News, views and Events in and around Bigbury, South Devon

Posts tagged South Hams

Second home owners to pay their fair share for local services – SHDC

January 17, 2022 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

14 January 2022

South Hams District Council has fought a long and arduous campaign, to urge the Government to close a tax loophole which allows second home owners to avoid paying any business rates or council tax on their properties. Today, 14 January 2022, the Government announced changes that close this loophole whilst protecting genuine holiday lets and benefitting popular holiday destinations such as the South Hams.

Currently, people who own second homes in England can avoid paying council tax and access small business rates relief by declaring an intention to let the property out to holidaymakers. The change, which will come into effect from April 2023, will see second homeowners forced to pay council tax if they cannot show they are genuinely renting out their properties on a commercial basis.

The Council is thrilled that the Government has listened to its concerns. In 2020, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Judy Pearce, gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee on this issue. The Council’s local MP, Anthony Mangnall MP, strongly supported the Council’s campaign and raised the issue direct with the Government.

The announcement today from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Rt Hon Michael Gove, comes on the back of South Hams District Council declaring a housing crisis in September 2021. This was backed by a 12 point action plan, with closing the business rates loophole being one of those areas to address. As well as ensuring that second home owners pay fairly for services, it is hoped that the new change may also see more short-term holiday let properties switch to long-term rental. This would help to ease the chronic shortage of long-term rental accommodation at an affordable rate, making it easier for local families to remain in the communities they love.

Cllr Judy Pearce, Leader of South Hams District Council said: “This is excellent news as a result of a sustained campaign by South Hams District Council, Anthony Mangnall MP, and myself to get this loophole in the business rates system closed. This is important for community cohesion.

“Second home owners should be paying into the local community unless they are genuinely running a letting business. Services such as highways, the fire service and the police, which can equally well be used or needed by holiday makers, will benefit, as will the general income of the District and County Councils. We welcome all visitors, but hard-pressed local residents should not have to subsidise services for them.”

Under the new rules, holiday lets must be rented out for a minimum of 70 days a year to qualify for business rates. Holiday let owners will have to provide evidence such as the website or brochure used to advertise the property, letting details and receipts. Properties will also have to be available to be rented out for 140 days a year to qualify for this relief.

The Council currently has just under 1,800 business rated properties that are self-catering holiday lets.

At a time when there are severe funding problems with all tiers of Local Government (particularly adult social care) and our emergency services are under increasing pressures, South Hams District Council spearheaded a campaign to make the point that the current system is fundamentally unfair. Small business rate relief was implemented to support our small business, village halls and local shops. The rules have been taken advantage of, to allow people to not pay for the local services they are using.

Anthony Mangnall MP added: “After two years of campaigning with Cllr Judy Pearce, Leader of South Hams District Council, it is welcome news that the Government has taken this step. South Devon has one of the highest concentration of second homes in the country. This announced change will help to stop people utilising an unforeseen loophole while also ensuring that they pay their fair share. Both the Chancellor and Michael Gove have listened carefully to our needs and I hope this will be the first step of many to help improve accommodation issues in the South West and beyond.”

– ENDS

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Changes to recycling dates in January 2022

January 14, 2022 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

See link for details:- https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSWDEVON/bulletins/305b0be

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New financial help for local hospitality and leisure businesses – SHDC

January 7, 2022 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

7 January 2022

South Hams hospitality and leisure businesses impacted by the latest Omicron COVID-19 wave can now apply for financial support.
In December, the government announced a one-off grant payment for hospitality and leisure businesses including restaurants and pubs. It is worth up to £6,000 and is designed to help those who have struggled in what should have been the most profitable time of the year.

The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant is being administered by South Hams District Council. The Council has now directly contacted local businesses by email, which, based on previous grant applications, might be eligible for this financial help. The Council is urging local hospitality and leisure businesses that meet the criteria set out below to check their email and junk mail folders and follow the instructions to claim the government grant.

Who is eligible?

Eligible businesses must appear on the business rates ratings list on 30 December 2021 in order to qualify.

The Grant is a one-off payment to business rated businesses that fall into the following sectors:

Hospitality
Including (but not limited to) pubs, restaurants (excluding takeaways), cafés, etc.
Leisure
Including (but not limited to) tourist attractions, event venues, museums, galleries, theatres, etc. Gyms, personal care, and retail businesses are not included.
Accommodation
Including (but not limited to) holiday parks, hotels, campsites, etc.
How much is the grant award?

