Somerset this week: 23 February
Somerset Council swings the axe, Somerset newspapers in freefall, Somerton lorry row, unemployment and a little instead of a lot in Castle Cary.
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Somerset this week: 23 February
The last act
It is hard when you are dealing not with numbers but real people with names and faces. As councillors filed into their Somerset Council meeting on Tuesday, they had to pass the protest of Nigel Behan and his trade union colleagues.
The meeting had one main task, to approve a budget that would allow Somerset Council to stagger on for one more year without declaring bankruptcy.
Mr Behan and his members were there to protest both at the cuts coming to the council and the very real job losses for his members that would inevitably follow. It was a poignant moment.
Once inside, unsurprisingly councillors voted through the budget. They’ll be doing all the things we have been telling you they would do over the past few weeks.
But there was still political theatre to be done. LibDem Council Leader Bill Revans was angry. Very angry. Opposition Leader Conservative David Fothergill was equally cross but for different reasons. Cllr Revans blamed government cuts, Cllr Fothergill the LibDem administration for financial laxity.
There is a deep and bitter irony in how we have got to this point and how we might yet get beyond it. The financial crisis facing Somerset Council (and many others up and down the country) is a result of a LibDem and Conservative austerity government that ran between 2010 and 2015.
The economic policy it followed was based on a big lie. That lie was that the financial crisis of 2008-2010 was not in some way to do with collapsing banks, but the then Labour government going out and spending lots of money. Never mind that there were no new hospitals, schools or trunk roads to point to, it must have been a Labour spending splurge.
In the years that followed, both coalition partners referred as often as possible to Labour’s spending crisis. The truth, as both knew, was that the crisis was of collapsing taxation income resulting from the recession that followed the banking crisis.
So the austerity government “fixed” a problem that needed serious and well placed investment, by not doing that. But cutting public spending (and hence public services) instead. It never worked because it was the wrong solution to the wrong problem. It was also economically naive.
That economic naivety has left us with a national debt of £2.6 trillion. Nearly three times the level of the debt that the coalition inherited in 2010.
What it did do, was to lay the groundwork for the current financial crisis at our town and county halls as their funding was cut and cut again over the ensuing years.
Not one …… resigned on principle at the time because of the cuts
The fact is that many of the senior councillors, LibDem and Conservative, in Tuesday’s council meeting were in post as councillors during the years of the coalition government. Not one that we have been able to identify, resigned on principle at the time because of the cuts imposed by that government. Cuts that have led directly to the crisis in Somerset Council’s finances.
Today they are reinventing their anger and pointing fingers at each other.
The budget meeting is now done. The budget is signed off for the 2024/25 fiscal year. The cuts will be made. Jason Vaughan, S151 officer has signed off on the budget as a balanced budget. But everyone knows this is a short-term fix. Next year the numbers will not work. There will be a shortfall of anything from £80-£100m according to how fast the demand for adult social care grows.
So here comes the biggest irony of all for LibDem and Conservative councillors. The only way that Somerset Council will survive through 2025/26 without declaring bankruptcy, is if a General Election in the next 10 months produces a Labour government willing to bail out the councils after all those years of underfunding.
Yep a Labour government. The very thing they castigated all those years ago for spending too much money.
Only now they’ll be hoping they will really will spend more money and ride to their rescue.
It is not as easy as ABC
The annual results are out. Every year most local newspapers have their figures checked and certified by an organisation known as the Audit Bureau of Circulations. In the heyday of newspapers this was a big deal.
It gave you authentic figures for the number of people who bought your newspaper. These you could take to your advertisers to show them you had an audience worth reaching.
Increasingly though, as newspaper sales have slumped these figures have looked redundant. Only useful to assess which newspapers were on the way out and which were still holding their ground.
These days as circulations evaporate before our eyes, the importance of having an ABC certificate is declining.
Most Newsquest titles hadn’t bothered since 2019. That’s papers like the Bridgwater Mercury, The Chard and Ilminster, and the County Gazette. That is now changing.
