Somerset this week: 2 February
A strange set of circumstances surround a burglary in Pitney, a town trebles its precept, another passes a Neighbourhood Plan and there's a new Act of Parliament to play with....
Dear readers
Today’s news update is a little briefer than usual because we wanted to get the stroke service decision to you yesterday.
As usual, our weekly news updates are free. Please do subscribe to make sure you don’t miss any. Remember you can subscribe for Somerset Confidential® for free.
At Somerset Confidential®, we see our work as a public service. That’s why much of our content is provided free.
However we still have bills to pay! And we would like to do more, indeed we need to do more. And that means spending more too….That’s why as well as the free subscription, we’ve set a paid subscription rate at £30 per annum.
That’s 58p per week, the price of a loaf of bread.
And for that you get all of our free material PLUS:
Two extra exclusive articles each month for subscribers (there’s value for money for you)
Full access to our back catalogue.
Have your say on anything we write.
And enjoy the satisfaction of supporting the most innovative, public-service journalism project in Somerset.
Can you help us do more? Can you support us?
Think of it like this. Support us – and support a better governed Somerset. You can join our paid subscribers and support us here….
Thank you
Andrew Lee – editor
Somerset this week: 2 February
Act now
Following the decision last week by NHS Somerset to close the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit in Yeovil Hospital, a new piece of legislation caught the eye this week.
From 31 January there is a new process which will enable ministerial intervention in any reconfiguration of NHS services. It is already possible for members of the public to ask for the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to “call in” a planning application if there are significant policy issues attached to it.
The new legislation for the health service will work in a very similar way. It will be possible for organisations or individuals to write to ask the Secretary of State to consider using their call-in power. To request an intervention you have to complete a standard call-in request form.
The only caveat is that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) expects these only to be used in exceptional situations where local resolution has not been reached which came into force on 31 January 2024.
However the circumstances surrounding the decision to close the HASU may be perfect for the new powers. NHS Somerset arguably ignored the strength of public feeling and indeed, the views of their own staff, in coming to their decision. You ca read more about that here
Significant challenges came from the board too, even though they ultimately unanimously voted for the proposal. Notably from Professor Trudi Grant who pointed out that no-one had bothered to investigate the impact of prevention measures. She questioned why no one had undertaken a cost/benefit analysis comparing the option of investing the same money in prevention work, as is now proposed for closing and the Yeovil HASU and replace it with one in Dorchester.
Ray Tostevin of the Quicksilver Community Group in Yeovil told Somerset Confidential: “Quicksilver Community Group (QCG) are actively considering an approach to the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care (Victoria Atkins MP), using a new law that took effect today (31 January 2024). This gives individuals and groups the right to ask the Minister to call-in/review a local NHS health decision.... where local resolution has not been reached.
QCG, patients groups and many others, are very concerned the ICB's decision to close the Yeovil HASU is wrong on clinical grounds. We believe it is not be in the best interests of a significant number of Somerset patients. QCG continues to engage with Somerset Council's Scrutiny Committee (Adults & Health), after it lodged its own concerns with NHS Somerset ICB, over the Yeovil HASU closure plan."
Pre-trial burglary
A strange case was reported by Avon & Somerset Police last week. In October last year Stefan Ayres, 49 was sent for trial for committing burglaries in Taunton and Axminster in 2022.
On Monday 2 October, 2023 the night before his trial was due to begin, Ayres forced entry to a home in Pitney near Langport and stole a large quantity of tools.
At his trial for the burglaries in Taunton and Axbridge he was found guilty, he was remanded into custody ahead of receiving a three-year prison sentence in November 2023.
He was serving his sentence at HMP Exeter when he was identified from CCTV footage as the likely offender in the Pitney burglary. He pleaded guilty to the Pitney burglary and on Thursday 25 January 2024 he received a further six months to his sentence after pleading guilty to the Pitney burglary.
Officer in the case, PC Jim Card, said: "Burglary is a serious offence which can have a significant impact on its victims. We are committed to bringing those responsible to court and I'm pleased that this additional sentence has been handed down."
