Find out which English water companies have the most debt, who is proposing the biggest bill increases, and which ones have paid the most to shareholders

Anna Leach, Carmen Aguilar García, Rich Cousins, Ellen Wishart and Sandra Laville www.theguardian.com 

Water bills in England could be a quarter more expensive by 2030. But customers may not realise that almost 20p of every pound they pay goes to servicing company debts, rising to more than 25p for customers in some parts of the country.

England’s privatised water companies have a huge £60.3bn debt pile, which they say was taken on to fund essential infrastructure. The last 33 years of company accounts tell a different story about where the money from those loans has gone.

Between 1990 and 2023, English water companies have paid out a total of £53bn in dividends, meaning that they have given almost the same amount to shareholders as they currently have in debt.

Find out how much your bill could rise, how much your local water company spends servicing debt and which companies have been giving out the most money to their shareholders, by using our interactive tool. [Accessible through this link to original article] 

In contrast to the English system, at publicly owned Scottish Water, Guardian analysis found that 10% of revenue was spent paying costs associated with debt. As it is a public company with no shareholders, no dividends have been paid out, while its debts amounted to £4.1bn as of March 2023, equivalent to £1,493 per property provided with water.

Since Margaret Thatcher’s government privatised England’s water companies in 1989, debts have been piling up almost every year, going from no debt in 1989 to a combined £60.3bn between them in 2023.

While companies argue that debt has been used for investment, experts say that the debt has not been taken to finance investment but to pay “huge returns for shareholders”. Over the three decades, water companies have paid close to £53.1bn as shareholder dividends – more than £83.7bn in today’s prices.

The water companies’ five-year business plans with the proposed increase in bills will still need to be approved by the industry regulator, Ofwat, which will announce its decision in December.

Methodology

The Guardian analysed net debt and dividends from all England’s water companies using every year’s annual reports. Dividends include special and interim dividends and cover all payments out of the licensed utility under the category “dividends”. Definition of net debt and accounting periods might vary across companies.

Certain companies have changed name or merged with other companies over the 33-year period; we have analysed the documents submitted to Companies House for each of the current Ofwat water-supply licence holders.

Full explanation on how the cost of debt has been calculated can be found here, along with responses by companies to the figures uncovered by this Guardian analysis.

We collected data about the proposed increase in water bills from each of the companies’ business plans for 2025-2030.

The number of total connections per water company, provided by the Consumer Council for Water, includes household and not-household premises with a water and/or sewage connection. This has been used to normalise figures to be able to compare companies of different sizes.

At the next election, local people face a clear choice – a strong Liberal Democrat champion fighting hard for our communities, or another silent Conservative who will always vote in his Party’s interest. It’s all to play for and every vote will matter. – Richard Foord

[Today Richard Foord moves the adjournment debate on Transport infrastructure in Cullompton] 

Will Goddard www.midweekherald.co.uk

It’s “all to play for” in the newly formed Honiton and Sidmouth seat at the next general election, according to Liberal Democrat candidate Richard Foord. 

The current MP for Tiverton and Honiton believes people are fed up with the current Conservative government and he has a real prospect of winning. 

A former British Army major, the 45-year-old was voted in during a by-election in 2022 following the resignation of former Tory MP Neil Parish after he watched pornography in the House of Commons. 

Mr Foord, who is married with three children and lives in Uffculme, will go head-to-head with East Devon Tory MP Simon Jupp in the contest for the new constituency. 

Large parts of the new seat are formed from the current East Devon and Tiverton and Honiton constituencies, which up until last year’s by-election win by Mr Foord for the Lib Dems, have always been Conservative. His majority is 6,144.

Mr Foord will go head-to-head with East Devon MP Simon Jupp for the seat. (Image: Gareth Williams)

Simon Jupp’s margin in the general election in 2019 was only marginally higher at 6,708.

The runner-up with over 40 per cent of the vote was independent Claire Wright, who is backing Mr Foord. 

Richard Foord MP said: “I think the fact that she came very close when the Conservatives nationally did so well in the 2019 general election… indicates that this part of the constituency (Sidmouth, Ottery and West Hill) should not be taken for granted by the Conservatives. 

“The feedback that I’ve been getting on the doorstep is very much that even long-term Conservative voters are at this time, in these circumstances, frustrated with this Conservative government and looking for an alternative.” 

Asked whether he thought he only won by a protest vote, as is often the case with by-elections, he said: “If we’re presenting it that by-elections are somehow different, I would say these are not usual times and the government’s polling has not improved since the by-election in June last year. 

“The popularity of Rishi Sunak as prime minister has hit lows that Boris Johnson didn’t quite reach. 

“I would definitely say it’s very much all to play for and it will come down to potentially every last vote. 

“I grew up here in the West Country. I came of political age at a time when the Liberal Democrats controlled most constituencies here.  

“When I was first able to vote in 1997, and at the subsequent election in 2001, you could walk from Truro to Bristol on Lib Dem-held territory.” 

Claire Wright, who stood as an independent candidate in 2019. (Image: Claire Wright)

If elected, Mr Foord says he will tackle healthcare problems, seek to boost the local economy, and put pressure on water companies to reduce sewage spills. 

He said: “I do feel that if we begin to lose community hospitals like the one in Seaton, it could be the thin end of the wedge for community hospitals more broadly.  

“Sidmouth has a community hospital, Ottery has a community hospital.

“I think we really need to protect these things because what I’m hearing on doorsteps is people want to be able to have access to healthcare close to home.  

“Linked to that, we have NHS dental services that are collapsing.

“NHS dentistry is something I care very deeply about. I also know that it’s something my constituents care very deeply about. 

“We need to have a local economy that enables businesses to thrive. This is where local politics meets national politics, because businesses cannot thrive if there isn’t a stable business environment for them to work in.  

“I’m hearing myself from businesses, large and small, that they want to get back to a time when politics was predictable. 

“They don’t like the uncertainty that our politics has brought us in recent years. And that… has had the effect of places closing up, shops shutting up, pubs shutting up. Hospitality is big business in this part of the world. 

“We know that sewage dumping is rife here on the Jurassic Coast and on the broader East Devon coast. 

“I think we need to take the responsibility for water quality monitoring away from the water companies, because it has been found that some of them have not been revealing all of the data that they should to the regulator, the Environment Agency.  

“The Liberal Democrats have been very strong in this area. We want to see water companies run as public benefit companies.  

“We want to see people with environmental concerns… community representatives with environmental concerns on the board of these companies, so that they’re not run purely to extract profit.” 

