Somerset this week: 26 April 2024
Disability discrimination in Wells? A council without councillors? Alarm about an arms company, our Wincanton health story reprised and an eclectic Somerset Festival. Never a dull moment!
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Somerset this week: 26 April 2024
Don’t forget to vote
Somerset is not going to have elections this year for the unitary council. This is as a result of the reorganisation of local government on our area leading to elections in 2022. So, while others will be battling it out, and the pollsters will be mulling over the results and drawing all sorts of conclusions, the only major election Somerset voters will have on their minds is for the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The date to remember is Thursday 2 May. Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm.
The incumbent Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Shelford, is Conservative and he will be standing again. Trying to “unseat” him are three other candidates:
Benet Allen (LibDem)
Katy Grant (Green Party)
Clare Moody (Labour and co-operative party)
Remember for this election you will need to show some form of photo ID in order to be issued with a ballot paper in the polling station.
Acceptable voter ID includes:
Passport issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, a British Overseas Territory, an EEA state or a Commonwealth country
Driving licence issued by the UK, any of the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or an EEA state (this includes a provisional driving licence)
A Blue Badge
Older Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government
Disabled Person’s Bus Pass funded by the UK Government
Identity card bearing the Proof of Age Standards Scheme hologram
Ministry of Defence Form 90
Disability discrimination?
Are disabled people living in Wells being discriminated against? This is the question being asked by Theo van Hensbergen and a group of volunteers who have been taking a look at the pavements of Wells. In order to be able to use wheelchairs and mobility scooters, dropped kerbs are essential. They allow people using either wheelchairs or mobility scooters to cross roads from side to side and carry on along a pavement when it is dissected by another road. The dropped kerb, a small area sloping from pavement height to road height, allows either chairs or scooters to roll up and down. Otherwise it is all but impossible for disabled people to use the pavement effectively.
The latest work the group undertook was on the estate around Charter Way and Lethbridge Road. Somerset Confidential® went along to take a look and see what all the fuss is about.
There certainly are a few dropped kerbs along some of the roads in the estate around Charter Way and Lethbridge Road and the closes that run off it. However, these are mostly at the end of drives for houses with off-street parking, not primarily to allow disabled access.
Along Charter Way the pavement on the south side of the road is pretty much devoid of dropped kerbs to allow wheelchair and scooter users the ability to cross the many roads that run off Charter Way. Oddly enough, on the north side the pavement does have dropped kerbs to allow disabled access along the pavement where it crosses roads. But for most of the length of Charter Way there are no dropped kerbs to allow wheelchair and mobility scooter users to cross from one side of the road to the other.
Along Lethbridge Road it was the same story, with many of the closes not having dropped kerbs to allow wheelchair and scooter users to cross.
However, there are other problems too. Along at least two of the footpaths we looked at joining various parts of the estates (one off Charter Way and one off Lethbridge Road), there are half gates designed to stop people speeding through. Unfortunately the design of the gate is such that it is impossible for a wheelchair or a mobility scooter user to use.
To make matters worse at the top end of one of the paths the dropped kerb wasn’t actually “dropped”, so a wheelchair would not easily be able to access the footpath unless someone was on hand to give it a healthy shove.
Mr van Hensbergen has been trying to get Somerset Council to take an interest in the issue but so far to no avail. When we contacted Somerset Council their spokesperson told us: “Somerset Council’s aim is to work towards an accessible environment for all residents across Wells, and the rest of the county, and the Council takes its obligations very seriously in this respect. It’s clear the situation is not ideal, Wells is an ancient and historic site, and the reality is that there are limitations to what the Council can achieve on its own in the current financial climate, without substantial external funding – the Council does what it can with the money available, and this includes maintaining more than 4,100 miles of road.
However, there may be more that can be achieved by working with local partners to both identify potential funding and deliver schemes.”
