify and correct”.

On 17 December 2014, Jo Swinson, the former Liberal Democrat MP who served as Postal Affairs minister in the coalition government at the time, answered a parliamentary debate on the scandal. She pointed to the independent role of Second Sight.

The following year, in March 2015, as it prepared to submit its full report, 11 months after the decision had been taken, Second Sight’s contract was terminated and the Post Office brought investigation of the sub-postmasters’ cases in-house.

Lord Arbuthnot, a former MP and vocal critic of the handling of victims in this scandal told the BBC that the government has to take responsibility “for everything that went wrong” in relation to the sub-postmasters.

“It’s a distinctly corrupt, murky story that goes right the way into government and it’s deeply worrying,” he said.

The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Friday it was “right” that there was an inquiry ongoing and pointed out that the reports related to a previous administration.

“It is for the inquiry to establish culpability and to look at what lessons have to be learned. For the government’s part we are co-operating and supporting the inquiry fully,” the spokesperson added.

Alice Perkins and Paula Vennells didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Linklaters also did not comment.

Chris Aujard and Richard Callard said through public relations advisers that they would not comment while the inquiry was ongoing.

UK Government Investments declined to comment.

Jo Swinson said: “The latest revelations about the Project Sparrow meetings and decisions show the extent of the cover-up by Post Office Ltd – they were kept secret from Parliament and the public, and from ministers too.

“Not only did the Post Office directors, including the government official, choose not to tell ministers, they instead briefed the opposite. Repeatedly they told me that Post Office Ltd had never seen anything that would undermine any of their prosecutions, something that we now know is simply not true.”

A Post Office spokesperson said: “We never discuss individuals and it would be inappropriate to comment on allegations being made outside of the Inquiry, whose role it is to consider all of the evidence on the issues it is examining and independently reach conclusions.

“We fully share the Public Inquiry’s aims to get to the truth of what happened in the past and accountability.”

Untreated sewage from burst pipes in Exmouth has prompted calls to the Government to stop forcing scores of new builds in parts of East Devon amid fears of more leaks from on overloaded infrastructure.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

It is “plain stupid” for the Government to require more houses to be built in East Devon when the sewage system has “already failed”, writes local democracy reporter Will Goddard.

That’s the belief of Councillor Geoff Jung after recent sewage pipe bursts in Exmouth which have led to tankers being used to transport waste through the town and the Environment Agency advising against swimming in the sea.

Cllr Jung (Lib Dem, Woodbury and Lympstone) recently told the district council’s strategic planning committee that these incidents “clearly demonstrate systematic ongoing failures both from South West Water and the Environment Agency”.

He said: “In Exmouth since 11 December, the water firm has been dealing with various major pipe bursts in the town, which has led to untreated sewage being taken from Phear Park by a convoy of trucks to Maer Road’s sewage pumping station and only in the last few days directly to Maer Lane sewage works.

“Failures have occurred predominantly between the pumping station in Phear Park and Maer Lane sewage works, where a temporary overground bypass has been hastily constructed but only yesterday operational.

“It is clear from what we see locally that despite assurances, the increasing sewage capacity together with the increased surface water from climate change events show that the present sewage infrastructure is failing.”

He continued: “By [the Government]forcing us to build more housing we are actually increasing the number of connections, thus increasing capacity to an already failed system. That’s plain stupid.”

Cllr Brian Bailey (Conservative, Exmouth Littleham) went further, calling for an embargo on allowing new homes to be built in certain areas.

He said: “[South West Water] are strangers to the truth and what they say to us. I think that’s the politest way of putting it.

“I would like to propose that we have a building embargo, and we can do it. We’re the authority.

“No more building in and around Exmouth or Woodbury or Lympstone or Topsham because the sewage system is not up to it. Otherwise, we’re going to let more and more houses in and it’s going to get worse.”

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “We would like to thank local residents for their continued patience whilst essential repair works in Exmouth are carried out and we are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

“We have successfully finished installing the temporary pipe which will divert flows around the damaged section of sewer, so we can now turn our attention to making a full repair. This progress means we no longer need to use tankers.”

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We take all pollution incidents extremely seriously and we are currently investigating the burst pipe that was initially reported to the Environment Agency on 30 December 2023. South West Water has now resolved the issue and their pumping station is back in operation.

“In response to the pollution, we issued advice against bathing via our Swimfo webpage and through social media and informed East Devon District Council. During the incident, we worked closely with the water company to minimise the impact on the environment.

“We are continuing to investigate and will consider taking appropriate enforcement action when we have all the information required. The Environment Agency is urging SWW to deliver on its promised investment in Exmouth to reduce sewage spills.”

A correspondent reports that a large section of the lime kiln car park in Budlleigh has been coned off and is being used  for sewage tankers queuing to “load up”. The tankers ply their trade along the Seafront Parade and act like a “Dyno Rod” through Budleigh’s notorious High Street. 

South West Water’s “What’s happening in your area?” web site, which claims to show everything from community visits, planned works and bigger engineering projects in any are, shows nothing at the time of posting.