A general election is expected to be called next year, and must be held by the end of January 2025. 

“I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the government and the NHS in my dealings with them. They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.”

When it was put to her that she had admitted lying to the press, Mone replied: “That’s not a crime.”

But wasn’t she threatening legal action? – Owl

Peter Walker www.theguardian.com 

Michelle Mone has condemned Rishi Sunak after he expressed concern at her admission she lied about involvement in a company that won lucrative deals during Covid, saying the government “knew about my involvement from the very beginning”.

After the former Conservative peer admitted in a BBC interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful in denying a connection to PPE Medpro, which made millions of pounds in profits over a contract to provide personal protective equipment, Sunak said No 10 was taking the case “incredibly seriously”.

In a furious response to the prime minister’s comments, Mone tweeted: “What is Rishi Sunak talking about? I was honest with the Cabinet Office, the government and the NHS in my dealings with them. They all knew about my involvement from the very beginning.”

Her comments place even greater pressure on ministers to explain what they knew about the affair, particularly Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has already called for Gove to make a statement on Mone and PPE Medpro,

In the interview on Sunday, Mone said she had not told the truth about her involvement in the firm to protect her family from media attention. When it was put to her that she had admitted lying to the press, Mone replied: “That’s not a crime.”

Asked during a trip to Scotland about Mone’s admission, Sunak said: “The government takes these things incredibly seriously, which is why we’re pursuing legal action against the company concerned in these matters. That’s how seriously I take it and the government takes it.

“But it is also subject to an ongoing criminal investigation, and because of that, there’s not much further that I can add.”

Mone was made a Conservative peer by David Cameron in 2015, but has been on a leave of absence from the Lords since last year and is no longer in the party.

Speaking earlier on Monday, Lord Callanan, the energy efficiency minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he hoped Mone would not return to the upper house.

Asked whether as a self-confessed liar she should come back, Callanan said: “I would hope that she would see sense.” Pressed on what he meant, he added: “I would hope that she would not be coming back to the House of Lords.”

Guardian investigations found Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, were involved with PPE Medpro, which was awarded contracts worth £203m in May and June 2020 after she approached ministers, including Gove, with an offer to supply PPE equipment.

Asked about the case during a visit to Leeds, Starmer called it “a shocking disgrace from top to bottom”, adding: “There are now serious questions that I think Michael Gove, the government, needs to answer. Who made the original contact? What was the nature of that discussion that led to the situation that we now learn developed?

“I think they should make a statement in the House of Commons today about this so that the public can hear first-hand what actually happened here.”

The Labour leader added: “I don’t think she should be in the Lords. I think the government should be held to account for this.”

Speaking to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mone admitted that she and Barrowman, through their lawyers, repeatedly falsely denied they had any connection to PPE Medpro.

She said she regretted having done so: “We’ve done a lot of good but if we were to say anything that we have done that we are sorry for, and that’s … we should have told the press straight up, straight away, nothing to hide … I was just protecting my family. And again, I’m sorry for that, but I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. No one.”

Listen to Janey Godley’s voice over on the Laura Kuenssberg interview here

“My God, have we been cheated! Absolutely shafted. Seventy two billion paid in dividends! Sixty billion of debt! Nearly three million hours pumping out raw sewage in 2021! Three billion litres lost in leaks every day! Just 14 per cent of our rivers with “good” ecological status and every single one polluted to some extent. Studies say that will soon be down to 6 per cent without massive intervention.”

Feargal Sharkey on river pollution, interviewed by Robert Crampton www.thetimes.co.uk

Away from the leadership fun, businesswoman Michelle Mone is back in the headlines after sitting down with the BBC in an attempt to rehabilitate her reputation. She has been facing accusations that she and her husband failed to declare their interest in a major PPE contract awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

London Playbook Sunday Crunch www.politico.eu 

Her argument: Mone claims she and her husband Doug Barrowman have been made scapegoats for the government’s wider failings over PPE. The pair last week issued a YouTube documentary trying to clear their name, alleging a Department for Health official told them they could pay to make a National Crime Agency investigation go away — an accusation they repeated in the BBC interview this morning.   

Sorry about that: Mone and Barrowman emphatically denied their involvement in PPE Medpro in statements issued by their lawyers when the story first surfaced. They admitted involvement through lawyers last month, but on the BBC this morning, Mone admitted they had lied. “I wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, and I regret and I’m sorry for not saying straight out, yes, I am involved.” 

Case for the defense: Mone went on to insist: “DHSC [the health department], the NHS, the Cabinet Office, they all knew of my involvement,” but said she didn’t want the press intrusion when she was asked by the press about her links. 

Did Dowden know: Asked if he knew about the links, Dowden, albeit culture secretary at the time, told the BBC: “No, I didn’t.”

Did it work? The Laura Kuenssberg show panel made up of actor Brian Cox, presenter Susanna Reid and Tory MP Robert Buckland were pretty unanimously scathing about her case for the defense, particularly that she had lied because of fears of press intrusion. Reid said it was “utterly remarkable she does not see how sensitive this is for people.”

Not just a title: Buckland had little time for the excuses: “When you’re in the House of Lords, it’s not just like a bauble or a title, it’s a public role,” he said, explaining it was up to members of both houses to declare their interests. 

Why it matters: Labour wants to make political capital out of this. Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting was quick out of the blocks this morning claiming government attempts to claw back money from PPE contracts gone wrong had been “pathetic,” and keen to pin failings on Sunak himself. “It’s his name on all of those checks. He was the Chancellor who was splashing the cash.”

From inews.co.uk 

The Liberal Democrats have called for Baroness Mone to be kicked out of the Conservative Party, with the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine calling the situation “shameful”.

“It is jaw-dropping that Michelle Mone has admitted lying to the country over this shameful PPE scandal and is now trying to play the victim card. She repeatedly denied she would make money from this contract, now it emerges she’s set to profit to the tune of millions,” she said.

“Rishi Sunak was too weak to withdraw the Conservative whip from Baroness Mone when this scandal emerged last year. He must finally do the right thing now. The Prime Minister should kick Michelle Mone out of the Conservative Party and withdraw the whip if she has the gall to return to the Lords.

She continued: “This shameful saga is an insult to the British public and shows why we need to bring an end to this Conservative cronyism and sleaze at the next election.”

A campaign for a ‘Buy British’ section on supermarkets’ online stores supported by Devon’s Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord has first major success as Morrisons launch ‘British’ section online.

Lewis Clarke www.devonlive.com

In August 2023 Mr Foord, Member of Parliament for Tiverton & Honiton, joined with 120 other cross-Party MPs to sign an open letter calling on supermarkets to highlight the very best of British produce by implementing a ‘Buy British’ section online.

