Somerset this week: 15 March
Flowers in Glastonbury, no nukes in Bridgwater, adverts on a roundabout in Frome, concerns over Acorn, James Heappey steps down and planners who can't count. A regular week in Somerset....
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Somerset this week: 15 March
Heappey steps down
James Heappey has today announced he will not contest the next General Election, which it is widely expected will be held in the next 9 months. His decision gives the constituency very little time to prepare a new candidate to replace him an will diminish the possibility of the Conservatives winning the seat
. Heappey was until recently still predicted to win the seat.
However the latest opinion poll from Electoral Calculus called the seat for LibDem candidate Tessa Munt with an estimated vote of 34.8% to Heappey’s 31.6%. Perhaps that was what he was alluding to when he said this morning: “After much reflection, I have taken the painful decision not to stand as a candidate in the next General Election. The opportunity to serve the communities within the Wells Constituency for the last nine years has been the greatest honour of my life. However, I have concluded now is the time to step away from politics.”
I have taken the painful decision not to stand as a candidate
In a letter to John Osman, former Somerset County Council Leader and now Chair of the constituency association, Heappey praises the Wells Conservative Association for their unfailing support and goes on to thank my: “incredibly hardworking parliamentary staff and the team of dedicated campaigners at Somerset Conservatives.”
Heappey stepping down will almost certainly increase the likelihood of Tessa Munt reclaiming the seat which she held from 2010-2015.
At the last General Election in 2019, Heappey had a comfortable majority:
However as the saying goes, that was then, this is now!
Meanwhile the MP had this to say about his immediate plans: “Until the next election, my constituents can be assured of my full commitment to our community. I will make each of my remaining days in Westminster count in the service of my amazing constituency and I shall be forever grateful to my constituents for bestowing on me the opportunity to do so. In the meantime, I will support Rishi Sunak as our party leader and Prime Minister in Government, until such time as he wishes me to step down, and then from the backbenches.”
One of the younger members of the government (Heappey is 43) he is also one of the few members of the government to serve Johnson, Truss and Sunak. He is currently Minister of State for the Armed Forces. He has picked up other titles and rights too in the course of his government career. Appointed to the Privy Council under Liz Truss (for which he is given the title “Right Honourable” for life), he had right to sit in Cabinet too although he lost that right when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.
Heappey has not indicated what he intends to do after leaving Parliament. For a man with his contacts, any number of consultancies from the arms industry will no doubt be on offer.
There may still be a Heappey in the next Parliament though. His brother has been selected to stand for the Conservatives in the next General Election in the seat of Bath. That said, the Electoral Calculus poll doesn’t give him a lot of chance, putting incumbent Wera Hobhouse on 56% of the vote and with a 99% chance of winning.
Bloomin’ Glastonbury
This year will mark the 25th year of the town of Glastonbury entering the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition. The late Cllr Alan Gloak MBE first persuaded the town to enter the competition back in 1999. Initially the town entered the Mendip in Bloom competition and then moved on to Britain in Bloom.
The Glastonbury in Bloom Committee is made up with members of the Town Council and volunteers from across the whole community. They supply hanging baskets for the shops in the town centre and aim to include many of the other areas around and about Glastonbury that are sometimes overlooked. Wild and bee friendly flowers are sprinkled in neglected areas to try and establish large blankets of wild flowers helping Glastonbury look beautiful.
The 2023 displays were all on a theme of an “Avalon Sunset” were a big hit with the judges. The town won a gold medal for the fifth time in a row as well as winning the prestigious Preece Cup for the population category, the Abbiss Cup for best Horticultural Display on a Municipal building (Glastonbury Town Hall) and the Sargent Trophy for outstanding effort and contribution from a main competition entry.
These days the “In Bloom” competition is divided into regions. You start off being judged in your region, in Glastonbury’s case, that’s obviously the South West.
The regions then select a town to go forward and represent them in the national competition. Following the outstanding success of the town in the 2023 regional competition, Glastonbury has been selected to go forward as the South West’s representative for the 2024 national competition.
