Month: January 2024
Seaton Hospital made Asset of Community Value by EDDC
East Devon District Council has declared Seaton Hospital an Asset of Community Value, which obliges its owners, NHS Property Services (NHSPS), to give the community first refusal in case of disposal.
NHSPS had opposed the move, but EDDC leader Paul Arnott (Lib Dem, Coly Valley), urged them to recognise local public opinion and refrain from appealing against the decision.
This is another step towards securing the whole of the hospital for continuing use as a centre for health and wellbeing.
Seaton works to slow coastal erosion will start in 2025
A stakeholder meeting of the Seaton Beach Management Plan heard yesterday that there are finally definite steps towards implementing the agreed measures to protect the cliffs from wave erosion, which amount mainly to increasing the stone revetment at the foot of the cliffs between Seaton Hole and the Hideaway Cafe. It is not clear yet how the failed gabion baskets at the latter end will be replaced.
The plan is for work to begin on or as soon as possible after 1 April 2025, and it is expected to last 6-12 weeks. Delays are most likely to occur in the obtaining of permissions and licences. The aim is to complete it before the school holidays, but it has to be done in the late spring or summer because of weather conditions, which have safety and also cost implications.
EDDC have brought in a specialist team from Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council (BCP) to manage the scheme. They both seemed competent and keen to get on with planning the work and appointing a contractor, on which they will report at a further meeting in July.
The scheme, to be known as the Seaton Hole Beach Management Scheme, will mainly involve importing large rocks by sea and then moving them into position along the beach. Heavy equipment will be brought along the beach and left down there during the period of the works.
There will probably be a site compound at Fisherman’s Gap. There could also be a small one at Seaton Hole, but only in the case that additional work needs to be done on the concrete revetment at the foot of the steps – which should not really be necessary because this was only redone in 2022.
A section of the beach, together with the path down at Seaton Hole, may be closed off during the works, at least on weekdays. We are promised that the arrangements will be flexible and will attempt to minimise inconvenience.
West Seaton & Seaton Hole Association representatives gave a detailed account of the recent deterioration of the beach. Storms have exacerbated the underlying problem caused by works at Beer thirty years ago, which is leading to the growth of Beer beach and the weakening of Seaton Hole’s. We also made them aware of how busy Seaton Hole is in the summer.
Scrutiny blocks Teignmouth referral – as government ends committee’s power to refer
Community hospital supporters with long memories will recall that in 2017, Devon Health Scrutiny Committee refused to refer the closure of beds in Seaton, Honiton, Ottery and Oakhampton to the Secretary of State. Tory councillors, mostly from East Devon, blocked the referral, the last chance to keep our hospitals as they were supposed to be when local communities paid to build them. This is the background to the new crisis in Seaton, and now also in Okehampton.
Today, the Committee refused by 8-5 to refer the closure of Teignmouth Community Hospital to the Secretary of State, with Tory councillors once again blocking the decision and Lib Dem, Labour and Independent councillors voting for. And this is the last time they will have the chance to refer any decision – the Government has abolished scrutiny committees’ powers to refer, from 31 January. No reason has been given, but it’s pretty clear that they are just removing the last vestiges of local democratic accountability. Another reason to vote them out later this year!
Health Scrutiny backs Seaton again
Devon’s Health Scrutiny Committee once again urged Devon NHS and NHS Property Services to come to an agreement with the Seaton Hospital Steering Committee today, after Jack Rowland, Marcus Hartnell and I addressed them. Seaton Hospital supporters were out in force.
‘Sewage pollution alert’ issued for every East Devon beach
The Surfers Against Sewage app shows a ‘sewage pollution alert’ for every beach in East Devon this morning (Jan 22).
— Read on www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/24064929.sewage-pollution-alert-issued-every-east-devon-beach/
Campaign, now 3 hospitals, returns to County Hall next Wednesday
Seaton and Teignmouth Hospital campaigners will be joined at Devon Health Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday by supporters of Okehampton Hospital, where the ICB are also trying to hand back a ward to Property Services. Please join us if you can!