Theo says he is disappointed at the lack of response from the Council though. He says that, despite submitting the full report in November 2023 and formally presenting it to Somerset Councillors (including former Cabinet Member for Transport Mike Rigby, and current post holder Richard Wilkins) at a rally in Wells in December 2023, nothing has happened since. Concerned at the lack of a formal response he also sent a letter to Bill Revans on 24 January.
Of all the elected officials he has contacted, the only one that formally replied was Tom Pursglove (Minister of State for Disabled People). But only to say the matter was no longer his concern as he now had a new portfolio and that we should write to the Minister for the Disabled. Apparently it did not occur to him to pass the letter on to the new Minister himself.
When pushed on why his work had not yet resulted in a response, Somerset Council’s spokesperson told us: “We are very impressed and grateful for the work carried out in putting together this comprehensive report focussing on accessibility in the city, and our Lead Member for Transport and Digital, Councillor Richard Wilkins made this clear when he met Mr van Hensbergen earlier this year in the city to receive it.
As Councillor Wilkins explained then, the Council is keen to work with the community and Wells City Council to identify and prioritise areas of concern and try to find solutions together. Councillor Wilkins will be writing to Mr van Hensbergen to underline his and the Council’s commitment to trying to find solutions where possible.”
This is a significant issue for the City of Wells. There are 1,400 blue badge holders living there and that’s nearly 12% of the population. That in itself should be enough to provoke some form of action.
To say nothing of the fact that disability discrimination is supposed to be illegal. As Mr van Hensbergen hints, this is not ‘a nice to have’, this is a breach of the law.
Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) gives disabled people a right of access to goods, facilities, services and premises. These rights were phased in over the period 1996 to 2004. Since 1996, it has been unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability.
Government has issued guidance on this including: “Dropped kerbs and raised crossings level or flush access is essential for the majority of wheelchair users. Such access, either by dropped kerb or raised road crossing must be provided at all Zebra and controlled crossings and at other places side roads, access points to parking areas etc used by pedestrians. On longer side roads and residential roads dropped kerbs should, where possible, be provided every 100 metres to avoid the need for wheelchair users to make lengthy detours to cross the road…”
Whether Somerset Council is responsible may be a moot point, someone certainly is.
Mr van Hensbergen adds: “Disabled accessibility is a national scandal and it is certainly scandalous here in Wells. As a campaign group we are determined to work towards our Vision for an Accessible Wells: “A city where all reasonable adjustments have been made to allow disabled people access to facilities and services and to participate fully in city life. A place disabled people feel included, safe and welcome.”
That is certainly not happening in Wells. Somerset Council is, as we all know, short of funds. But even councils that are struggling have an obligation to provide statutory services and to ensure the law is not broken. It is hard to see how the state of the pavements in Wells does not fall into one camp or the other.
No arms for us please
We have often written about the state of the property investment portfolio that Somerset Council inherited from the district councils when they merged in April 2023. We have raised questions about the timing of the investment purchases (at the top of the market); the funding of some of them (with short-term loans); and the fact that with interest rates on borrowings being around 7-8%, many of the investments designed to bring in funds, are at risk of actually losing money or barely breaking even.
The one issue we have not covered and certainly didn’t anticipate, is the possibility that any of these property investments would embroil the council in international politics.
Aztec West is an investment property that Sedgemoor District Council bought (for £7.4m since you ask) in Bristol. At the time of purchase the agents who organised the sale boasted that: “The purchase provides the client with 2 good quality office buildings (1 of which has recently been comprehensively refurbished) in a strong business park location. The buildings are single-let to the strong covenants of Elbit Systems and the Co-Operative Group, providing approximately 9 years to expiries and 7 years to breaks.”
Elbit Systems Limited is indeed a highly profitable business. The 2022 accounts showed that it made £3m before tax and had accumulated profits of over £46m. The company has offices around the country as well as in Bristol.
The problem for Somerset Council is what it does. Elbit has expertise in electronic warfare systems, including helmet-mounted displays for pilots, command and control systems for naval operations, mobile weapons platforms for land-based warfare, drones and systems for cyber warfare. Drones, in particular the Hermes drones, are a significant part of their business.