Obviously Glastonbury now has to do it all over again for the judges in the 2024 competition, but they are allowed to submit photos from their award-winning year and to show the journey from that grand effort on towards the completion of the 2024 entry.
Whilst decking the town in floral delights certainly enhances it as a tourist attraction, this is not a cheap enterprise. Glastonbury in Bloom does have its own budget but a key element of the funding is getting local businesses to sponsor the displays. Even so they don’t stint. Expect floral displays (like that below) to be all around the town.
This year the colour scheme will reflect the Town Council crest with blues, golds, yellows, whites and silvers, all to commemorate 50 years since the Town Council we know today was created, and the entry to Britain in Bloom will be in memory of the Alan Gloak MBE who sadly passed away on 29 December 2023.
This year the judges will be looking at three categories: Horticulture, Environmental Responsibility and Community Involvement, all of which play well to the essence of the town. So fingers crossed!
Money go round
Somerset Council is short of cash. That is not news. Nor should we be surprised that the council is trying everything it can to bring cash in. Some ideas smack more of desperation than others. Such as the idea of putting advertising hoardings on roundabouts. Ugly, but it is hardly revolutionary.
the idea of putting advertising hoardings on roundabouts is hardly revolutionary
When Somerset Council wants to do something like this, just like every other individual or organisation, it must put in a planning application. Though that then leaves the council as a body corporate, putting forward an application which will be decided by individual Somerset Councillors. If that sounds like a massive conflict of interest, then yes, it is.
That does not mean that the council always gets its own way though.
The last meeting of the Council’s planning committee for Area East had to consider the Council’s own application for four advertising hoardings on the Marston Roundabout by the Sainsbury’s petrol station in Frome.
Nothing to see here said Somerset Council’s planning officer who heartily recommended approval. But local councillors were having none of it.
From a practical point of view Green Party Councillor for Frome Martin Dimery told us: “Personally, I turned the sign down on the grounds of safety. I think it's a potential distraction for drivers.” He also noted that it could be regarded as "visual pollution".
As to earning money for the council he observed: “Selling off advertising space on the roadside will not scratch the surface of Somerset's £108 million budget shortfall.”
The decision was not exactly close with the final vote being to refuse the application with 7 in favour, 1 against and 1 abstention.
Which should at least offer some reassurance that even when Somerset Council is the applicant, councillors are not patsies who will just follow the whims of their Council.
Old habits die hard
In the old Leveller, we were never short of material concerning the competence or otherwise of South Somerset District Council (SSDC). SSDC was a horror story when it came to planning enforcement. Not only did it rarely seem able to find the staff to enforce planning breaches, when it did so, on far too many occasions those enforcement notices were thrown out by the Planning Inspector for basic errors and oversights.
Now the area once attended to by SSDC is overseen by the Area South Planning Committee of Somerset Council.
A new start maybe with a new broom, fresh faces and a fresh approach?
Apparently not.
The last meeting of Area South noted two enforcement notices which were problematic. An Enforcement Notice for Land at Staples Corner in East Coker was examined by Planning Inspector James Blackwell.
There are of course many attributes required of a planning officer. A knowledge of planning law is probably a good start. But when it comes to maths and the application of common sense, these are not requirements that it seems Somerset Council have required.
In this instance the council alleged that there were unauthorised buildings on the site which should be removed.
there were more structures present within the appeal site than specified in the Enforcement Notice
Mr Blackwell observed that on his site visit he found: “there were more structures present within the appeal site than specified in the Enforcement Notice.” And given the ambiguity of information provided by the council, it was impossible to identify which buildings they wanted removed. You might have thought than an officer would have been able to count to ten (there were fewer than 10 buildings on the site), but in this instance, apparently not.
The frustration of the Planning Inspector with the almost farcical situation he was confronted with shines through his report.
In the end he dismissed the Enforcement Notice as being unenforceable as he couldn’t identity which buildings the council were asking to be removed.