Only the Reach titles bothered all the way through. That’s the Western Gazette, Central Somerset Gazette, Frome Standard, Wells Journal, Somerset Guardian and Shepton Mallet Journal.
The problem was that having the ABC certificate only helped show the outside world the speed with which their circulations were collapsing.
Recently titles have been merged to save on costs and spare the blushes of circulation numbers that are embarrassingly small. The Wells Journal title has been merged with the Shepton Mallet Journal and the Central Somerset Gazette has joined forces with the Cheddar Valley Gazette. The latter two combined could not even manage a circulation of a thousand. Just 983 copies.
Meanwhile the first Newsquest title to return to the ABC was the County Gazette for the year to December 2022. Why? Almost certainly because historically the circulation of the County Gazette had been less than the Western Gazette.
When the Western Gazette showed an ABC for the year to December 2022 of just 3,518 copies a week, people assumed the County Gazette must be doing less than that.
In fact it was doing almost double. Even if it was giving away 1,500 copies free, it still had a combined circulation of 7,369. So worth setting the record straight.
Even so the decline continues. The ABC for the year to 31 December 2023 showed circulation down at 5,157 copies. Double that of the Western Gazette, but still on the edge of economic viability.
Now that the Bridgwater Mercury has been merged with the Burnham and Highbridge Times it too has returned to the ABC. Whilst hardly setting the world alight, the 3,387 copies that sold each week during 2023 is still well ahead of the figures for the Western Gazette.
The Chard & Ilminster too has returned to publishing an ABC figure. Although with a circulation for the year to December 2023 showing just under fifteen hundred copies a week it is hardly impressive.
So for most of the Somerset newspapers, for the first time in a while we have up to date figures to look at. Unfortunately it makes for grim reading.
The latest figures to December 2023 (with 2022 figures in brackets where published) are as follows:
County Gazette: 5,157 (7,369)
Bridgwater Mercury/Burnham Times 3,387
Western Gazette: 2,463 (3,518)
Chard & Ilminster 1,461
Central Somerset & Cheddar Valley Gazette 983
Frome Standard: 276 (414)
Somerset Guardian: 309 (447)
With the presses that each paper is produced on needing a normal print run of a minimum of 8,000 to break even, it is hard to understand why anyone is bothering to produce them. Are the 276 purchasers of the Frome Standard really that bothered?
In South Somerset some residents complain of having unsolicited copies of the Western Gazette stuffed through their door. Symptomatic perhaps of not knowing what to do with all the copies that are being printed?
More worryingly, the general trend suggests that people no longer have any interest in local news or no longer trust weekly hard copy newspapers to deliver it. Either way it is a terrible shame. The newspaper owners will be telling everyone it is all the fault of the internet.
It isn’t.
The success of free newspapers such as The Leveller, The Frome Times and the Blackmore Vale clearly shows there is a readership, indeed a substantial one for any newspaper prepared to offer genuine news content produced by actual journalism derived from going to meetings and being prepared to ask awkward questions.
Even so, the demise of the weekly newspaper is a great shame and a great loss to the local media scene. Nothing we have seen in the past decade suggests anyone is going to reverse the apparent terminal decline in the format.
And just take a look at the circulation graph for the Western Gazette over time. It really does tell the whole story:
Cross town traffic
Another row is erupting in the town of Somerton over the flow of traffic through the town centre. A one way system that was meant to be a temporary and experimental one, has through a freak change in the law, become permanent.
As a result traffic along the narrow corridor that is West Street, can only travel from east to west.
Given the narrowness of the road and the almost impossibly narrow pavements, that made some sort of sense. However now there are roadworks on West Street that have made it impassable.
Part of the point of the roadworks is to widen the pavements, something that will certainly improve pedestrian safety. It will however cause havoc for lorries delivering to businesses in the town centre.
Leaving the town council with a dilemma. How to get traffic into the town safely to make deliveries?
One of the solutions discussed at the February town council meeting was to route traffic along Pesters Lane at certain times of day. For those of you who do not know Somerton, Pesters Lane is a very narrow lane that runs uphill to meet West Street at the brow of the hill.