Payment is based on the rateable value (RV) for each eligible business premises as follows:
Rateable Value on 30 December 2021
Grant Award
Exactly £15k or below
£2,667
Over £15k and less than £51k
£4,000
Exactly £51K or over
£6,000

Cllr Judy Pearce, Leader of South Hams District Council said: “We know that our local hospitality and leisure businesses were counting on a busy trading period in the run-up to Christmas after what has been a year of ups and downs. Unfortunately, the Omicron variant threw up more challenges, like cancelled bookings, which have hit many of our businesses hard.

“Our business grants team has worked swiftly to set up the processes we need in place to get the money to the right businesses as quickly as possible. We have contacted eligible businesses directly by email on 6 January with instructions and links to apply for this grant. The email will list everything you will need to tell us for your application. Please read it carefully and in full before completing your application. Giving us correct information allows us to process and pay applications much faster.

“If you think you are eligible but have not yet heard from us, please double check our eligibility criteria on our website www.southhams.gov.uk/businesscovid19 If you still believe you are eligible, please contact us via the website page.

“I hope this positive start to 2022 will help our local businesses to push forward and thrive this year.”
The Council is urging businesses to contact them via their website www.southhams.gov.uk/businesscovid19 if you think your business is eligible but:

You have not previously applied for any COVID-19 business support grants from the Council
You think the Council may have the wrong contact details for your business (based on previous grant applications)
The deadline for applications to be received is 28 February 2022. This deadline has been set by the Government and the Council is unable to accept any applications after this date. All grant payments will be made by 31 March 2022 and as soon as possible after a completed application form has been received and all national fraud checks have been completed, in accordance with the Government guidance.

-ENDS

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GET HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT!

December 10, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

SEE LINK FOR DETAILS:- https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSWDEVON/bulletins/30041ec

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SHDC Reluctantly Suspends Garden Waste Collection Until Spring

October 15, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

Issued: 14 October 2021

To avoid further significant disruption to South Hams District Council’s refuse and recycling service, the Executive Committee have today reluctantly agreed to continue the suspension of the garden waste collections until spring 2022.
Council officers have explored a wide range of options to find possible ways to restore the garden waste service to all residents. Unfortunately, due to driver shortages, the Council and their contractor, FCC Environment, are unable to reinstate the service until Spring 2022; otherwise, this could significantly impact the waste, recycling and clinical collections that the Council legally has to provide.

Officers have also approached other organisations to help with a one-off collection ahead of the winter but this has not been possible because of the operational challenges others are also facing as well as the national driver shortages.

The Council are extremely regretful that the suspension at short notice caused disruption for their residents who may have had outstanding green waste to be collected. A shortage of drivers in August due to the national HGV driver issues and staff sickness meant the Council, together with FCC Environment, had to make the tough decision to prioritise the general refuse and recycling and clinical collections.

South Hams is not alone with experiencing significant delays due to the HGV driver shortages, experienced both nationally and across all business sectors. Locally, there have been challenges, which were highlighted by FCC Environment to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 13 October.

FCC Environment explained that they currently have 27% of unfilled HGV/LGV vacancies, which continue to affect refuse and recycling collections. Council officers are looking at greener ways to support residents to recycle their garden waste and will report back to Executive in December.

South Hams District Council remains the only council in Devon to provide a completely free of charge. The collection of garden waste is a non-statutory service, which means it is not one that the Council has to provide.
Cllr Keith Baldry, Executive Member for Environment, said: “We haven’t had a great set of options available to choose from, and we have chosen the best of the group.

“I greatly regret that we have to suspend the garden waste service but the alternatives available would mean further disruption for our communities with impacts to their waste and recycling collections, which we’re doing our very best to improve upon.

“Officers have worked tirelessly, doing everything in their power to try and find a resolution and I’d like to thank and congratulate them for their hard work. They’ve been contacting neighbouring local authorities and private waste companies to see if they can provide us with help to collect a one-off garden waste collection. Unfortunately, all came back with a resounding no, due to their own driver shortages and backlogs.

“I regret that we did not have time to write to all residents in August when we first suspended our service. We learnt from our mistake and this time, we will be writing a letter to every resident explaining the situation and offering our apologies.

“I’d like to thank you, our residents, for your continued patience, we know it has been difficult, but please bear with us. I am proud of the relatively high recycling rates in South Hams and I want them to get better, not worse. In the meantime, please continue to home compost or take your garden waste to recycling centres.”

So, how do you get rid of your green waste?

