Somerset this week: 24 May 2024
We kick off with our guide to the General Election in Somerset and venture our own predictions. Plus a mess surrounding a Freedom of Information request, flooding in Chard and a quarry near Frome.....
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Somerset this week: 24 May 2024
Election fever?
So it is to be 4 July. Dodging the downpours and a rowdy neighbour playing the 1997 Labour anthem “Things can only get better”, Rishi Sunak made his speech and put his pitch to the British people.
Have we ever had an election on American Independence Day before? No. The nearest we have come was in 1945 when the election was held on 5 July and led to a Labour landslide. That is not an omen the Conservatives will be wanting to think about too much.
Given that these days our focus is not so much on American independence but our interdependence on America, perhaps the choice of date was appropriate?
With the country moving into election mode, the announcement by the Prime Minister is said to have caught many of his own MPs off guard. Some are not happy with him and wondering what they can hope for when trailing 20% or so in the polls.
However, the thinking is simple. Inflation numbers look good, It probably won’t get any better than this for the government this summer, so try and cling on to some good news data and see if the public will buy it.
The announcement has caught others out too. It has certainly wrong-footed Reform UK. Although they intend to contest all the English parliamentary seats, there were still some gaps on the day the election was announced. Take Bridgwater constituency for instance. Here we are told: “Candidate in Place, details to be confirmed.” The details to be confirmed appear to include the candidate’s name! Make of that what you will. No name, no biography and very little time to get campaigning.
As to Frome & East Somerset, Taunton and Yeovil constituencies, there are names (David Swain, Charles Hansard and Mark Burdge respectively), but Reform UK is apparently so shy about their candidates in these seats, that they were not giving out any biographies (nor did they even seem able to name the wards in the constituency).
Meanwhile, those MPs who were rumoured to be thinking of standing down at the next election, rather than face the prospect of being ejected by the public, have run out of time.
That means that Minister and MP Rebecca Pow will be expected to defend her old seat, newly named Taunton & Wellington. Other Conservative MPs, Marcus Fysh in Yeovil and Ian Liddell Grainger in the new seat of Tiverton & Minehead had already confirmed their intention to stand.
The other sitting MP to stand is LibDem Sarah Dyke whose Somerton & Frome seat ceases to exist at the General Election. She has decided to stand for the southern part of her seat (where she lives) and is standing for the new Glastonbury & Somerton constituency.
Reform UK are not alone in being caught out by the timing. In Wells & Mendip Hills, James Heappey has resigned as a minister and made it clear he would not be standing at the next election. Unfortunately, the Conservatives have yet to announce a new candidate. That said, Labour are in the same boat which will be a boost to former MP, Tessa Munt standing for the LibDems.
Additionally in both Yeovil and Taunton & Wellington constituencies, Labour have still not announced a candidate.
On the extreme left of politics, George Galloway’s Workers Party of Great Britain will be fielding candidates in Somerset for the first time. Angela Henderson will stand for Somerton & Glastonbury while Nidal Shah is to stand in Yeovil.
As our regular readers will know we have followed the candidate selection closely over recent months and most of the major parties now have their candidates in place.
So, although there’s a long way to go, we can at least start off with a summary of who is who in the constituencies of our patch of Somerset, moving clockwise from the south west:
Tiverton & Minehead
Jonathan Barter (Labour)
Laura Buchanan (Green Party)
Rachel Gilmour (LibDems)
Frederick Keen (Reform UK)
Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative)
Electorate 71,000. The seat is made up of the western half of the old Bridgwater and West Somerset Constituency.
Electoral Calculus currently call this seat for the Conservatives with Ian Liddel Grainger predicted to win with 29% of the vote in a three way race with the LibDems and Labour.
Somerset Confidential® call: Labour
Our reasoning is that the old West Somerset area was a happy hunting ground for UKIP with a large population of older Brexit supporters. This should give Reform UK a larger return and eat into Ian Liddell-Grainger’s chances of winning the seat.
Bridgwater
Ashley Fox (Conservative)
Charlie Graham (Green Party)
Leigh Redman (Labour)
Claire Sully (LibDems)
Electorate: 71,290. The seat comprises the eastern half of the old Bridgwater and West Somerset Constituency plus Burnham on Sea and Highbridge from the old Wells constituency.