The letter stated ‘Our ask is simple, create a tab that collates produce from farmers,’ citing consumer choice, environmental benefits and support for farmers as reasons to make the change.

Now, Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitiéh confirmed that “we have implemented a ‘British’ section to morrisons.com which enables customers to quickly navigate to British [produce]”. This includes homegrown meat, dairy, fish and vegetables.

This new section of the website, which groups together key British lines, can be found via the ‘Shop Groceries’ drop-down menu on the morrisons.com homepage, with Morrisons saying they “intend to continue developing this section of the website and highlight new lines as they come into season.” Food has been increasingly imported in recent years, which is unhelpful for local producers and bad for the environment.

In addition to the letter, over 27,000 people have signed a National Farmers Union (NFU) petition in support of a ‘Buy British’ section online and on Back British Farming Day, September 13th, the Government endorsed the campaign and called for industry-led action by supermarkets.

Commenting on the news, Richard Foord MP said: “I applaud Morrisons for making this small but meaningful change to help customers know how they can buy British produce more easily. We know that Devon has some of the best farmers in the world, and it’s right that we showcase them.

“The reaction to this campaign has been overwhelmingly positive, with producers across the country supporting the call and consumers asking why supermarkets weren’t doing it already.

“The ball is now firmly in the courts of other supermarkets. I hope they will follow suit and implement the ‘Buy British’ section soon. I look forward to seeing the new display at the Tiverton store in the coming weeks.”

Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union, said: “It’s great to see Morrison’s launching a ‘British’ section online to signpost shoppers to British produce – something we have been asking retailers to commit to since 2016.

“We know from our own independent survey that 86% of the public want to buy more British food and this simple change with an online button will help shoppers just do that.

“I hope today’s news will pave the way for other supermarkets to follow suit.”

Bullying, that is: seeking to harm, intimidate, or coerce (someone perceived as vulnerable); is never acceptable.

But, as a search of EDW archives reveals, it is a term banded around frequently in local councils. 

Owl suspects that it is sometimes confused with the cut and thrust of political debate between those holding strongly opposing views.

The investigation reported on by Grant Thornton to the Audit & Governance Committee (see press article below) dates from allegations made by Mark Williams in 2021. These allegations arose from a survey he appears to have conducted after the new political leadership took over EDDC in June 2020.

Background

Following the 2019 elections, the Tories lost overall control of EDDC but formed a working arrangement with Independents under the leadership of Ben Ingham (then an Independent who has subsequently returned to the Conservative Party). 

In May 2020, after a series of defections, this arrangement broke down and a new Majority Group was formed. (A coalition between the East Devon Alliance Independents, other Independents and the LibDems, but excluding the Tories).

The opportunity for a smooth transition was dashed when Conservative Cllr and Council Chairman, Stuart Hughes, took the opportunity provided by a change in legislation by the government, relating to Covid, to cancel the May Annual Council Meeting. Constitutionally this is when leadership elections are held. The Tories held only one third of the seats at the time.

This decision created a constitutional crisis and required five extraordinary general meetings to be convened, under Covid restrictions, to formally make the change.

Given this fraught background with the Tories trying any means to retain some vestige of control it is perhaps not surprising that the atmosphere in EDDC was somewhat tense.

The CEO, Mark Williams, held the keys to facilitate a smooth transition. Indeed it was his duty as EDDC’s senior public servant, acting apolitically, to ensure it.

Owl has always found it incongruous that it was the CEO who was the first to make allegations of bullying so soon after the transfer of power, as the new administration was bedding in. 

Owl has similarly found difficulty in understanding why, a year later, Mark Williams appeared to drag his heels over setting up the inquiry into how John Humphreys continued as a councillor, then alderman, for three years whilst under investigation by the police, without a safeguarding risk assessment. The final Verita report records the difficulties the authors had in getting him to respond to questions about new information that had come to light.

Grant Thornton findings

Despite this, the message coming out of the Grant Thornton audit is positive. A message strongly reinforced by the comments made in the Audit & Governance Committee by recently elected Cllr Charlotte Fitzgerald (Independent, Budleigh and Raleigh), who comes with fresh, and younger eyes, to the scene, see below.

Allegations of bullying at East Devon District Council

 Will Goddard www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

East Devon District Council has had an “unacceptable culture” of behaviour, an external auditor has found.

There were allegations of bullying by some council officers and elected councillors, according to an independent report from audit firm Grant Thornton, which looked at a period between April 2021 and March 2023.

The report found “poor working relationships” meant there was a “significant weakness” in how the council was governed.

The firm heard suggestions some councillors didn’t stand for re-election because of behaviour and culture at the council, which at the time was controlled by a political group called the East Devon Alliance.

On a positive note, the auditor found “many excellent examples” of officers and councillors working well together during the pandemic and said relationships between “most officers and portfolio holders were generally effective”.

Grant Thornton has given the council several recommendations on how to fix problems in the way it is governed.

These include having a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, and revising the code of conduct and the protocols for how councillors and officers interact to include examples of unacceptable behaviour and sanctions. 

The council’s management said it already had such a policy, and that refresher training would be provided.

Cllr Helen Parr (Conservative, Coly Valley) found the report “extremely concerning” and said: “It’s all very well doing training of new councillors, but it goes back to the people who were in the council at the times you looked at and whether they have changed their behaviour. 

“I think it’s very questionable whether all this training has made behaviour changes. 

“Culture comes from the top and that’s where we needed to have changes.  

“It’s upsetting that we are a council with this problem when three, four years back we got the Investors in People platinum award.  

“This council was an excellent council and now we have a report like this. I’m extremely worried about it.”

Cllr Charlotte Fitzgerald (Independent, Budleigh and Raleigh), who was elected in May, described the report’s findings as “foreign” to her experience so far.  

She said: “I’ve only been on the council for eight months, I wasn’t here at the time that this report covers.  

“I don’t recognise an unacceptable culture in any of my interactions so far. The officers have just been absolutely positive and constructive. 

“We have had a change of councillors, we’ve had quite a lot of turnover in the last election.

“There’s also been a turnover of a significant amount of the senior executive leadership team in the last six to 12 months. 

“I don’t want to dismiss or diminish the concerns that are raised here.

“But… it does seem to me that a lot of action is and has been taken in the last year or so to address some of these issues.  

“I’m really looking forward to the next report… so we can actually see Grant Thornton’s external assessment of how we’re tracking against some of the recommendations that have been made.” 