Ayres was at liberty to commit a third burglary given that he was being prosecuted for two others
We asked, if the police take burglary seriously, how come Ayres was at liberty to commit a third burglary given that he was being prosecuted for two others? At the very least why would he not have been under some form of surveillance.
The Police did not respond to our enquiries.
The rules around putting someone on remand before a trial are broadly as follows (according to the UK government website): You may be put on remand if:
you’ve been convicted of a crime in the past
the court thinks you might not go to your court hearing
the court thinks you might commit a crime while on bail
you have been given bail before and not stuck to the terms
In the event clearly the third item might have applied. Under the circumstances the Police and Courts owe the public an explanation of their decision, how it was taken as whoever took the decision appears to have made the wrong judgement call.
Bridgwater up
Yesterday Bridgwater Town Council debated a budget for 2024/25. The council agreed to a substantial increase in the precept (council tax).
Bridgwater Town Council does generate a sizable income (£436,695) each year but expenditure for the year is expected to be £3,507,915. As the town council are still building up their reserves to an acceptable level, the difference between income and expenditure will be funded this year by the precept.
a precept demand of £3,071,220 which compares to £1,153,746 last year
That leaves a precept demand of £3,071,220 which compares to £1,153,746 last year. Nearly trebling the total tax take. Bridgwater is far from alone in suggesting an eye-watering increase in the precept though.
However unlike some councils who are hiking their council tax demands anticipating what they might takeover from Somerset Council, Bridgwater is ahead of the game. The town has been a devolution pilot since 2021 and had agreed a list of assets with Somerset Council in advance.
From 1 April this year the town council will takeover the following assets:
Mansfield Park
St Matthew’s Field and Fair
Blake Gardens
Victoria Park
Eastover Park/Cranleigh Gardens
King Square
Market Rights and on-street trading concessions
West Market (part of the fair)
Roller-coaster
South Bridgwater Pantry
Bridgwater docks (which will come over later due to legal complications) are also part of the deal but they will not enter Bridgwater Town Council ownership from 2024/25.
Naturally aside from acquiring the assets there are a lot of costs that come with having to run them. Think grass cutting, growing bedding plants for the parks (after the transfers Bridgwater Town Council will be responsible for over 1,800 trees in the town) and then legal and professional fees to tie up all the agreements for the transfers from Somerset Council.
Insurance cost will rise from some £25,000 to nearer £40,000. And now that Somerset Council has abandoned giving out community grants, Bridgwater Town Council will take that on too. It already dispensed some community grants but the budget will now rise from £18,000 to £30,000.
Somerset Confidential understands that Bridgwater Town Council will be taking on former Somerset Council staff working on street cleaning and parks and open spaces in the town.
Of course all this costs money and in a cost of living crisis any increase in taxes is a burden on those least able to afford it. The new precept will see Band A householders paying £196 a year (up from £75 a year last year) and Band B householders £229 a year. While it may be good value, for lower income households being hit with another £120 a year is going to be hard.
Town Council Leader Brian Smedley says: “This is a long overdue boost for Bridgwater and is absolutely necessary and also value for money. 80% of Bridgwater tax payers are A/B and around £3 a week gets all these services. In band D there’s only 4% of people. And even that will be up to just £5 per week. Many of course will get single occupancy discounts and those on the lowest incomes will still be protected. But to save services and jobs we need to do this now. The recruitment process will start at once. Our aim is to protect and improve service delivery in Bridgwater and protect assets for the community. If we don’t do this then Somerset County will reduce, cut and eventually cease delivery of services. Not only this but a new revitalised Bridgwater will be able to offer services to nearby Parish Councils and of course achieve an income in that way too“
New contract
Somerset Council has just signed a new contract with Enerveo Ltd. This is to provide maintenance and support for all the council’s “illuminated and non-illuminated electrical equipment across the county.” Which includes things like Somerset Council’s highways lights, illuminated signs, bollards and electrical equipment. It is not a small job, given that the council has 59,593 illuminated assets to look after, consisting of lights, illuminated signs and bollards.