Electoral Calculus call the seat for Labour with 37% of the vote and a 70% chance of winning.
Somerset Confidential® call: Labour
Wells & Mendip Hills
Helen Himms (Reform UK)
Abi McGuire (Independent)
Tessa Munt (LibDems)
Peter Walsh (Green Party)
Electorate: 69,500 The core of the old Wells constituency loses Burnham on Sea and Highbridge, Glastonbury and Street, but gains chunks of North Somerset including Yatton, Congresbury and Banwell.
Electoral Calculus calls this for the LibDems with 32% of the vote marginally ahead of the Conservatives. But with a 51% chance of winning.
Somerset Confidential® call: LibDem (but with a bigger margin than Electoral Calculus predict).
Frome & East Somerset
Martin Dimery (Green Party)
Gavin Heathcote (Independent)
Robin Moss (Labour)
Anna Sabine (LibDems)
David Swain (Reform UK)
Lucy Trimnell (Conservative)
Electorate: 70,040. The seat comprises the Frome ned of the old Somerton & Frome constituency with bits of North East Somerset, notably the old mining towns of Radstock and Midsomer Norton.
Electoral Calculus suggest this is a genuine three way fight between Labour Conservative and LibDems. They call the seat for the Conservatives with 28% of the vote compared with Labour and LibDems both on 27%.
Somerset Confidential® call: Labour (with a higher Green Party vote than the 6% predicted by Electoral Calculus).
Our reasoning is that the Conservative vote will not hold well in Frome, Radstock and Midsommer Norton and that a larger than expected Green vote will come at the expense of the LibDems rather than Labour.
Glastonbury & Somerton
Jon Cousins (Green Party)
Sarah Dyke (LibDems)
Angela Henderson (Workers)
Hal Hooberman (Labour)
Faye Purbrick (Conservative)
Electorate: 69,925. The new seat is made up from the southern half of the old Somerton & Frome constituency plus Glastonbury and Street from the old Wells constituency.
Electoral Calculus calls this for the LibDems with 44% of the vote and an 85% chance of winning.
Somerset Confidential® call: LibDem
Yeovil
Adam Dance (LibDems)
Marcus Fysh (Conservative)
Nidal Shah (Workers)
Serena Wootton (Green Party)
Electorate: 76,050. The seat is largely unchanged from the last General Election.
Electoral Calculus call the seat for the LibDems with 37% of the vote and a 70% chance of winning.
Somerset Confidential® call: LibDems (but with a Green Party result well ahead of predictions possibly propelling them into second or third place)
Taunton and Wellington
Gideon Amos (LibDems)
Rebecca Pow (Conservative)
Ryan Trower (Green Party)
Electorate: 77,200 The seat is largely unchanged from the last General Election.
Electoral Calculus call the seat for the LibDems with 36% of the vote and a 71% chance of winning.
Somerset Confidential® call: LibDem
What the candidates say
Unsurprisingly perhaps, given how long calls for an election have been echoing around the country, the news of a firm date has been greeted by many of Somerset’s political hopefuls with some enthusiasm. The Green Party’s Martin Dimery told us: “I'm absolutely delighted the election has been called. I couldn't have designed the new constituency of Frome and East Somerset better myself. Frome is a Green stronghold and many of the surrounding wards have previously elected Green councillors. We've made great gains in the BANES part of the constituency too. Our canvassing in Radstock and Midsomer Norton has been very positive. With no sitting MP it's an open field. I genuinely believe we will win it. Standby for a huge shock."
Adam Dance the LibDem candidate for Yeovil was also looking forward to the fight saying: “I am ready to take the issues which affect us all across South Somerset to Westminster. We need change in this Constituency of Yeovil and I can deliver that for you. I look to you for your support on Thursday 4th July. Vote Liberal Democrat for a Fair Deal."
In Bridgwater, local candidate for Labour Leigh Redman was also raring to go: “It is time for change. This is a chance to turn the page on 14 years of Tory Government and to chart a new course for the country. Nothing is decided, not a vote has been cast, I will work hard to earn the people of Bridgwater, Burnham, and surrounding villages trust. This chaos has cost the country and every corner of our communities dearly. Policy swings, wasted money, reckless economic decisions, Britain’s reputation damaged. I am asking the people of my constituency to put their trust in me, I will be the voice of our communities in Westminster. The Tories crashed the economy, and left you to pay the price. I will be on the doors asking voters to trust me, I understand the campaign will be hard, but I am up for the fight.”