It is so unsuitable for heavy good vehicles that on occasion they have become stuck, unable to carry on because of the way the lane narrows at the bottom of the hill. Police have been called on several occasions in the past year to escort the lorries as they try to reverse their way back up the hill.
In the past this has been put down to lorry drivers from our of the area, faulty satnavs and generally unhappy accidents.
Police have been called on several occasions in the past year to escort lorries
Houses along the lane have been scraped by HGVs misjudging the width of the lane.
Residents living along Pesters Lane were unhappy before. Now that there is the possibility of deliberately routing traffic along the lane they are furious.
However Somerton Town Council too has a dilemma. How to get goods into the town while West Street is shut. The town clerk told Somerset Confidential®: “The discussion at the Town Council meeting was that, if necessary, one option would be for Somerton Business and Trade Association to contact residents in Pesters Lane to explore a “delivery window” once per week; local traders, Somerton Business and Trade Association and the Town Council are working hard to find a solution to effect deliveries into the centre of the town during the West Street roadworks looking into every possible option.”
Unemployment up
The latest unemployment figures were published at the start of the week. The figures, analysed by the House of Commons library, are published for each constituency and are for the month of January 2024.
The general trend this month is one of unemployment falling slightly across the UK. Economics website Trading Economics reported that: “The United Kingdom's unemployment rate declined to 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 4.0% in the three months leading up to September and slightly below the market consensus of 4.0%.”
Meanwhile the House of Commons library reported that the number of job vacancies fell in the last quarter to 932,000 in January 2024. Which would suggest employment is rising albeit vacancy levels continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels.
The latest Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey suggests unemployment in the UK remained more or less at the same level from January 2023 to January 2024.
How do things look in Somerset against that national picture?
To be honest, somewhat less rosy. In every constituency in our Somerset patch unemployment numbers rose over the past year. Most significantly in Taunton Deane where unemployment increased by nearly 200 to 1,725.
In every constituency the number of unemployed went up by at least one hundred people.
What was more of a surprise, was taking a look at the long-term trend in unemployment. Scrolling back to 2010, as the recession that followed the financial crash started to bite, you would expect that to be a relatively high point of unemployment (leaving aside the aberration which was the pandemic of 2020).
Not so. Or at least not in Somerset.
Only in Bridgwater & West Somerset is unemployment today at a similar level to that in 2010. No doubt the impact of the extra jobs generated at Hinkley C, todays number of unemployed of 1,885 is just below the rate in 2010 of 1,900.
Even so at 2.9% of the workforce, Bridgwater & West Somerset in percentage terms, still has the highest levels of unemployment in Somerset. And that is despite the near 10,000 people currently working at the Hinkley C site.
Bridgwater & West Somerset in percentage terms, still has the highest levels of unemployment in Somerset
But if that seems disappointing, what is shocking is the way unemployment has risen over the past 13 years in the rest of Somerset. In Taunton Deane it is true unemployment was more or less the same in January 2023 as it was in 2010, but in the past year we have seen that large jump in the numbers noted above.
In Yeovil constituency (which includes Chard and Ilminster) unemployment is just under 300 higher than it was in 2010. In Wells constituency (which includes Burnham on Sea) things are even worse with unemployment up since 2010 by 546, and increase of over 40% in the past 13 years. In Somerton & Frome unemployment is up by 279 since 2010.
The figures themselves have been subject to some criticism over the past 12 months. The ONS has revisited its statistical methods to try and ensure a greater degree of accuracy, but it is true not everyone is happy they have got it right.
When we contacted Somerset Council for a response they suggested that the House of Commons Library figures were wrong. Their spokesperson adding: “The number of people aged 16+ in Somerset who are unemployed has fallen since 2010. Similarly, the proportion of the population (aged 16+) who are unemployed has also fallen as the overall population has grown. However, we do recognise there are barriers to employment for many individuals. We are currently reviewing unemployment and economic inactivity to identify the underlying issues and to determine the most appropriate interventions to support individuals into suitable employment. We will be announcing a package of support measures later this year. “
Even so, whoever is right, it is certainly a surprise to see that unemployment today is so high in so much of the county. While the figures for Bridgwater & West Somerset are disappointing, given the level of local employment Hinkley C should have generated, at least they haven’t risen.
