Somerset this week: 29 March 2024
The latest storm overflow data for Somerset, the closure of a Tourist Information Centre, sleight of hand at an NHS Somerset board meeting, councillors changing sides and Somerton's election result
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Somerset this week: 29 March 2024
A bit of a stink
In December 2021, The Leveller was the first newspaper to analyse, in depth, the impact of storm overflows running into our rivers. We analysed data produced by the Environment Agency (EA) that revealed that at some sites in Somerset storm overflows running for the equivalent of 100 days continuously.
These days this is the stuff of headline news, but let’s just track back and explain what a storm overflow is. The way that sewer pipes are constructed in most of the country (often dating back to Victorian times) is that excess rainwater is carried in the pipes as well as sewage. This means that in times of heavy rain, the pipes cannot take the volumes of liquid running through them.
The alternatives are to let effluent and rainwater back up into people’s houses (unattractive) or to release the liquid into our rivers, streams and coastal waters. Neither option is healthy or appealing.
However, given the options, water companies have run so-called storm overflows releasing effluent into the environment to relieve pressure on the system. Their expressed hope being that the volumes of rainwater will dilute the sewage making it less harmful in the process.
Since that first article, Rebecca Pow (MP for Taunton and the Environment Minister responsible at the time) has announced plans for Water Companies to invest in infrastructure to ensure these instances will be reduced.
We have been told that:
Work to reduce sewage discharges from storm overflows has already started. By 2025, water companies will have reduced storm overflow discharges from 2020 levels by around 25% and,
by 2035, water companies will have: improved all storm overflows discharging near every designated bathing water; and improved 75% of storm overflows discharging into or near ‘high priority sites’.
How’s that going then?
Not so well. Given that we are already three months into 2024, performance against the 2025 target is looking a bit sick. When we looked at the data in 2021, the worst storm overflows were at:
Wookey (2,960 hours)
Bradford on Tone (2,599 hours)
Wiveliscombe (1,958 hours) and
Tootal Bridge (1,945 hours).
The items in bold also appeared on the 2023 list below. Remember the figures are for the number of hours which sewage and rainwater is being pumped out into rivers, streams or the sea. So at Wookey, just outside Wells, 2,960 hours of storm overflows running, is the equivalent of sewage and rainwater discharging for the equivalent of 123 days non-stop. That is one third of a year. And heavy as the rain might have been, it didn’t rain heavily on that many days.
It is not great news for the River Axe either. The sewage overflows from Wookey run into the River Axe which in turn drains into the Bristol Channel just to the north of Brean Down. It is not the sort of information to encourage people to swim in the river or for that matter on the coast where the river enters the Bristol Channel.
the equivalent of sewage and rainwater discharging for the equivalent of 123 days non-stop
Whatever investment may or may not have been made in the interim, the sites in bold below are still among the main offenders. The 2023 statistics reveal the following hours for storm overflows running:
Wookey Water Recycling Centre (3,509.4 hours)
Brompton Regis (3,439.72 hours)
Butleigh Sewage Treatment Works (2,727.33 hours)
Wiveliscombe (2,279.63 hours)
Pibsbury Pumping Station (2,273.75 hours)
Tootle Bridge Pumping Station (2,271.6 hours)
Fivehead Wastewater Treatment Works (2,092.07 hours)
As you can see, the worst offenders in 2023 were running storm overflows for significantly longer than they were in 2021. The only station to record an improvement was Bradford on Tone where the storm overflows ran for 1,872 hours in 2023, compared with 2,599 hours in 2021.
Drilling deeper still into the figures, there is cause for significant concern about how the use of storm overflows is impacting the Somerset Levels. In June 2021, Natural England downgraded the condition of the Somerset Levels to “unfavourable declining” on account of the phosphate levels which they claimed were “three times higher than they should be.”
In the past it has been suggested that agriculture, specifically dairy farming is the main source of phosphate pollution rather than sewage spills. Either way Natural England insisted on action. They noted at the time that there would be further investment by Wessex Water of up to £57m to reduce discharge from sewage treatment works by 2024.
While we are in no position to question whether or not that investment has been made, what we can analyse is the data for sewage overflows where the sewage will spill into rivers that run through (or feed into other rivers that run through), the Somerset Levels. We are talking about the Parrett, Yeo, Tone, Isle, Fivehead and Cam for the southern Somerset Levels and the Brue and Cary in the northern Somerset Levels.
At Pibsbury (Yeo), Butleigh (Brue) and Fivehead (River Fivehead) as you see from the figures above, the storm overflows were running for significant amounts of time in 2023, equivalent to over 87 days continuously and draining into the Levels ecosystem. We have identified 22 water outlets which ran storm overflows for more than 1,000 hours in 2023 where the effluent and rainwater drained into one of the rivers (or a tributary of that river) that flows through the Levels.
