This week – Cotswold DC leading the energy charge, an interesting debate about what seaside towns are for, some sub-regional navel gazing, and Doctor’s pensions…

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Cotswold residents could get energy-efficient upgrades

I think this is a good practical example of pragmatic, close to your constituents leadership. This article tells us:

Residents in energy-inefficient homes could get free upgrades before winter.

Cotswold District Council has asked its residents to check if they are entitled to the energy-saving upgrades.

Councillor Rachel Coxcoon said there may be help available for those worried about the rising costs of energy but they need to act fast.

She said residents who live in cold, damp homes could get fully-funded upgrades such as cavity insulation and replacement external doors.

"With autumn just around the corner, we would encourage anyone living in a cold or damp home, or worried about the rising price of energy, to contact Warm and Well now and find out what assistance they could be entitled to," she said.

Schemes such as the Local Authority Delivery Fund and the Home Upgrade Grant can help with the cost of various energy performance improvements such as cavity and roof insulation and adding solar panels.

"In many cases the work will be fully funded so we would strongly urge people to get in touch," Ms Coxcoon added.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-62769142

Great Yarmouth council launches legal challenge over hotel for asylum seekers

This article gives us pause for thought in the debate about what holiday resorts, particularly struggling ones are for. It tells us….

Great Yarmouth Borough Council said it had serious concerns about people being put up at the Hotel Victoria in the town.

There had been a "lack of dialogue" from the Home Office and the hotel, the authority said.

The Home Office said it would not comment on individual hotels.

The hotel management declined to comment to the BBC.

A statement from the borough council said the hotel "should have applied for the correct planning permission before any asylum seekers were housed".

It said it had not received any application for change of use and would "pursue appropriate enforcement action where necessary".

The authority said it had "clearly communicated our views and concerns to both the hotel owner and the Home Office".

"We are also concerned about placing further strain on core services in an already highly populated and prime tourist area," the Conservative-led council said.

But it added it would "provide humanitarian support where necessary".

Michael Jeal, an opposition Labour councillor for the area the hotel is in, said the Home Office has "ridden roughshod" over the planning application process.

"It is a hotel not a hostel," he said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-62787524

Joint East Midlands mayor plan would ‘consign Leicestershire to division two’

I hear very few rural voices in the machinations linked the current moving of the deck chairs around on the Titanic in terms of the latest round of (in terms of the real challenges we face) side show that is local government reform. As someone who has lived in the “East Midlands” region all my life I would suggest that this controversy is about Nottingham, Derby and Leicester… This story tells us:

Leaders in Leicestershire have expressed anger at the region being excluded from a first of its kind devolution deal for the east Midlands, saying it will be “relegated to the second division”.

On Tuesday, plans for a groundbreaking devolution deal between Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire were announced, which would see the areas grouped as a Mayoral Combined County Authority (MCCA), led by one mayor, and which would receive £1.14bn funding over 30 years.

The plans are part of a new devolution model that would be introduced once the levelling up and regeneration bill is passed, and it is hoped the first mayoral elections in the region would take place in May 2024.

But some said the exclusion of Leicestershire and Leicester, the most populous urban area in the east Midlands, situated about 30 miles south of Nottingham and Derby, would harm the region in the long term.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/05/joint-east-midlands-mayor-plan-would-consign-leicestershire-to-division-two

And Finally

Doctors’ pensions: Labour would abolish cap, says Wes Streeting

This might seem a strange and tangential story to feature but it is an example of a crucial issue which underpins the real shortage of skilled staff in rural NHS setting. It tells us:

Wes Streeting, the shadow health and social care secretary, has said Labour would abolish the cap on doctors’ pensions which he believes would reduce waiting lists “and will inevitably save lives”.

The MP for Ilford North claimed the “crazy” cap deters many experienced doctors from working late into their careers.

He told the Telegraph: “I’m not pretending that doing away with the cap is a particularly progressive move. But it is one that sees patients seen faster, and will inevitably save lives. I’m just being hard-headed and pragmatic about this.”

The lifetime pension allowance, which was frozen last year at just over £1m until 2026, is the amount that any individual can save into a pension tax-free.

A second cap applies to the amount accumulated in a pension without incurring tax.

Under current rules doctors are unable to opt out of paying into their NHS pensions even if they have reached the cap, resulting in some high-earners taking early retirement.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/03/doctors-pensions-labour-would-abolish-cap-says-wes-streeting