And for the Conservatives Faye Purbrick told us: “Delivery and results - that’s what this election is about. And that’s why I welcome the announcement yesterday that we will be having a General Election. The choice in Somerset is clear. Stick with the plan that is getting our economy under control, improving reading and maths skills for our children, and making the tough decisions we need to keep us all safe. Or risk our government and our local council both being run by people who eventually always run out of other people's money. Let’s not forget - the Lib Dems have already done that in Somerset by being in the Council to the brink of bankruptcy. I'll continue to be out knocking on doors and talking to as many people as I can in the next 6 weeks, to give them the choice of a candidate who cares and can deliver for them.”
The race has started. Brace your self. We have six more weeks of this to come…..
Chard submerged again
Rishi Sunak is not the only one who has been dodging the rain of late. Last weekend an unseasonal downpour hit Chard and once again sections of the town around Crimchard saw flash floods. The problem with the volume of water suddenly arriving has been compounded, once again, with problems with drainage.
This is of course not the first time it has happened. Hundreds of Chard properties were hit by extreme flooding in 2021 as intense rainfall caused a surge in surface water that overwhelmed the sewer system in the town.
These days the residents of Chard are better organised. Frustrated at the lack of help from those in authority who are supposed to stop these things from happening, local residents formed Chard Area Resilience Group (CARG). Volunteers now check the roads and estates for blocked drains and for any sign that the system for carrying water away is not working well. And there are half a dozen volunteer incident wardens too. As a result, when the water ran through the streets this time around, there were wardens on hand. And of course residents in some of the more vulnerable areas were prepared and had protected their properties.
Even so this was no small matter. Water entered Catch Gate Lane and Rackstile Lane, followed the roads and converged at Park Cottages/Catchgate Lane moving onto Crimchard. Most of the flash flooding then followed Bews Lane, and some moving down Crimchard towards the top end of Glynswood. The water on Bews Lane gained velocity and exited just below Redstart School at the pedestrian crossing and then moved into Glynswood from that direction too.
Properties opposite Catchgate Lane had prepared defences and, as a result, they avoided having their homes flooded. Similarly, most properties on Glynswood avoided the worst but some had outbuildings and garages flooded, and at one house sewerage escaped a manhole cover in the front garden leaving them with a nasty clean-up.
Once again it is not just the water. As Incident Warden Adam Loveridge told us: “Wardens have been checking and clearing that area, and so were as prepared as we could have been, but the amount of stones and gravel driven off the hills quickly blocked and covered the drains all the way to Redstart.”
Mud and stones from agricultural land being washed onto roads appears to be more commonplace as our weather is getting more extreme.
The complaints that led to CARG being formed in the first place continue. Comments along the lines of “We contacted every authority and no one would help”. Some even say that: “they would not even take our name and details”.
CARG say that making connections within Somerset Council to make the process of information sharing and solution collaboration better has met with little success. That said, they do say that officers at Chard Town Council have been helpful and supportive.
We asked Somerset Council to comment on the support given to Chard residents during the weekend’s downpour. They told us: “Our Highways Teams were busy on the scene in Chard following a localised downpour last week which saw nearly 20mm of rain falling in a short amount of time. As has been seen before, this level of rain in a concentrated period of time tends to result in run off from surrounding land gathering on roads. Last week we saw some flash flooding of roads and footpaths resulting in debris on the roads which the team dealt with as part of the clear-up work.
Our Emergency Planning, Response and Recovery Team is continuing to liaise with Chard Town Council to assess any outstanding issues affected residents and businesses. So far we have had no reports of property flooding – if you have been affected please do report this online as soon as possible here
If you do spot damage or any other problems on the road please report it here”
Somerset Council makes mockery of Freedom of Information
In compiling its accounts, Somerset Council has a number of things to take into account. There are the numbers for its own operations. Then they must add in numbers for all the subsidiaries that they control – in other words where they own more than 50% of the company. Or if they own just 50%, where they also have management control.
And any accounts that the council have used to compile their numbers must be made available to the public. Ideally, but not exclusively, during the one month a year when councils open their books to the public.