Councillors voted to keep track of the auditor’s recommendations to see whether they are implemented. 

Footnote

Helen Parr says: “Culture comes from the top and that’s where we needed to have changes.”  Owl agrees and thinks that significant changes have already happened.

Once upon a time we had locally based community hospitals where the elderly especially could be looked after while they were prepared to return home. – Owl

The NHS is facing another catastrophic winter crisis because Rishi Sunak is failing to meet key targets he set last January for improving emergency care, leaving patients facing more delays for treatment during the busiest months, the Observer can reveal.

Toby Helm www.theguardian.com 

Figures on how much time patients have to wait for emergency care, how long ambulances are taking to respond, the number of new beds and the level of bed occupancy are all way behind where they were expected to be under the Sunak blueprint, according to official data.

On Saturday night, Dr Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said that it was now clear that firm pledges made by the government less than a year ago to deliver the “largest and fastest” improvement in emergency response times ever, before this winter, would not be honoured.

“They are clearly not achieving what they set out to do,” Boyle said. “And the consequence of this is that we will see the same scenes of ambulances waiting outside emergency departments, and if you are inside an emergency department, people receiving care in corridors.

“Last year was awful and this year is only just a tiny bit better, nowhere near where we need to be, and nowhere near the position we hoped we would be.

“It is very disappointing because it is an utterly predictable and largely preventable problem. It is not a surprise that winter comes along every year.”

Prof Philip Banfield, chair of the British Medical Association council, added: “As we approach what we know will be another incredibly difficult winter, colleagues are not feeling any more optimistic or prepared than last year – rather the opposite. We are still short of beds, have huge rota gaps and patients are not getting the care they need or deserve.

“The waiting list is still unfathomably long, cancer and emergency department performance targets are being missed and ambulance handover delays are unacceptable. Meanwhile, demand and workload in general practice are unsustainable.”

On 30 January this year, amid much fanfare, Sunak announced a new “delivery plan”, which he presented as a blueprint for avoiding another winter of chaos in 2023-24. “I think we will see – in fact I know we will see – the largest and fastest-ever improvement in emergency waiting times in the NHS’s history,” he said.

At the heart of the plan was a series of pledges, including one to ensure 5,000 more beds were brought into NHS hospitals before the winter.

Last week, with winter well under way, NHS England said that only 3,000 more “core beds” were in place, though it claimed more were on the way.

Another “fundamental” part of the plan was a promise to improve bed occupancy rates. However, the latest official figures show a record 94.8% of beds in England were occupied in November. This is higher than any previous month since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The occupancy rates for previous years were 87.4% in November 2020, 92.8% in November 2021 and 94.4% in November 2022.

In the executive summary of the Sunak plan was an ambition to ensure at least 76% of patients are admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours by March 2024. Official data, though, shows the current rate is 69.5%, a fall since last January, and way off target. NHS sources admitted that the 76% level, which is anyway regarded as unambitious and compares with the official accepted level of 95%, was unlikely to be reached by next March.

Another key target was for ambulances to respond to serious category 2 cases on average within 30 minutes during 2023-4. The current average is 38 minutes. Although this has improved, NHS sources concede there is little chance of the target being met by the spring. In the plan, 800 new ambulances were promised but NHS England has not said how many have been delivered, although it admits that many are just replacing ones that have gone out of service.

Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “I think it is outrageous that Rishi Sunak has broken his promises to the NHS and sent it naked into the winter. What we see now is the NHS sounding the alarm, facing what could be the worst winter crisis it has faced, where patients face unacceptable waits and poor quality care.”

Streeting added: “We didn’t have an annual winter crisis when Labour was last in government because we delivered both the investment and reform needed. That is what is going to be needed again after the next general election.

“We have got to shift the centre of gravity of the NHS out of the hospital and into the community. That means not just training thousands more nurses but also double the number of district nurses qualifying so that people can receive care in their own homes.”

Health officials say they have invested in more doctors and nurses, as well as increased diagnostic and surgical capacity. The waiting list for routine hospital appointments fell in October to 7.71m, compared with a record high of 7.77m in September.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Our work delivered through the urgent and emergency care recovery plan is already cutting both A&E waits and ambulance response times compared with last year as we make progress towards our ambitious targets.

“We are on track to create an additional 5,000 permanent staffed hospital beds this winter and have met our target to deliver 10,000 virtual ward beds, allowing patients to recover from the comfort of familiar surroundings.

“We’re working to get 800 new ambulances on the road and we recently provided £800m to support capacity in the NHS and help patients get the care they need as quickly as possible this winter.”

If you were expecting a Christmas Card from Rishi you will be disappointed. He’s sending out “questionnaires” instead.

Rishi Sunak has been accused of misleading the public after a “PM survey” asking voters probing questions, including who they backed at the last election, proved to be a marketing ploy by the Conservative Party

Kate Devlin www.independent.co.uk

With a general election expected next year, households are being sent a survey giving voters the opportunity to “share your views with the prime minister”.

But the small print says the information will be used by the Tory party for campaigning, rather than by the government to improve the country.

The leaflets, branded potentially misleading and “routine party propaganda”, ask who voters backed at the last election and who they would prefer as prime minister – Mr Sunak or Sir Keir Starmer.

It is delivered alongside a letter headed “Rishi Sunak Prime Minister”, which twice asks: “What are your priorities for Britain? Tell the prime minister”.

Sir Alistair Graham, the former chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said the survey “has the potential to mislead people that it has come directly from the prime minister.

“It is being unfair to the electorate, really, and is rather cheeky in that it sounds to me like routine party propaganda.”

One page of the ‘PM survey’ being sent to households (Supplied)

The Liberal Democrats accused Mr Sunak of “desperate stuff”.

“No doubt some people will think they are speaking to the prime minister, not Conservative Party headquarters,” Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney said.

“This is desperate stuff from a prime minister on his way out. Using the prime ministerial office name to try to win back angry voters is not going to change a thing. The small print makes clear what this is, a last-ditch attempt for the Conservative Party to cling onto power, and nobody is buying it.”

People are encouraged to return the questionnaire in a prepaid envelope headed “PM survey”.

In his letter, Mr Sunak also tells those who fill it out that “my team will go through every single response”. The questions do include asking people to set out some of their priorities, including on the economy.

The letter is signed by the prime minister (Supplied)

But they are also asked how they voted at the last election and the one before that. Households are also asked how likely – on a scale of 0 to 10 –they would be to vote Tory at the next election, which could be called in a matter of months.

And they are asked, putting politics aside, who as a person they would prefer as prime minister – Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak or unsure.