Why does one always gets a slight shiver when one is told it was the result of “a robust procurement process involving potential suppliers from across the country”? Perhaps because this should be taken for granted, not something to brag about? And then we read that the company had been supplying the same services for the past 12 years and the new contract would be for a further 8 years with an option for four more after that.
That’s all the service in the hands of one company for nearly a quarter of a century? Which inevitably leads us to ask what is a robust procurement process?
A spokesperson for Somerset Council told us that there had been four other businesses who had submitted tenders. We asked if those assessing the tenders were independent of the council staff who had worked with Enerveo Ltd over the past 12 years. Yes they told us, “the award decision was taken by the Council’s Executive and Director.”
Next we wanted to know more about the financial state of the successful company. Well more specifically, what financial due diligence had the council done? Lots they told us. Checks were carried out on profit margins, net assets, financial risk and basic things like are the company accounts overdue.
So all good then?
Well we took a look ourselves. The latest filed accounts at Companies House for Enerveo Ltd showed it has made a pre tax loss of £27.1m for the year to 31 March 2022. And that was worse than the £22.5m loss for the year to 31 March 2021.
Not terribly inspiring, but we also noted that the company balance sheet position at 31 March 2022 showed net assets of just £5.1m (down from £138m the year before). In other words another year with a £20m + loss would make them technically insolvent.
Perhaps their performance has improved? The next accounts to 31 March 2023 are not due to be filed until 31 March 2024.
But does the published financial information support giving them an 8 year contract extension? And of the companies that offered competitive tenders, how many of them were in a stronger financial position? And should the strength of a company’s financial position not have been a factor in the tender process?
Because what the council told us was that the criteria used to evaluate the tenders was: “price, quality and social value at a ratio of 60:30:10.” But not it seems, financial stability and financial resources.
Perhaps the company also foresaw a need to shore up its position because the accounts show that they obtained a short term loan facility of £5m after the 2022 accounts had been filed.
Neighbourhood Wells
Wells City Council is in the final stages of getting a Neighbourhood Plan approved. It has taken 10 long years since the idea was first mooted. A Neighbourhood Plan is not an undertaking for the faint hearted. However once endorsed by local people the idea is to determine the places that can be built on, the places that should be preserved, the way developments might look and to provide an overall vision for the community in the future.
Once approved by local people it is a powerful tool in managing planning and development. Future planning applications must conform with the principles and vision set out in the plan.
In summary the Wells Neighbourhood Plan sets out a vision for 2029 to offer a wide range of housing, employment opportunities and community facilities for all sectors of the community. It covers things as diverse as ensuring adequate parking provision in the city centre and preserving and protecting the heritage assets within the community.
It sets out a series of policies including planning policies which should make the vision come true.
However the whole point of a Neighbourhood Plan is that it should represent the will of local people. So although a council may lead the process, it is always joined by individuals and community groups to ensure it is not just a council document.
But the final seal of approval comes in a referendum on the plan.
The result was emphatic with 81% of those who participated voting “yes”
That took place in Wells last week and the results have just been announced. The result was emphatic with 81% of those who participated voting “yes”.
The last stage now follows. A report will now go to Somerset Council’s Planning and Transport Sub Committee on 14 February to formally “make” (adopt) the Plan.
And finally
There is at last a candidate for the LibDems to fight the constituency of Frome and North East Somerset. Anna Sabine has been selected from a field including previous Somerton & Frome candidate Adam Boyden and Matt McCabe.
Following a hustings earlier in January the decision was put to a vote of party members. Matt McCabe pulled out before the vote however.
The result was announced earlier today. The LibDems say Anna is an experienced campaigner for the party who lives locally and is a local business owner too.
We hope you have enjoyed reading Somerset Confidential®. If you enjoy reading our specials why not gift someone you know a subscription to Somerset Confidential®?
To read more of our journalism don’t forget to subscribe!
Finally if you enjoyed this edition, please feel free to share it……
I live in South Horrington, Wells & was not given an opportunity to vote on the City’s Neighbourhood Plan. I suspect that is because only the very centre of the expanding City is covered by the City Council. Surely with an expanding City the map should be amended in line? It will be interesting to see if the Neighbourhood Plan is similarly restricted.