When Somerset Council emerged from the amalgamation of four districts and the old county council, it included SSDC Opium, a joint venture between South Somerset District Council (SSDC) and Opium Power. Although each party owns 50% of the company, SSDC have always had management control. Therefore the accounts are consolidated into the authority accounts.
Earlier this year a member of the public using the Freedom of Information Act asked to see the profit and loss account of SSDC Opium and two other companies that are in turn owned by SSDC Opium.
They were met with an outright refusal by the Freedom of Information team. In justifying the refusal the team stated among other things that: “The investment by the council in these projects is a commercial activity by the council. The shareholders are the council and Opium Power Limited. The projects operate in a competitive commercial market. It would be harmful to the commercial interests of both the council and the other shareholder to publish the information you have requested. On this basis, we will not be disclosing any of the information you have requested.”
This is, with respect, complete cobblers. The only reason that SSDC Opium does not file a profit and loss account at Companies House, is because it is a small company. If it was a large company, it would be obliged by law to file one. It has absolutely nothing to do with commercial confidentiality.
To claim there is a public interest in concealing the accounts is also, to use the same technical term, complete cobblers.
Why? Because if any member of the public had asked during the period when the council opened its books (usually in August) the council would be obliged to give the information.
We at Somerset Confidential® have good reasons to know a lot about this. When the company was owned by SSDC, both SSDC and the directors of SSDC Opium tried to prevent us from having access to the company profit and loss account.
We challenged this, going to the audit committee and also direct to the auditors. Audit partner Barrie Morris told us that: “Section 26 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (legislation.gov.uk) sets out the rights of inspection, as they relate to: “each audit of accounts under this Act.” We told him that we had in fact been refused access to the profit and loss accounts when we had requested them. He added: “Your inspection rights should enable you to have access to anything that the Council has relied upon to produce their statement of accounts, including the Group Accounts. Therefore, where the Council has relied upon the company accounts to produce the Group Accounts, these should be made available to you.”
Audit Committee Chair, Cllr Mike Hewitson, also supported us, having himself taken advice from the auditors. In the end we did indeed receive the profit and loss account of the company, as we had requested.
Now it is true to say that in this current case, the profit and loss accounts were not requested in the open books period. But the answer to the Freedom of Information request makes no reference to Inspection Rights and seems to completely fail to understand that the company profit and loss account is indeed something the public are entitled to see, albeit at the right time.
So has Somerset Council gone backwards in terms of openness and transparency? Not really, more a matter of the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.
We can say this with confidence because we too asked for access to the profit and loss accounts of the three companies. We approached the council s151 officer Jason Vaughan. His attitude could not have been more at odds with that of the Freedom of Information team. He not only provided the accounts we requested but told us: “Our style is to be open and transparent, and we will happily provide information outside of the formal inspection period. There are some areas that will be commercially confidential but we will always try and provide as much as we can.” An attitude we can only applaud. Unfortunately not all council departments see it the same way.
Frome quarry applications
As things stand, decisions on minerals and waste are taken by Somerset Council’s strategic planning committee. This follows the same procedure that Somerset County Council had used. However, the newly formed council had considered giving the power to decide quarry applications to the area planning committees. The proposal was discussed at the Wednesday full council meeting of Somerset Council among a series of potential changes to the Council’s constitution. The idea was voted down by the administration.
That leaves all future decisions on quarries to be taken by the Strategic Committee. To date only one quarry application has come before it, but that will change next month.
Three planning applications to re-open the dormant Westdown Quarry near Frome, which closed in 1988 are due to be heard in Shepton Mallet (at the former offices of Mendip District Council) on 6 June at 10am.
The original application in May 2021 was in the name of Hanson, though the company has since renamed itself as Heidelberg Materials.
The significance of the decision not to move applications like this to Area Committees being that there is significant opposition locally and the members of the Area East Planning Committee might well have been expected to vote it down. The same cannot be said of the strategic committee which has just three members (out of 13) from the Mendip area: Michael Dunk (Green Party), Philip Ham (Conservative) and Edric Hobbs (LibDem).
The application was taken out in May 2021. Hanson originally submitted four planning including a plan to dump the spoil in the adjacent Asham Quarry which closed in 1985. Asham was quarried out of the ancient Asham wood, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conversation, as it is one of the rarest ancient woodlands in the country. That particular application has now been withdrawn.