The Conservatives declined to comment but it is understood that the party views the survey as standard campaign material.

No 10 has been approached for comment.

Why take a train when someone will pay for a helicopter? – Owl

Rishi Sunak took a £16,000 one-way trip to Leeds on a helicopter courtesy of a firm owned by Frank Hester, the Tory megadonor, taking the total for the prime minister’s donor-funded air travel to more than £100,000 this year.

Rowena Mason www.theguardian.com 

The prime minister once again showed his fondness for short-haul air travel as he took a helicopter from Battersea to Leeds Bradford airport last month – a journey of about 90 minutes. The quickest train from London to Leeds takes about 2 hours and 13 minutes, and costs in the region of £60 off-peak.

Sunak registered the trip as paid for by The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), which as a group has won more than £135m of NHS and government contracts to supply IT since April 2020.

Labour said it was the fourth helicopter ride taken by Sunak that was funded by wealthy Conservative party donors who have been paying tens of thousands of pounds to allow the prime minister to avoid public transport or long car journeys. His regular private air travel has also raised questions about the prime minister’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

Hester, who is sole owner of the company, made a £5m donation to the Conservatives earlier this year – the joint biggest gift by a living donor. TPP has previously said it was “unequivocally apolitical”.

Jo Maugham, the director of the Good Law Project, said: “None of us can look into Mr Hester’s mind to see what motivates him to make these generous donations to Mr Sunak and his government of vast sums of money and a helicopter ride. What is beyond doubt is that he has made an enormous fortune from contracts given to him by the government.”

Sunak has long been criticised for taking flights and helicopters for short trips, including an RAF chopper from London to Dover, despite the trip being just over an hour by train.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, said: “Yet again we have the prime minister asking a Tory donor to pay thousands of pounds for a luxury helicopter just so he doesn’t have to spend two hours on a train with the general public.

“If it seems like it happens every month, that’s because it usually does. Four different donors this year for four different helicopters, to go with the two he normally uses at taxpayers’ expense. If he spent half as much time thinking about the country’s cost of living as he does about his own options for flying, we would all be a damn sight better off.”

During the visit, which was in the same constituency as TPP’s main office, Sunak visited a jewellery maker and was later mocked on social media for having used a hammer sideways – even though he was told to do so by the instructor.

TPP supplies software to about 2,700 GP surgeries in England as well as support services to allow them to hold medical records for patients electronically.

Downing Street and TPP have been approached for comment.

The NHS in England has a record repair bill of almost £12bn, new figures show, with ministers needing to find more than £2bn for urgent maintenance to prevent catastrophic failure.

Michael Goodier www.theguardian.com 

The annual report on the condition of the health service’s estate said on Thursday that the cost of improving rundown buildings and decrepit equipment was two and a half times larger than in 2011-2012, when it stood at £4.7bn.

The cost of the “high-risk” backlog – situations where the need to repair or replace facilities and equipment must be urgently addressed to prevent serious failure, significant injury or major disruption to clinical services – rose by almost a third to a record £2.4bn. This was £0.3bn in 2011-2012.

However, investment to reduce the backlog fell in the last year from £1.41bn to £1.38bn, a fraction of what is needed to restore the NHS estate back to acceptable levels of risk. The stark figures cover a time prior to the health service becoming embroiled in the crumbling concrete crisis which initially hit school buildings.

Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said that “too many NHS buildings are quite simply falling to bits”, and that we need “a step change in the government’s approach to planning and funding essential capital investment in the NHS”.

He said: “The eye-watering cost of trying to patch up creaking infrastructure and out-of-date facilities is mounting at an alarming rate.

“Mental health, hospital, community and ambulance services are crying out for much-needed funding for critical projects to overhaul ageing estates and to give patients and staff the safe, reliable conditions they need.

“We should be planning for how to transform the NHS estate as well as addressing urgent maintenance challenges.”

The costs of the “high-risk” backlog have risen by 31% in 2022-2023, while the overall repair bill has risen by 13.6% in the same period. The level of investment only covered 11% of the cost.

The hospital with the largest high-risk backlog was Airedale general, where it would take £335.2m to fix all of the serious safety and maintenance issues. Airedale is part of the NHS programme to remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) from its buildings. Raac is a lightweight construction material that is susceptible to structural failure.

There were 42 hospital sites confirmed to contain Raac as of October, 18 of which had joined the national Raac programme since May, meaning the cost of any repairs needed was excluded from the latest figures.

However, the maintenance crisis is broader than one single issue. Charing Cross hospital in London had the second-largest high-risk backlog, with £173.7m worth of repair work needed.

But it did not appear on the government’s list of hospitals with Raac. Neither did St Mary’s hospital in London, Croydon university hospital or Wycombe hospital, which had the third, fourth and fifth largest high-risk backlogs respectively.

The Health Service Journal recently reported that Doncaster Royal Infirmary, some of which dates back to the 1930s, had been testing contingency plans for a “full or partial site closure” because of the problems it faces with parts of its infrastructure.

In 2021, a leak from a water pipe got into the electricity supply for the women and children’s hospital. This knocked out power cables for an entire wing of the hospital, started several fires and forced staff to evacuate premature babies and mothers who were in labour.

Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the King’s Fund, said the government’s failure to build the “40 new hospitals” Boris Johnson promised in 2019 “has left parts of the NHS estate in such a poor condition they pose serious risks to staff and patients”.

In September Julian Kelly, NHS England’s deputy chief executive, told MPs on the Commons public accounts committee that the NHS had “examples all the time where hospitals are having to shut units, decant patients into other spaces, where we are losing [operating] theatres … which limits our capacity to treat patients”.

Rory Deighton, the director of the NHS Confederation’s acute network, said: “The growing cost of the high-risk maintenance needed to prevent catastrophic failures or major disruption to clinical services is particularly worrying.”

NHS trust bosses regarded the “urgent” need for more capital investment as the NHS’s top funding priority, he added.

Separate figures show the NHS was badly hit by the rise in the cost of energy due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The service spent £1.2bn on energy costs in 2022-23, up by 53% on the year before, despite using less energy overall (down by 1.7%).

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have invested significant sums to upgrade and modernise NHS buildings so staff have the facilities needed to provide world-class care for patients, including £4.2bn this financial year.

“Trusts are responsible for prioritising this funding to maintain and refurbish their premises, including the renewal and replacement of equipment.

“This is on top of the £3.7bn made available for the first four years of the new hospital programme and a further £1.7bn for over 70 hospital upgrades across England alongside a range of nationally funded infrastructure improvements in mental health, urgent and emergency care and diagnostic capacity.”