A three-community protest, Save Devon’s Community Hospitals, will meet outside County Hall at 1.30. The Committee is at 2.15 and Jack Rowland and I will again be speaking, along with Teignmouth and Okehampton colleagues. We are talking to supportive members of the Committee about what it can best do.
Richard Foord MP had intended to be present, but now needs to speak in a debate on international affairs in Parliament, and is sending a letter of support to the Scrutiny Committee. He presented the Seaton Hospital petition in Parliament two days ago.
Planned discussions with the ICB and Property Services have been postponed, but we are now hoping to meet them on 1 February at the Hospital. In the meanwhile, our Steering Committee is also meeting next week to discuss progress on our own plans for using the empty space.
The Carpetbagger’s Tale
I don’t want this blog to be consumed with Simon Jupp, the new Conservative candidate for our area who has jumped ship from his present constituency centred on Exmouth. But as well as misrepresenting Devon’s NHS crisis, he is making a lot of the fact that he is now standing where he lives, in Sidmouth, and making out that because Richard Foord lives in Uffcolme, a few hundred yards outside the new Honiton & Sidmouth constituency (which includes neighbouring Cullompton), Richard is somehow an outsider.
The truth is that Simon is a serial carpetbagger. He moved to Exmouth in 2019 so that he could take over from Hugo Swire in the old East Devon constituency, having been a special advisor to Dominic Raab in London.
And now Simon has moved to Sidmouth. I strongly suspect that he moved there because it’s in the new Honiton & Sidmouth constituency, which he decided was a better bet than the new Exmouth & East Exeter seat where most of his present constituents live. The voters will shortly have a chance to prove him wrong about that, and then he’ll be on the move again.
So isn’t Simon just the model of a local boy made good!
Tory MP Simon Jupp lies about NHS problems in Devon
Jupp said on Spotlight just now that NHS Devon’s financial crisis is ‘of its own making’. This makes me so angry – it’s not only because HIS Tory government has given Devon a smaller share of NHS spending than it should get, it’s also – and mainly – because they same government underfunded the whole NHS for nearly fourteen years.
Yet Mr Jupp can stand there and smugly blame the managers. How can they provide proper services if they’re starved of the funds they need to do it?
Richard Foord MP presents Seaton Hospital petitions to Parliament
Yesterday Richard presented our petitions, already submitted to NHS Devon, to Parliament, to remind the government of the importance of finding an acceptable solution to this issue. He said:
‘I rise to present a petition on behalf of the residents of the Axe valley, and the towns of Seaton, Beer, Colyford and the surrounding area, who are objecting in the strongest possible terms to the disposal of an entire wing of Seaton Community Hospital. The petition has been signed by over 9,000 of my constituents, because they object to the fact that the hospital, which was funded by generous local donations, is being ripped away from them, and in part potentially sold off by NHS Property Services, and disposed of for potential sale for housing.
‘The petition states:
‘The petition of residents of Axe Valley in the Tiverton and Honiton constituency,
‘Declares that community hospitals play a vital role supporting health and wellbeing in rural communities;
further that the hospital in Seaton was built with active support and fundraising efforts by residents across the Axe Valley;
and further that plans to turn the wing of the hospital building over to NHS Property Services puts the future viability of the hospital at risk.
‘The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to take into account the concerns of petitioners and take action to return the facility to the local community, so it can be repurposed to provide better care for those living in the area.’
Richard Foord puts the Prime Minister on the spot over air strikes
He asks a very reasonable question but gets an evasive reply. Richard Foord Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Defence) There are times when a Government need to take military action without the approval of Parliament, including for operational security or the element of surprise. However, last week’s strikes were signalled very plainly in the media. The strikes…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2024/01/17/richard-foord-puts-the-prime-minister-on-the-spot/
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 