The three remaining plans continue to provoke local opposition with a petition against the quarry being re-activated raising 2,490 signatures. The comments of Henry Parr, a local resident, are typical of those voiced by objectors: “There are 4 huge quarries within 2 miles of Westdown; Whatley, Torr Works and Halecombe, and the reopened Bartletts right next door. Added together these cover an area of land nearly as big as Frome itself. If this expansion is approved, it will be a disaster, a triumph of money and power, a defeat for nature and for all our futures.”
In addition the Environment Agency, Somerset Ecology Services, Natural England and Somerset Wildlife Trust have all submitted objections to the applications.
For their part Hanson say: “Westdown Quarry will be able to handle local demand using road haulage on the arterial A361 – leaving the nearby Whatley Quarry to focus on supplying national infrastructure projects … through its mainline rail link.” They also claim that the re-opened quarry would protect 200 jobs together with the existing activities at Whatley.
The planning meeting in Shepton Mallet is still marked as provisional, but it will presumably now be a meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee that considers the application.
What’s in a name?
We reported recently on the clerk role at Martock Parish Council being renamed Chief Executive Officer. Here the post the incumbent was recruited for was titled: “Chief Executive”.
It seems the habit is contagious. Whilst looking up material for a different story in Yeovil we found ourselves browsing the Yeovil Town Council website. As you do.
Yeovil is a town with a rapidly growing task list. Unlike Martock it does have a precept running to several millions of pounds. Well, £2.5m seeing as you ask.
Even so we can trace no change approved by the council to the title of the clerk. Nevertheless Amanda Card is described in two job adverts posted by the council as: “Chief Executive/Town Clerk”.
One of the roles being recruited for was a “Director of Leisure and Environment”. So in a sense the town council appears to be moving itself to the nomenclature of a company rather than a council. In which context the title Chief Executive makes sense.
However we cannot help but ask if this is healthy. Do Yeovil residents want their council to be run like a company? Surely the sort of behaviours associated with corporate entities is the antithesis of the public service we expect from a council?
We contacted Amanda Card to ask about the change of name. She told us: “My title is now Chief Executive/Town Clerk – minutes, agendas etc will be updated in due course. As the Council will be getting substantially bigger due to the additional services and the growing number of employees, the structure of the Council needs to change so that it fit for purpose. This will involve the Town Council going from a basic structure to a more corporate approach, so that there is a clear division between types of services, therefore creating directorates. Clearly with more employees, a robust management structure will be required.”
Petherton Folk Fest
Another date for your diaries. This year’s Petherton Folk Fest will take place on Saturday 15 June. South Petherton has been revelling in the folk heritage promoted by its very own David Hall (one of the best venues for folk music concerts in the south west) for many years now. The day of fun, sun (hopefully) and folk is centred on the Market Square. Events here are bookended with local trio Arquebus who kick things off at 10am and the well-known Dambuskers complete the music on the Market Square at 5.30pm.
You can then see them again for an evening gig at the Brewer’s Arms.
Across the day you’ll find gigs in the David Hall (of course) and less predictable venues such as Holm Restaurant, the Library, Blake Hall, the church grounds and the church of St Peter and St Paul too.
Aside from copious amounts of folk music you can find poetry, dance, a Punch and Judy show and the ancient ceremony of clipping the church, an Anglo Saxon ceremony with roots in paganism that involves forming a human chain around the church.
Other folk acts coming to play include Oconee Bell, Owl in the Sun, Rachel Hill, ThunderBridge Blue Grass, The Merchant Men, Enigma Border Morris, Blackrock Irish Dancers and No Mean Feet.
More information can be had from the festival website at: which can be found here
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It is really hard to argue with that sentiment.
You do of course have a determined independent candidate plus a Green and Reform candidate as well as the LibDem. It is not ideal, but there are choices.
Perhaps if the two main parties can't be bothered to find a candidate until the last minute, they don't deserve your vote?
Thanks for the comprehensive coverage and Thank God it will soon be over. I'm intrigued by your comment that Rebecca Pow is out of time to back out, given that Gove, Leadsom et al have now announced they are doing just that. Or is that just the usual 'rules are for other people' shtick?