That in itself might not be so problematic, after all Somerset Council is just the landlord. However, the real issue is that Elbit Systems Limited is the subsidiary of a parent with the same name based in Israel. And with the war in Gaza and the deaths of some 30,000 Palestinians at the hands of Israeli troops causing international uproar (including among Israel’s closest allies), Somerset Council is finding this very uncomfortable.
Discomfort made all the worse when activists targeted the council offices in Taunton, splattering them in red paint on two separate occasions.
This week’s full council meeting of Somerset Council was asked to consider a motion from Labour Group Cllr Brian Smedley and seconded by Green Party Cllr, Shane Collins. The motion being: Full Council notes, that in the light of calls for an end of UK Arms sales to Israel, Somerset Council has been reviewing its interest in the Aztec West property in its commercial portfolio with a view to immediately disposing of the property or securing a means to legally evict the tenant Elbit UK, a major UK based provider of weapons to the Israeli Defence Forces*, used in the current Gaza catastrophe.
Somerset Council resolves:
• to explore all ways of legally evicting Elbit UK or otherwise, to dispose of the property;
• to ensure that moral and ethical considerations assume equal weight to financial advantage in any future commercial property investments for yield.”
Unsurprisingly, the motion was passed with all but a handful of councillors voting in favour. We should note that Cllr Smedley has always been in favour of divesting this particular investment, long before the outbreak of hostilities in Gaza. He notes: “in April 2023 Sedgemoor District Council came to an end and all properties of all the district councils in the county transferred to the new Somerset Unitary Authority. Now, as a member of that authority, I immediately wrote to the new authority urging rapid divestment from the Elbit investment and received assurances this was being sought. We have not had this divestment yet but what we have had is a major flare up of war in the Middle East…..”
For a council, the decision is probably the safe one. Being associated with a company making arms is uncomfortable. Though you might have thought that was something that Sedgemoor District Council thought about when taking on the investment.
There is nuance here too. No sooner had Somerset Council made its decision, Elbit contacted them to say Elbit Systems UK does not make weapons for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). They demanded an apology and got one.
Whilst this is literally true, Elbit UK’s Israeli parent does indeed supply arms for the IDF. In 2023 they won a major contract to supply drones to the IDF which you can read about here.
among the armed forces they do supply, are ours
Whoever Elbit UK does or does not supply weapons to, among the armed forces they do supply, are ours. No doubt helped by a handy connection via the former Master General of Logistics of the British army, one Lieutenant General Sir Mark Poffley KCB OBE. For Sir Mark is now a member of Elbit’s UK board.
According to the Ministry of Defence, in an answer given to a Freedom of Information request, Sir Mark’s tenure as Master General of Logistics officially expired on 1 June 2022. He took up his appointment at Elbit on 27 June 2022.
Since then the company has had at least two big contract wins with our armed forces. In September 2023, Elbit was awarded a major contract to provide training to the Royal School of Artillery. Earlier in May the same year, the company was awarded a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence worth approximately £57 million to supply, maintain and operate the Ground Manoeuvre Synthetic Trainer systems (GMST) for the Boxer armoured vehicles and Challenger 3 tanks.
Meanwhile Somerset Council is looking to find anyone it can, willing to take on an investment that many will see as a poisoned chalice. Anyone willing to engage, knowing the circumstances is likely to demand a significant discount.
Under these circumstances, the odds of making good on their £7.4m investment cost do not look promising.
Cotford without
From time to time Somerset Confidential® comes across councils that have problems recruiting councillors. Sometimes a big local issue can result in one or two councillors leaving at the same time. However in Cotford St Luke, things have become a little extreme. To the point that all seven councillors have resigned. This leaves a Parish Clerk with no councillors to take decisions.
It also means there is no-one in post who could oversee co-options of new councillors to the Parish Council.
The issue that has sparked the discontent and resignations is not 100% clear. Councillors have been discreet on resigning, the minutes do not record statements or any reasons being given.