However this was not the only howler identified at the meeting. Another Enforcement Notice had been appealed and landed on the desk of Planning Inspector Jessica Graham. Jessica Graham is much kinder than some.
In this Enforcement Notice the council objected to the creation of a hard standing area and the use of a trailer mounted wooden building on a site that was used for forestry. The land in question being Willetts and Paulls Copse, Chilworthy Lane, Peasmarsh, Ilminster.
The hard standing was, contended the council, newly created and should be removed and the land returned to its former condition.
What the council seemed unaware of, was that the hard standing was not really very new at all. In fact evidence provided to the Inspector suggested it had been there since 1970. And it was only required to have been in situ for four years to be accepted as not needing further planning permission.
Now you might not have expected the council’s planning officer to know that. But there are some things you might have expected the officer to know, or at least be able to find out.
What was particularly interesting about this particular hard standing, was the identity of the body that created it. Step forward and take a bow Somerset County Council! The predecessor body to Somerset Council who had issued the Enforcement Notice…..
From little Acorns
Acorn developments were the preferred partner for Mendip District Council (MDC) for the redevelopment of the Saxonvale site in the centre of Frome. Part of the site is/was actually owned by MDC and hence has been passed to the successor body, Somerset Council. That site is now up for sale as part of the efforts of Somerset Council to raise funds by selling off surplus assets.
There are two proposals to redevelop Saxonvale on the table. One by Acorn which is deeply unpopular and has attracted widespread opposition within Frome. And one by Mayday Saxonvale that local people support. Both are expected to bid for the site when Somerset Council sells it off.
Acorn told Somerset Confidential®: “Acorn Property Group is working hard towards a solution to bring the redevelopment of Saxonvale to fruition. Last week we held an event at Frome Town Council Offices to provide an update on the resubmitted planning application for Saxonvale which included details on the increase of commercial floorspace by 43%..... we are proud of our proposals for a scheme that is deliverable and sustainable for Frome.”
No doubt they are. But their efforts, genuine as they are, are not the point at issue here.
There is inevitably deep suspicion about the sale process within the town of Frome. Will the highest bid win? Will the bids be secret? And will MDC councillors who selected Acorn as their preferred partner, be part of the decision over which bid wins?
Part of the problem is that former MDC council Leader, Ros Wyke is the Somerset Councillor in charge of assets. We asked the Council’s press team about this and they confirmed Cllr Wyke would also be in charge of asset sales.
However, they also confirmed that the decision on Saxonvale would be taken by the full Council Executive not just an individual councillor. Unless those members of the Executive who were also members of the administration at MDC recuse themselves (and there is certainly more than a whiff of a conflict of interest here) there is going to be a problem with perception here.
Because the current Executive contains Ros Wyke, Liz Leyshon and Heather Shearer also served in the administration of MDC. The question Frome residents will ask is will they be able to make an independent judgement when the administration at MDC had chosen Acorn as a preferred partner?
Theo Butt Philip is also a councillor for the Mendip area (he represents Wells), however he was not previously a councillor on MDC and hence not party to the decision to choose Acorn.
There are of course ten members of the Executive and the three former MDC members may declare an interest. That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile our attention was drawn to the reputation of Acorn as a developer through reviews on the rating site TrustPilot. It is certainly true that the majority of views on the site are positive. 62% of reviews gave Acorn five stars. But there wasn’t much in between and 25% gave the developer just one star. Acorn it seems are a marmite company.
A lot of the complaints registered were by customers complaining that once they had bought from Acorn, they could not get any help with snagging and defects in the build. There are complaints of phones not being answered, no contact details being available, that sort of thing.
But at least there were a lot of five-star reviews and lots of happy customers. Until we came across one by Yonatan Ayele. Mr Ayele was delighted with his new property. His review was effusive and Acorn posted back thanking him for the praise he had given.