Extract from CPRE December newsletter:

As we head into the festive season, a spectre has risen Jacob Marley-like, clanking its chains. The Greater Exeter Strategic Plan, whose obituary was published as recently as 30 October, seems to have leapt straight back out of its grave.

GESP was an ambitious plan for the zone around Exeter including East Devon, Mid Devon and Teignbridge, which was declared technically dead when East Devon pulled out. But now we hear news of three new ‘towns’: 8,000 houses just east of Exeter (East Devon), another 1,000 in Alphington/Marsh Barton (Teignbridge) and 1,100 in East Cullompton as part of the planned 5,000 intended for the Culm Garden Village (Mid Devon).

We look forward to the plans to expand the networks of schools, post offices, police stations, reservoirs, GPs, dentists, pharmacists and the RD&E.

And how many of these homes will be priced for genuine local need? An important CPRE study shows that fewer than 10,000 social homes and fewer than 18,000 ‘affordables’ were built in Devon – in the last 30 years! More on this in the next Newsletter.

The Daily Mail carries a report that drivers in Devon have submitted claims amounting to more than £1million for vehicle damage caused by potholes in just eight months, but the council has paid out less than five per cent of the claims.

A total of 966 vehicle damage claims have been submitted to Devon County Council since April this year with the value totalling £1.1million.

The figures were obtained by Councillor Frank Letch (Lib Dem, Crediton), who was seeking information on the number of potholes the county is dealing with.

Cllr Letch said the figures showed that 28,801 reports of potholes have been made by members of the public in this financial year alone, and that the council had identified 1,505 potholes for repair.

Devon County reports:

We’re receiving an extra £6.663 million for highway maintenance this financial year.

The money is a share of the Government’s £8.3 billion investment in roads over the next 11 years using funds redirected from the cancelled HS2 rail line extension to Manchester.

The initial schemes prioritised to start in the coming weeks are mostly minor routes and residential roads across the county.

The funding will also accelerate patching and pothole repairs across Devon’s 8,000 mile road network – the biggest of any authority in the country. The aim is for the repair schemes to be completed this financial year……

The Tories have forgotten, and taken for granted, Devon and Cornwall for too long.

All they seem to be interested in is closing beds. – Owl

Long ambulance waits and “hours lost” mark a worrying situation for Derriford Hospital chiefs in a new report.

David Dubas-Fisher www.plymouthherald.co.uk 

The latest Integrated Performance Report by the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust board, held on December 1, noted a series of performance indicators which showed worrisome figures relating to some waiting times – but also a plan for new development and enlargement of the hospital after it secured funding.

In April PlymouthLive reported that according to the NHS’s own figures, Derriford Hospital had some of the longest accident and emergency waiting times in the country, with more than 24 percent of people arriving at the hospital having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, discharged or transferred.

But the latest set of performance indicators in the 574-page long report, suggests that while in April the “ambulance handover lost hours” sat at 3,350, it has risen steadily to 5,108 in August, 6,359 in September and 8,906 hours in October. With a “national target” of 76 percent, Derriford is languishing with its latest figures at 54.1 percent.

The report also notes that the number of patients who wait 12 hours or more in A&E has increased from 1,491 in April to 1,774 in October.

In it’s ‘responsive’ metrics for Urgent and Emergency Care, it noted how ambulance handover delays had increased to alarming levels. In April this year it stated that 3,350 hours had been lost against a ‘trajectory’ of 2,393. By September this year that had risen to 6,359 hours lost, against a trajectory of 3,039. However, the figures had sky-rocketed during October when 8,906 hours had been lost, against a trajectory of 3,554.

The report went on to state that the trajectory had been “assigned to us by our regulators and represents the improvement required to allow SWAST to achieve their Categrory-2 response time target. It broadly represents a 60 percent improvement at UHP (University Hospitals Plymouth) on previous volumes of lost hours due to handover delays. This is currently off trajectory and review of improvements actions is in progress.”

According to weekly figures recently released by the NHS on Monday, November 27, the average handover time at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust was four and a half hours. That was the longest average wait at any trust in the country last week.

Things improved slightly at the trust on Tuesday when handover delays were four hours six minutes. On Wednesday it was four hours, on Thursday three hours 44 minutes, on Friday four hours six minutes, on Saturday ‘just’ two hours 12 minutes, and on Sunday three hours two minutes.

That compares with Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust where the average was two hours 34 minutes, and at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust it was two hours 30 minutes, both also on the Monday.

University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust also had the worst record for making patients wait for over an hour in ambulances. A total of 377 arrivals by ambulance had a handover delay of over an hour. That works out as 63 percent of arrivals. That’s up from 57 percent the previous week.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We have prepared for winter earlier than ever before and we are making good progress in cutting both A&E waits and ambulance response times.

“Compared to the same time last year, ambulance handover delays have fallen by 28 percent, thousands more 111 calls are being answered within 60 seconds, and there were nearly 1,500 more hospital beds available.

“We know there is more to do and that’s why we’re working to get 800 new ambulances on the road and create 5,000 extra permanent hospital beds, on top of 10,000 hospital at home beds already rolled out, to free up hospital capacity and cut waiting times.”

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said: “As the Major Trauma Centre for the southwest peninsula, we receive some of the most acutely unwell patients by air and road ambulance and continue to face pressure across the health system. It’s important to note that the data reflects seasonal changes and we expect to see higher demand for our services as we head into the winter months, which we have been preparing for.

“We understand patients and their families will be concerned about long waits and we have a relentless focus on getting patients to the right place at the right time to reduce ambulance waits.

“In addition to our clinical management of patients, we have introduced a number of measures which to help alleviate the pressure on the Emergency Department including; investing in more staff, expanding our Same Day Emergency Care service until 2am, (with plans to extend to 24 hour opening), and creating additional beds in both the hospital and community.

“Finally, we would always ask the public to choose well this winter and there are some things you can do to help ease the pressure on the Emergency Department:

1. If your relative is in hospital and ready to go home, please collect them as soon as you can to get them safely home.
2. Please use your local pharmacy, GP, and Urgent Treatment Centre if appropriate.
3. Think 111 – If you think you, or someone you care for, needs to attend an emergency Department (ED), call 111 or visit www.111.nhs.uk, first. “

Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Plymouth Moor View Fred Thomas has rounded on the Government after Derriford Hospital revealed its long waiting times for ambulance handovers.