Part of the problem appears to revolve around land in the heart of the village surrounding a pond that is owned by Crown Estates. However a number of issues, many involving drainage and flooding have caused the Parish Council a headache. As they don’t own the land, they cannot legally deal with things they need to do to address the issues affecting residents. At the March Parish Council meeting an assessment of the possibility of acquiring the land from the Crown Estate was put forward.
By April though, there were no Parish Councillors left to take action.
However with no councillors there are serious practicalities to deal with. This is very unusual, but not entirely unheard of. Residents of Somerton were faced with a similar crisis back in 2009 when the entire town council resigned over frequent personal attacks being made on them in a blog.
with no councillors there are serious practicalities to deal with
There are, happily, rules that provide a route forward in these circumstances. The Democratic Services team at Somerset Council explain: “Somerset Council has made an Order under Section 91(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 appointing three members of Somerset Council as temporary members of the Parish Council to enable the co-option of new Parish Councillors.”
This is a legal device which allows Somerset Council as the first-tier authority in the area to appoint Somerset Councillors to fulfil the role of Parish Councillors. Cllr Andy Sully and Cllr Mike Rigby, as ward members have been appointed along with Cllr Mike Best, Chair of Somerset Council.
Their primary role now is to call for nominations of people willing to be councillors from the local community. They will then oversee a co-option process and when a new Parish Council has been installed, or at least sufficient councillors to make the council quorate have been co-opted, the appointed councillors will resign.
Cllr Mike Rigby told us: “These are highly unusual circumstances. The law allows for Somerset Council to install temporary Parish Councillors and has done so. I will do what I can to restore a new parish council comprising local residents as soon as possible”
More losses for Charity
St Margaret’s is a much loved local charity. The Charity is best known for its hospice care and end of life services and most users have nothing but praise for the staff and small army of volunteers that support them.
They have hospice hubs in Yeovil and Taunton with in-patient beds in Taunton too. There’s a community team caring for patients in their own homes and a 24-hour advice line to support those facing a life-limiting illness in the county of Somerset.
As with many charities, their work is funded via a small network of charity shops, donations and legacies and investments.
This year though the investment return for the charity was disappointing, showing an investment loss of just under £700,000. Not ideal for a charity whose work is so important.
Finance Director, David Slack told Somerset Confidential®: “we can confirm that the charity holds part of our reserves in investments managed by a professional investment manager. The value of these investments fluctuates from day to day in line with movements on the stock markets where they are listed. The investments are held for the long term so short-term fluctuations have no impact on the work of the charity. The charity also holds significant cash reserves that are used to manage fluctuations in our income (e.g. receipt of legacies). The reduction in the value of our investment portfolio in 2022-23 followed two years when the total gain was over £1.5 million. Over the long-term investment performance provides real-terms growth. The performance of the portfolio is regularly reviewed by the Trustees. Our latest set of annual accounts for the most recent financial year ending March 2024 will be available later this year and published on our website and via the Charity Commission.”
While it is hard not to sympathise with this longer-term view and recognise that the investment portfolio will have ups and downs, unfortunately there is more to the context than that. Firstly the performance of the UK market over the same period. On 1 April 2022 the FTSE 100 index stood at 7,515. By 31 March 2023 it had risen to 7,631. Not a massive rise across 12 months, but not a fall either. Which puts the loss of value of St Margaret’s portfolio into perspective.
And whilst it is true that there have been positive investment returns in previous years, these have been matched by the charity’s disastrous foray into the funerals business. Whilst it must have seemed a logical extension of their work when the decision was taken and no doubt COVID 19 didn’t help, financially it has been something of a disaster.
Losses in the business amounted to £80k in 2019 and £244k in 2020.
In addition a further £200k was written off the value of a related subsidiary, the funerals franchise business (Hospice Funerals LLP) acquired in 2019.
By the 2021 year end the charity had to write down the value of the funeral business by £508k.
A further £203k loss followed for the 2022 year end when the decision was taken to finally close down the operation.