However well intentioned the investment, there is clearly going to need to be much more before there is a significant impact on the pollution to the Levels.
We asked Wessex Water who are the water company responsible for most of Somerset, what they made of the figures. Their spokesperson told Somerset Confidential®: “Storm overflow discharges increased last year due to exceptionally wet weather, preventing properties from flooding. Hundreds of these overflows are affected by groundwater, with tests showing these discharges are cleaner than the standards set for treated sewage discharges.
While overflows are licensed to operate automatically, we agree they aren’t fit for purpose in a 21st century sewerage system and are currently spending £3 million a month to progressively improve them – with plans to more than double that investment if approved by our regulators.”
That all sounds good, but as note above, if all this money is being invested, and presumably invested to stop sewage and rainwater using the same outflows, then why are the figures still so bad? You might have thought that the worst outlets in the area for 2021 would be top of the list for improvements. But no, by and large they are still the worst in 2023.
Turning to the Environment Agency which released the figures, their focus was on the number of times storm overflows ran, rather than the number of hours they ran for. Which strikes us as rather odd. The damage that is done to the environment is primarily a function of the number of hours sewage escapes into the river system, not the number of times it happens. An outlet that spills 50 times but only for 2 hours a time, is less damaging than a second outlet that spills 20 times but at an average of 10 hours each time it spills.
The EA did point out that “in terms of rainfall, 2020 is the most comparable year to 2023 with storm overflow data available” and that “2023 was named by the Met Office as the 6th wettest year since its records began in 1836.”
Obviously this is relevant. Although the EA are quick to point out that: “However, it is important to note that heavy rainfall does not affect water companies’ responsibility to manage storm overflows in line with legal requirements.”
What is also relevant is the amount of investment we have been told has been put into the system to reduce storm overflow events. Why is that investment not paying dividends? And why are the outlets with the worst record not priorities for being upgraded and improved?
Cost Saving or Economic Suicide?
In the financial carnage that followed Somerset Council’s realisation that they were close to bankruptcy, lots of things were cut. Especially those items where the council does not have a statutory duty to provide the service.
Among those non-statutory items to be cut were the Visitor and Tourist Information Centre at Cartgate on the A303 near Yeovil, and the Taunton Tourist Information Centre. The Taunton Information Centre was saved when Taunton Town Council stepped in to provide the funds. All part of a programme of investment in services that the town council provide today that Somerset Council provided yesterday. That however came at a cost for the taxpayers of Taunton.
They have seen the precept (the council tax payable to a town council) they pay, rise from £2.1m in 2023/24 to £5.9m for 2024/25.
The Cartgate Centre has been less fortunate and will close at the end of this month. Part of the problem it faces is that although the nearest large town is Yeovil and it is an important gateway/signpost for visitors to go to Yeovil, it is not actually within the Yeovil town council boundary. Which makes it legally impossible for the town council to fund it in the same way as for instance they have committed funds to the Octagon.
This has been much to the frustration of Visit Somerset. Giles Adams, Chair of Visit Somerset told Somerset Confidential®: "Somerset has so many strengths and assets as a visitor destination, however one frustration is that we are to some extent perceived as a drive-through county. The two arterial routes of the M5 and A303 expedite this process, yet part of our task at Visit Somerset is to persuade travellers of the merits of stopping here. The team at Cartgate Information Centre performed this task brilliantly.”
Mr Adams acknowledged the expertise on hand at the centre: “the team had…. unequalled knowledge of the entire county in addition to the local beauty of South Somerset. It is a great loss.” He points out that consumers spend more as a result of personal contact and advice and there is always a strong demand for leaflets and brochures.
Mr Adams estimates it is worth £1.3bn to the Somerset economy, providing 24,000 full-time-equivalent jobs
He acknowledges that digital information is important but the hospitality industry is a people business. And not a small one. Mr Adams estimates it is worth £1.3bn to the Somerset economy, providing 24,000 full-time-equivalent jobs.
He bemoans the loss of the visitor centre as a gateway for visitors to the county and a way of connecting them to the places in the county where they can spend their money! “All information centres should have a great future as the demands of the market change, with broader advice for visitors, such as reducing carbon footprint and protecting our environment becoming more needed and prevalent. So the loss of Cartgate information Centre is a great shame. It was not a significant cost and retail sales were continually growing at that site.”
The immediate challenge for Visit Somerset is that while it is still able to promote the county on behalf of tourist-facing businesses in the county, a broader investment that incorporates public funds means they can develop a much more incisive business. Mr Adams reflects that would help: “lead the market as a year round destination, bringing more consistent results for businesses and consequent overall prosperity. When investment slows, we always remind ourselves of our unique and varied tourism offer and instilling confidence into our businesses. That is the starting point, knowing that successful business centres around its human resource and the belief that speculation leads to accumulation.”