Mr Ayele is no stranger to Acorn. In fact he is (according to his Linked In page) their Group Financial Controller. A fact that neither he in his comments, nor Acorn in their response, found it necessary to acknowledge.
It left us wondering how many other five-star reviews had been written by Acorn employees. Perhaps less conspicuous ones that we could not easily trace. Acorn did respond to our request for more information telling us: “one review was written by a member of staff however, they are also a purchaser – this can be evidenced if required. We do however recognise that there should have been full transparency around this so have removed the review. For the remaining Trustpilot reviews, we have a robust verification process in place where verified review invitations are sent directly though (sic) our integrated sales system. This gives us confidence and transparency about their origin.
Aside from reviews via third party sites, we have our own process in place to contact every buyer, four weeks following completion to ensure that they are happy.
Over the last year we have welcomed 130 sets of homeowners to their new properties and the vast majority of feedback we have received from buyers has been positive. We value all feedback from our customers and endeavour to meet or exceed their expectations of us. Our priority is to deliver beautiful homes and top-notch service to our buyers.”
We have no reason to doubt Acorn’s statement. However the one-star comments from buyers on TrustPilot seem to suggest that the system is not working as well as it could.
Bridgwater group says “no”
Bridgwater is a town that has benefited from the nuclear industry. The money and jobs coming into the town as a result of building Hinkley C have been welcomed by politicians of most (but not all) colours.
But not all things nuclear are equally welcome. Last week Bridgwater Peace Group held a well-supported and lively meeting at the Bridgwater Railway Club with Dr Rowland Dye, a nuclear physicist from Bristol, on hand to move proceedings along.
The subject of their ire is the reintroduction of American nuclear weapons on British soil. The group are raising awareness of what they see as “conflict and the escalation of nuclear weapons in the UK” and hold their next meeting on Sunday March 24th 4pm at 36 Eastover Bridgwater.
One member of the group is Lyn Barlow, a Williton resident who was a member of the Greenham Common women's camp. That protest was ultimately successful with American nuclear weapons leaving both the Molesworth and Greenham Common air bases in the 1980s and 1990s. At Lakenheath base the nuclear weapons were only removed as recently as 2008.
So what is all the fuss about?
Surely nuclear weapons, or at least American controlled nuclear weapons on British soil are a thing of the past.
Not a bit of it.
Last year a leaked paper revealed that a “surety dormitory” was being built at the American Air Base at Lakenheath on the Suffolk/Cambridgeshire border. We understand this is to house 144 American personnel charged with constructing nuclear bunkers to house warheads. The budget for the build is £39m with construction expected to start in summer this year.
Although the reintroduction of nuclear weapons is not yet taking place, they are clearly being planned for. Last year the US Department of Defense added the UK to a list of NATO nuclear weapons storage locations in Europe. These are being upgraded under a multimillion-dollar infrastructure programme.
Whatever your views on housing American weapons on UK soil, the British government have been unusually coy about releasing details.
Which is why peace groups, such as the one in Bridgwater, are trying to ramp up the publicity around changes that may be coming sooner than we think.
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Had to chuckle at the statement;
"One member of the group is Lyn Barlow, a Williton resident who was a member of the Greenham Common women's camp. That protest was ultimately successful with American nuclear weapons leaving both the Molesworth and Greenham Common air bases in the 1980s and 1990s."
A quick search on Wikipedia throws up another possible reason for the closure of the base at RAF Greenham Common
Following the ratification of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and the General Secretary of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev in June 1988, the last GLCMs at RAF Greenham Common were removed in March 1991, and the 501st Tactical Missile Wing was inactivated in May 1991. On 11 September 1992, the USAF returned RAF Greenham Common to the Ministry of Defence."
So I'm not sure if the so-called 'Greenham Peace Camp' had any influence on nuclear disarmament talks, but rather the Soviet Union was essentially bankrupt and was looking to save a few rubles!
Hence, as history has shown during the Cold War we should acknowledge the value of having nuclear weapons as a deterrent.