However one large Somerset employer at least is sounding a positive note. We contacted Leonardo, the Yeovil based helicopter manufacturer and one of Somerset’s largest employers. We were interested in their view as they are not only a large employer, but appear to be actively recruiting.
A Leonardo Spokesperson told us: “As one of the largest employers in South Somerset, we are keenly aware of the importance of nurturing the potential of local people and we have many instances of multiple generations of the same family working in our business. We employ over 3,300 permanent members of staff, comprising of both full-time and some part-time roles. We estimate that we contribute approximately 20% of all manufacturing jobs within South Somerset, with strong ties to local educational establishments including Yeovil College. In terms of recruitment, we are building on an existing skilled workforce by bringing in new Early Careers talent to create a sustainable workforce that benefits the business and the local economy.
We’re seeking longevity of employment for those we recruit into the business, so we look beyond the cv to the potential of the individual applying for our vacancies. Attitude and commitment are every bit as important to us as experience, and we take pride in being a flexible employer, with multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives so that everyone feels a sense of belonging. It is widely recognised that having a variety of people from different backgrounds, cultures and approaches enhances the working environment and the quality of our innovation, so we’re looking to recruit a breadth of talent from across the region.”
It is a bright note no doubt.
However it is still disturbing to see that today unemployment in the county as a whole is worse than it was at the end of the financial crash. It does speak to the ongoing commentary that the British economy has been flatlining for most of the past decade. Certainly in GDP terms, ironing out the few years of growth with the years of contraction, the economy has shown no significant growth in GDP terms since 2010.
So perhaps given the increase in population in the intervening years, a rise in unemployment should be less of a surprise.
Crumbs of comfort in Castle Cary
Housebuilder Persimmon Homes Severn Valley was in a generous mood last week. They donated £2,000 to a Community Hall for Castle Cary following an application made to its Community Champions scheme.
The money will fund various bits of equipment as part of a project that will see the Caryford Community Hall – originally open in 1994 and run by an independent and charitable trust – double its floor space.
The Hall’s expansion comes as its popularity has grown. Their calendar is often full of events and classes, and it wants to expand to meet demand.
This is not just an act of altruism and Persimmon have the decency not to conceal the fact. The housebuilder currently has a reserved matters planning application for 165 high-quality homes. These are they say: “for local people, helping to address the area’s housing need” and will be built: “on land between Station Road and Torbay Road in Castle Cary.”
The £2,000 for the Hall will no doubt be welcome.
What will be much more welcome will be houses built and marketed “for local people”. That needs to be at a price local people on local salaries can actually afford. To date hardly any have been built. It necessitates a price point of around £150,000.
Will these new houses be priced at that level to meet a real housing need? Or simply help Londoners head on down the Great Western Railway to a bucolic semi-retirement in a town with excellent rail connections?
What would be even more welcome, is if and when the s106 agreement is signed with Persimmon to provide the infrastructure that the new homes will need, Somerset Council insists on the full amount being paid. And does not simply let off a housebuilder if and when they claim they are not making enough profit.
Persimmon may well be happy to pay the full amount. But very recently Stonewater asked to be let off over £500,000 of the total s106 money they were due to pay for a development in Castle Cary. And Somerset Council agreed.
Next to that loss, £2,000 for a Community Hall, welcome as it may be, will feel like very small beer.
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Finally if you enjoyed this edition, please feel free to share it……
Hi Colin
You can still contact me on the olde email address: levellereditor@gmail.com
Feel free to get in touch!
Andrew
Andrew, how do I contact you now you're not involved in The Leveller? SBTA is referenced in the latest article, but things are very fluid, and I need to let residents know what we're achieving despite STC/SC. Happy to forward my mobile - in fact I think it would be good if we had that direct link.
Many thanks, Colin Powell; Chair SBTA.