The cost of running the Cartgate Centre was £53,000 a year, and sadly it is the sort of saving that Somerset Council is trying to make and replicate across its entire portfolio. However it is not, as Mr Adams points out, a massive investment in the scheme of things.
Although the Cartgate Centre is closing, both the public toilets and the Cartgate Lodge Café will remain open.
More changes
Quite a lot of elected Conservatives round these parts are having second thoughts about flying the Conservative flag into the future. It is only a couple of weeks since we wrote about the Conservative Mayor of Wellington, Cllr Marcus Barr, moving his political stance from Conservative to Independent. Then only last week we noted that James Heappey announced he would not be standing for the seat of Wells at the next General Election. Subsequently, he resigned his role this week as Minister for the Armed Forces.
Now Cllr Steve Ashton has taken his turn. Elected as a Conservative councillor on Somerset Council for the division of Crewkerne, he has decided to move to being an Independent. The Editor of Somerset Confidential® caught up with him at the Crooked Swan in Crewkerne to find out why.
Cllr Ashton had a number of criticisms of the way the Conservatives worked, although he did point out that other parties did similar things. Firstly that before a council meeting, the councillors would get together and agree which way the party would vote on each issue. He told me that he didn’t like being told which way to vote and wanted to think for himself on an issue-by-issue basis.
For instance, he voted against the resolution giving Somerset Councillors a 7% increase in their allowances as he didn’t think that was right at a time when the council was cash-strapped and staff members were at risk of losing their jobs.
He does not like the way the Conservatives address their LibDem colleagues in formal council meetings. “There’s too much name calling and disrespect, just because they are LibDems. Surely the important thing is to work hard together and represent our constituents?”
Then he moved on to the subject of Marcus Fysh, MP for Yeovil. He told me: “As a Conservative Councillor I expected to get reasonable access to my MP. I asked Marcus Fysh for a meeting to discuss the closure of the Yeovil Hyper Acute Stroke Unit on 6 December. He said he wasn't available until mid January, which was too close to the date of the meeting where the decision would be taken. There’s been no public comment from him about the HASU closure which is a massive issue to the people of Yeovil constituency. When NHS Somerset called a public meeting at the Westlands Centre the LibDem and Green Party candidates were both there, but our MP was once again missing."
He also had an issue with the way Mr Fysh had addressed members of the constituency party after the Yeovil Conservative Association decided not to re-adopt him as the party’s candidate for the next election. He told us: “When the executive deselected Marcus as a candidate for Yeovil, he went to the members to seek their backing as was his right. But in the tweets he published and the leaflets he put out, he made no mention of having been re-adopted and gave completely different reasons for asking them to vote for him. I thought that was dishonest.”*
So now Cllr Ashton will sit on Somerset Council as an Independent. But he did not want to join the “Independent Group” on the council. He told me: “You are either an Independent or not. I’m not sure what an Independent Group is or how it can work. It doesn’t sound very independent!”
The big surprise though is that Steve Ashton is also joining Reform. And applying to stand as their candidate for Yeovil constituency. A surprise, because Steve has always been a champion of a green agenda and says he sees climate change as the biggest existential threat to our existence. He agrees that with the issue of immigration, Reform are dealing with the effect and not the cause. The cause he says, now and more into the future, is climate change.
I put it to him that Reform is not big on climate change as an agenda item. He replied: “I don’t agree with them on everything, but they appear to be fluid and open to change. By joining them I can try to influence and change policy from the inside.”
He has good things to say about some of the other candidates for the Yeovil constituency. On Serena Wootton, he says: “I agree with much of the Green Party agenda but I’m not sure the party would function well in government.” And on LibDem candidate Adam Dance: “Adam’s heart is absolutely in the right place, whether he can stand up to being an MP remains to be seen. But I speak to him often and I have a lot of time for him.”
Steve thinks his politics are middle of the road and he knows Reform have been accused of being right wing extremists. But he feels that is unfair. They seem to have a lot of sensible policies and he agrees that we need to get more of our people into work.
I ask him how he squares being an Independent councillor with being a member of Reform? He tells me: “I have checked with the Monitoring Officer, David Clark who tells me as long as I have declared my membership of Reform on the Register of Interests, that does not stop me sitting as an Independent councillor.”
He is obviously a councillor who has a good idea of what he stands for, but isn’t certain of where that fits on the political spectrum. He tells me: “I’m learning at the moment and I’m always happy to be proved wrong. After all you always learn from your experiences. As to the future, you only regret the things you don’t do. It’s all about trying things out….”