He said: “After 13 years of Tory neglect, the NHS desperately needs a Labour Government to resuscitate it. The last Labour Government reduced waiting times by using the private sector, increasing staff numbers and spreading good practice. We did this before. We will do it again.

“We will train more GPs and bring back ‘family doctors’ for those with ongoing needs, Labour will double the number of district nurses and train 5,000 more health visitors. This will allow far more patients to be seen in the comfort of their home and provide a route to catching problems early and setting healthy habits. We must fix these problems in primary care that are driving avoidable footfall to the A&E.

“There can be no doubt the staff at our hospital continue to work in incredibly challenging conditions doing their best for us but without the staffing and bed resources they need to care for our people the way they would want to, or in a way patients deserve. We don’t clap NHS workers on a Thursday night anymore, but we probably should.”

Last month, Plymouth Moor View MP Johnny Mercer, in his opinion piece for PlymouthLive, said he understood locals “continued frustrations with your health services in Plymouth” saying each week he heard from “distressed constituents who are filed onto waiting lists”.

His concerns were highlighted when in May 2022 he revealed he had been admitted to Derriford Hospital and was left sitting on a chair in a hospital corridor for 21 hours in excruciating pain thanks to a herniated disc in his neck. He praised health staff and hospital chief Ann James, but claimed that not enough was being done to meet demand.

At the time he stated: “I have promised a new hospital by 2027, and that is my defining objective as the member of Parliament for Derriford. I also accept that the government has spent £20 million on the emergency department that is being developed as we speak.

“But whatever is being done is not being done fast enough, or at enough scale to meet the demand, and so I intend to meet with both local and national healthcare leaders to express these views and make it clear that the situation must improve in the near-term.”

The energy watchdog has set out plans that would result in households paying an extra £16 on top of their energy bills to help suppliers recover almost £3bn in bad debts from customers struggling to pay bills.

Mark Sweney www.theguardian.com 

Ofgem said the one-off extra charge, which would be levied at £1.33 a month on bills paid between April next year and March 2025, was to “protect the market and consumers” after figures showed energy debt had hit a record £3bn.

The level of bad debt, which refers to the amount of money owed by customers that is unlikely to realistically be repaid, has soared because of increases in wholesale energy prices and the wider cost of living crisis putting pressure on household finances.

“We know that cost of living pressure is hitting people hard and this is evident in the increase in energy debt reaching record levels,” said Tim Jarvis, the director general for markets at Ofgem.

“The record level of debt in the system means we must take action to make sure suppliers can recover their reasonable costs, so the market remains resilient, and suppliers are offering consumers support in managing their debts.”

Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, said this one-off move would be less costly to consumers than if suppliers were forced out of business.

When wholesale energy prices began to rise in 2021, and soared dramatically after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, about 30 energy companies went out of business.

Ofgem said this led to every UK energy customer being charged an extra £82 to cover the costs of making sure that households were not cut off.

The regulator said the consultation on the proposal would include the energy industry, consumer groups and the public.

“The proposals set out today are not something we take lightly,” Jarvis said. “However, we feel that they are necessary to address this issue. This approach will ensure the costs are recovered fairly, without penalising a particular group of customers.”

The proposed plan does not include passing extra costs on to customers who use prepayment meters. This is because they operate on a top-up system so PPM customers do not build the same debt level as credit customers.

Ofgem said that other industry sectors already “commonly make provisions” within their prices for bad debt costs and that the energy sector could do so within the price cap mechanism to “ensure these costs are recovered as fairly and efficiently as possible”.

Since the beginning of the year the energy price cap, the regulated cost of the average annual dual-fuel bill in Britain, has fallen from £2,500 to £1,928 from January 2024.

“The price cap has helped to protect consumers from a volatile gas market,” Jarvis said. “However, it remains a blunt instrument in a changing energy sector, and the way it works may need to change in the future, so customers continue to be protected.”

The government is potentially draining countries of vital medical staff, despite committing not to do so – and has been warned it should come up with a plan to change direction and help the countries in question.

Tim Baker news.sky.com 

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has released its annual report on the state of the UK’s immigration system.

It comes at a particularly prescient time, as the government struggles with the issue following the revelation that net migration is at its highest ever level.

Sky News Monday to Thursday at 7pm. Watch live on Sky channel 501, Freeview 233, Virgin 602, the Sky News website and app or YouTube.

One of the highlighted areas in the report is the health and social care sector.

The MAC report describes how roughly 35% of doctors and 20% of nurses recruited to the UK are from “red list” countries, as described by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Under WHO rules, employers and recruitment agencies must not actively recruit health and social care personnel from “red” countries.

The list is also part of the government’s own code of practice for recruiting in the sector.

Countries on the “red list” include the likes of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Ghana.

Health workers leaving these regions are reportedly “having a negative impact” in their domestic sectors.

The report says it is possible that “social media algorithms” are resulting in UK recruitment adverts being seen by those in red list countries – and it recommends the government “consider careful planning within the UK to reduce reliance and consequent negative effects on red list countries”.

The MAC report also highlights how low-paid foreign care workers are propping up the UK sector – seemingly without a government plan to deal with it.

Current high-levels of foreign recruitment have been precipitated by the addition of the care workers and home workers on the Shortage Occupations List – meaning people entering from abroad can be paid less.

Image: The number of people applying for a health and care worker visa by country. Pic: MAC

In 2021, 31,800 people applied for a health and care worker visa to work in the UK. From October 2022 to September 2023, this number was 144,000.

The report says the committee previously recommended this “to potentially alleviate some of the difficulties in the short-term whilst funding issues were addressed”.

But none of the other 19 steps they recommended to help address the underlying causes of workforce difficulties have been adopted.

The report also highlighted another issue – that people entering the UK on health and social care visas had been able to bring in dependents with them, such as children.

In 2021, 31,500 dependent visas were applied for on this route – this rose to 173,900 from October 2022 to September 2023.

However, the government has now said that it will be closing this dependent route off.

The MAC report says that, when calculating the benefit to the economy of hiring cheap labour from abroad, the cost of schooling migrant children and other impacts on the state’s purse are “generally ignored” – and cheap foreign labour is not necessarily “almost costless” when compared to “addressing the underlying pay issue”.

The government said this month that it will be reforming the Shortage Occupations List.

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Another sector with low pay is migrant nurses – who get 18% lower wages than domestic counterparts when accounting for factors like age.

This is possibly down to those arriving in the UK having to start on the lowest pay band – a factor which may contribute to the NHS “reliance” on immigration.

Sky News has contacted the Home Office for a response.

A council in one of the wealthiest parts of the UK has warned it faces potential bankruptcy due to the “devastating” impact of cancelling the northern leg of HS2.