All that said, 2022/23 saw the charity making a loss of £373k for the year. It is not all bad though, as the loss was in part a result of the charity spending £1m more on its charitable activities. A sign perhaps of confidence as well as a determination to meet the needs of those it serves.
And, despite COVID 19, the charity has emerged with a healthy accumulated income of some £23m.
And with a bit of bad luck and/or poor judgement behind it, hopefully the 2024 results will see a further improvement in its resources.
Wincanton reprise
We are delighted to see that the MP for Somerton & Frome is reading Somerset Confidential®. And adding some figures to our story too. Just four days after our article on the plight of patients in Wincanton appeared in Somerset Confidential®, on 23 April Sarah Dyke was in Parliament asking Andrea Leadsom, Under Secretary for Health and Social Care: “There are 56 fewer fully qualified GPs in Somerset now than there were in December 2016, so it is no surprise that my constituents in Wincanton feel that they can never access one. How will the Minister support general practice to enable it to continue to provide the vital services that our communities deserve?”
If she was hoping for some positive or specific action she was to be disappointed. Ms Leadsom responded: “It is fantastic that hard-working GPs have delivered 60 million more appointments a year than in 2019. That is a credit to their efforts. The Government have undertaken a wide range of approaches to try to reduce the administrative burden. We are focused on trying to deal with some of the issues that GPs have raised with me about the primary and secondary care interface so that they do not have to write all the fit notes and liaise with consultants. We have also spent more than £200 million on digital telephony. Importantly, the additional roles reimbursement scheme has added more than 36,000 more professional staff, from physios to pharmacists to those in GP practices, to try to support patient access.”
Which is fantastic of course. Except the whole point of Ms Dyke’s question was that whatever has been done, plainly isn’t working.
Simonsbath Festival
Simon may be a common enough name and Bath is well, Somerset’s second city (after Wells of course). But Simonsbath is, we hazard, somewhat less well known.
And we seek to right that wrong. A village, a small community of less than 200 souls it is but a tiny dot on the map. But each year in early summer it takes on a different more notable garb. For Simonsbath has a unique and rather special annual festival which kicks off next week.
An eclectic mix of performance, talking, walking, and church services all centres on the small community of Simonsbath on Exmoor.
Small and perfectly formed as it is, the village even had its very own artist in residence, renowned equine painter Lucy Kemp-Welch, who lived in the village for several years and is the subject of the first talk on 8 May.
Then there’s international classical music star Tamsin Waley-Cohen who is joined by Cordelia Williams for a programme of Bach which you can hear in Dulverton Church.
Later in the festival, the renowned classical vocal group Red Priest perform at Simonsbath Church. For a group whose worldwide reputation has seen them perform over fifty coast-to-coast tours of America, Mexico, Cuba and Canada, as well as being invited to perform in prestigious festivals in almost every European country, plus Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Japan, China, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, Simonsbath Festival have worked wonders to book them.
If classical music does not rock your boat, there are plenty of talks, some jazz and even a film preview complete with a chance to meet the makers.
But what sets this festival apart, especially given the stunning location, are the walks that are incorporated into it. There’s the Exmoor Society Walk around Hawcombe Nature Reserve Butterfly Walk, known for the rare Heath Fritillary (if you’d like to know more about this beautiful butterfly you can read our article here) or another to Ley Hill mediaeval settlement, or the Exmoor Festival of Nature.
In short it is simply a perfect excuse to get out on Exmoor and see the best of what it has to offer, whilst taking in some first rate talks and a couple of international standard concerts.
What’s not to like?
For more information and to book tickets follow this link
We hope you have enjoyed reading this edition of Somerset Confidential®. If you enjoy reading our specials why not gift someone you know a subscription to Somerset Confidential®?
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Voter ID at Elections:-Voters have the right to have their ID checked in private.At a general election with high turnout, this could cause problems if quite a few access this right at the same time as it means presiding officers or poll clerks may have to desert their positions to carry out these private checks.
Jim Dowling