After Steve Ashton’s move to be an Independent, the make-up of Somerset Council is:
LibDem: 60
Conservative: 34
Labour: 5
Green: 5
Independent: 4
Vacancy: 2
* We did ask Marcus Fysh to give his side of the story but he declined our invitation to comment on the claims Cllr Ashton made
Sleight of hand
Although the decision to close the Hyper Acute Stroke Unit (HASU) at Yeovil Hospital was taken at the January meeting of NHS Somerset, it was subject to the financial case being approved at the March board meeting. It should be recorded that the decision to close the unit was unanimous.
NHS Somerset intend to close Yeovil HASU and replace it with a new build facility in Dorchester. Which means a large sum of the NHS Somerset budget will now go to NHS Dorset in order to provide a service for Somerset patients.
The finance case was slated for discussion at a board meeting that took place yesterday (28 March). More of that in a moment.
First we have to note that NHS Somerset has had a rough ride since taking the decision to close the HASU.
The 45 minutes allocated for public questions at the January board meeting was barely long enough. So disgusted were members of the public and local councillors in the Yeovil area, that after the decision was taken in January, many wrote to the Secretary of State asking for the decision to be “called in”.
So worried were NHS Somerset at the public backlash, that they held a public meeting in Yeovil to explain the decision they had taken.
Yesterday’s board meeting had fewer public questions. But so worried were NHS Somerset that they chose to schedule public questions (all of which were about the closure of the HASU) after full discussion and a decision had been reached on the financial case for closing the HASU.
That rendered all the public questions pointless
That rendered all the public questions pointless. The Editor of Somerset Confidential® who attended the meeting, queried this before the meeting started and was told this was exactly what happened in January.
This is, sadly, an untruth. Both minutes and agenda of the January meeting clearly show public questions taking place before the closure of the HASU was discussed. And in any case many members of the public attended both meetings and confirmed this to be the case.
As it happens, our Editor had questions of direct relevance to the discussion of the financial case and the paper produced to support the discussion. And anything we report should be presaged by an explanation that our Editor has been a finance director for a number of companies, including five years on the board of a public company, before turning his hand to local journalism.
His questions related to the complete lack of detail presented to board members. He suggested that only two pieces of relevant financial data were presented, the total cost to the revenue budget: £4.2m and the fact that a budget had been allowed in each of the next two financial years for £1m of capital spend.
The rest of the report was staggering for the lack of detail. There was no discussion of any contingency. Ironic when you consider that Chief Executive Jonathan Higman, just five minutes after the paper was passed, was talking about not closing Yeovil’s HASU until the Dorchester one was up and running. And that it was acknowledged that it had proved difficult to recruit staff to Yeovil and may also be tricky for Dorchester.
In short, both circumstances where the actual costs could rapidly expand beyond the amount budgeted.
But the paper presented made no note of any financial contingency. It made no note of what was included, what assumptions had been made around inflation or interest rates, about staff costs and recruitment costs, redundancy costs for Yeovil.
So the board was given virtually no information to make the decision on. They were told simply the cost would be £4.2m of revenue costs and £2m of capital costs. As our Editor put it, if he had prepared a paper like that to any of his boards he served on to make such a significant decision, he would have been fired.
That’s a summary of the questions he intended to put to the board but as noted above, by taking the decision first and only hearing public questions afterwards, the board made sure any questions could safely be ignored.
Perhaps not their finest hour?
And finally
Last week we reported on another Independent getting elected to Yeovil Town Council. That made three Independents elected in 18 months. Yesterday they were joined by a fourth.
LibDem councillor for Westlands Ward, Helen Stonier has resigned her membership of the LibDems and decided to stand as an Independent.
No doubt the LibDems will be up in arms, probably some will demand she stands for re-election (and in that they have a valid point) but actually this is healthy.
Town Councils that have no effective opposition can become lazy and complacent.
There can be no doubt that the LibDems retain an overwhelming majority on Yeovil Town Council with 20 out of 24 councillors. But an opposition with a voice, now four Independents is important. Alternative voices in the council chamber make for better decisions.
It is a commonplace that political groupings will often have a meeting in advance of a publicly held meeting, so councillors know which way they are going to vote in advance of the meeting. You can’t stop that from happening and it isn’t illegal. So having other voices just makes for better politics.
Better news for the LibDems in Somerton though. Former District Councillor Stephen Page was elected to Somerset Council in the by-election following the sad death of Dean Ruddle. The election was held yesterday, 28 March and the results published overnight.
The full result was:
1,212 Stephen Page (LibDEm)
878 David Hall (Conservative)
174 Greg Chambers (Lab)
154 Matthew Geen (Green)
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