Josh Halliday www.theguardian.com 

Leaders of Cheshire East council in north-west England said the authority had spent £11m preparing for the high-speed rail link, and this would now have to be written off. Most of this money – £8.6m – had been funded by borrowing and would now have to be funded from the council’s already stretched revenue budget.

As a result, the council, which is a unitary authority covering Crewe and Macclesfield, could be forced to trigger a section 114 notice, in effect declaring bankruptcy, according to a report by council officers.

Nearly one in five council leaders in England have said they are likely to declare effective bankruptcy within the next year due to a lack of government funding. One in four councils in Scotland said they faced the same prospect.

Labour-run Nottingham city council last month became the fourth authority in the past year – and the eighth in six years – to declare effective insolvency.

Cheshire East council said it faced “direct and devastating impacts” from Rishi Sunak’s decision to abandon HS2 north of Birmingham. It said these impacts were not mitigated by the government’s “network north” proposals which were released to quell widespread anger from political and business leaders over the axing of HS2.

The report submitted to a full meeting of Cheshire East council on Wednesday said it was seeking a “fair and equitable deal to compensate for the losses to the council and the opportunity cost to the borough” of Sunak’s decision.

The council, which reported a forecast £18.7m shortfall in its budget earlier this year, has already introduced a number of cost-saving measures, including charges for green bins, cuts to library opening hours and closing its headquarters.

The council’s Labour leader, Sam Corcoran, has met the rail minister, Huw Merriman, who “agreed that a dialogue between the council and government would continue”, the meeting was told.

The Conservative group leader, Janet Clowes, added that there was “very much a cross-party Cheshire East remonstration with government”.

She said: “I accept that it’s my government, if you like to put it that way, but we have a really good case to bring forward and we have a right to expect more in terms of the response that we can get as how those monies are now going to be allocated. Because Crewe deserves it, as does the rest of Cheshire East that was set to benefit indirectly from being the gateway to the north.”

The mayor of Cheshire East, the Liberal Democrat Rod Fletcher, said he wanted to take the “unusual step” of speaking on the issue as he was a retired railway operating manager. “I was personally devastated,” he said of the cancellation.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Cheshire East is set to receive significant additional support from a new £4.7bn fund to transform local transport across the North and Midlands, as well as a £110m uplift of over 11 years for local road maintenance.

“This is on top of a funding boost of more than £2.2m for bus services in the area as well as the extension of the £2 bus fare cap to the end of 2024 – all part of our Network North plans using redirected HS2 funding to benefit more people in more places, more quickly.”

Locals furious at ‘total destruction’

Torbay Council has apologised for cutting down 40 iconic palm trees in a Torquay seaside park without telling anybody.

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

Tree felling at the Italian Gardens in Torquay (image: Guy Henderson)

A social media outcry followed the felling of the much-loved palms in the Italian Gardens near Torre Abbey Sands, and the story has hit the national headlines. Some comments described the cull as ‘total destruction.’

Now the council’s parks and gardens company SWISCo has said sorry.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the company said: “You may have seen or heard about the work taking place and that we have removed some palm trees.

“We want to apologise for not adequately communicating with you about those plans in advance, and we should have shared our plans earlier and more widely.

“In our enthusiasm to deliver, we raced ahead and failed to let you know that we were going to be making a start on the scheme, so causing this breakdown in communication.”

Consultation over the restoration of the gardens in time for their 100th anniversary next year began in 2019, but the pandemic and budget pressures meant the work was delayed.

SWISCo says the trees were showing ‘signs of advanced decline.’ None was in its prime after years of battering from the seafront weather, the company claims.

The trees were cabbage palms, which have a lifespan of 50 to 70 years. Most were around 50 years old, having been planted in the 1970s.

SWISCo’s statement continues: “Of late, the quality of the gardens had diminished and they were looking far from their best. With the 100th anniversary of the gardens being next year, now felt the right time to make improvements.”

The new garden will feature 1,600 new plants from 12 different species, including some replacement palms. Palm trees did not feature in the gardens when they were first planted in 1924.

“As work continues in the new year, we will be sure to share with you how it is developing with updates on both our website and Torbay Council’s,” said the statement.

Homes will be bought by Plymouth Council at a cost of £10 million to help ease the city’s housing crisis.

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

The council’s cabinet has agreed to borrow money to purchase around 50 properties to use as temporary homes.

It will also be bidding for a grant of between £3 million and £5 million from Homes England.

Demand for temporary accommodation in the city has more than doubled with the number of households requiring homes rising from 160 to 413 (158 per cent).

Many families are now live in B&B establishments and short stay holiday lets as there are no homes available.

Like other cities, Plymouth is facing a homelessness crisis brought about by  the cost of living and the economic impact of the pandemic.

These have significantly affected the housing market and people’s ability to meet day-to day bills such as rent, mortgage, utilities, food and travel. Inflation and the lack of affordable housing has resulted in further demand for housing and homelessness services.

The council needs to find £2.4 million to support homeless people and says it can make savings of more than £1 million a year if it buys properties.

Cabinet member for housing and communities Cllr Chris Penberthy (Lab, St Peter and the Waterfront) said it would ease pressure on families and have less impact on children.

“We have done the sums. An average family in temporary accommodation costs £23,000 a year. Once we have figured in all the costs, we can make savings of £16,000 and provide them with a temporary home which is exactly that and not a stop-start solution like B&Bs. This will give them something more stable.

“We are putting our money where our mouth is in terms of how we treat people.”

Councillors heard how 366 children currently live with their families in temporary accommodation, including 83 children in B&Bs and 35 under fives. B&B stays are limited to two weeks, so families are being moved around.

Children are being moved away from friends and schools, have to share rooms with siblings and parents, and often have nowhere quiet to do homework or revise for exams.

Cllr Penberthy said many families are finding themselves in a situation they have never experienced before because of section 21 ‘no-fault’ eviction notices from landlords who have decided to sell up. Many of these people were working and not claiming benefits.

A shortage of homes to rent meant that there are up to 100 enquiries for each one that becomes available.

He said he did not want anyone to suffer in silence. “We know people are saying they can manage and there will be something else, but it’s not like that any more. I want them to come to us. Please don’t be afraid or ashamed. Come to us as quickly as you can and we can begin to plan together.”

Council leader Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) saidthe rise in people coming through the council’s doors for help is “alarming.” He said the authority’s action in allocating the £10 million was “proportionate and timely” and it would give hope to hardworking staff. “This money will help our staff to help people,” he said.