Compost your garden waste – here are some www.recycledevon.org/in-the-garden/how-to-compost tips. Please don’t put garden waste in the grey waste bin.
Use recycle centres – All three recycling centres located in the South Hams are operated by Devon County Council and take garden waste. Full details, including opening hours, can be found at: www.devon.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling/centre
Use a licensed waste collector who will responsibly take away your garden, or household, waste items. Please check first with the Environment Agency to see if they are registered: https://environment.data.gov.uk/public-register/view/search-waste-carriers-brokers
Please do not burn your garden waste. The Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service firmly advises against having bonfires, given the risks of fires spreading, the likely nuisance for neighbours and the potential diversion of emergency services. You can find out more here: www.dsfire.gov.uk/YourSafety/SafetyInTheHome/Bonfires

You can find out more from the Executive meeting here: www.southhams.gov.uk/Executive

– Ends –

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TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF GARDEN WASTE COLLECTIONS

August 16, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

SEE LINK FOR DETAILS:- https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKSWDEVON/bulletins/2ecf3fc

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South Hams Recycling Update

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

8 July 2021
Following a period of intense activity by South Hams District Council and the introduction of some temporary service changes, the number of collections being missed by the Council’s waste and recycling contractors FCC Environmental has dramatically reduced.

In the last few months, many residents in South Hams have experienced significant disruption to their recycling service, as the contractors tried to roll-out a new kerbside recycling service.

At the peak of the disruption in mid-May, the Council was receiving about 255 reports of collections been missed every day.

The good news is that by the end of last week, that number had dropped to about 64 missed collection reports per day. At the same time, the number of people phoning the contact centre had also reduced by approximately 36%.

Cllr Keith Baldry Executive Member for Recycling and Waste said: “Whilst it is clear from these statistics that there has been an improvement in performance, I think that there are still an unacceptable number of collections being missed.

“Our focus in the last few weeks has been to get everybody a collection on the day that they are meant to have a collection, although it was not the recycling service that we had promised.

“I am pleased the situation has improved but there is still more work to be done.

“The Executive has been very robust with FCC throughout this disruption. They have now requested that FCC continue to deliver more significant and sustained improvements to reduce the number of missed collections further before we consider reinstating the full Devon Aligned kerbside collection service to all residents.”

South Hams District Council will continue to monitor the daily performance of the service. The Executive continue to express to FCC that they must focus on the complex and repeat missed collection issues, as well as key priorities such as those households who need assisted collections.

FCC have committed to producing the next steps of their action plan on July 12th.

This will detail a plan for the systematic review of the existing rounds and a detailed plan to roll-out the Devon Aligned Kerbside Recycling Collection Service to all of the residents in the District.

These plans and any progress on them will be reviewed by Officers and the Lead Member and reported back to Council as soon as possible.

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How do you feel about Rewilding?

July 8, 2021 Leave a Comment Written by Stuart Watts

8 July 2021

Many Town, Parish and District Councils around the country are turning to a concept called rewilding, letting some green and grassy areas return to a more natural state. The aim for many of these Councils is to increase the amount of biodiversity and wildlife locally.

As a District Council, South Hams currently manages about 50 hectares of green space which is cut every couple of weeks.

Today, the Council are launching a consultation to explore what the public thinks about the Council enabling rewilding on a small proportion of this land. (10Ha for a biodiversity led approach, and 3.5Ha for wildflower meadows).
In 2019 South Hams District Council declared a Climate Change and Biodiversity Emergency.

Across the UK, many habitats which are important for supporting wildlife have already been lost. For example, 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost since the 1930s, with a knock on impact on the species which rely on these habitats.

The abundance of habitat specialist butterflies has declined by 68% since 1976 for example.

As part of their declaration and to mitigate against such biodiversity loss, South Hams has said it aims to increase biodiversity on Council owned-land by at least 10% by 2025.
Creating and restoring more biodiverse green spaces and enabling rewilding of some Council owned land, could help the Council reach its biodiversity targets and significantly improve conditions for local wildlife.

This consultation is proposing an approach which could see the Council proactively manage 10Ha land as wilder green space, 3.5Ha of land as wildflower areas, and 3.5Ha of new tree planting. This could support pollinators, as well as wildlife such as reptiles, small mammals, amphibians, birds and even bats.
Cllr Tom Holway, South Hams District Council’s Executive Member for Climate Change, said: “In 2019 we made a very important declaration, namely we declared a climate change and biodiversity emergency. This means that we made a commitment to proactively do things that could halt the progress of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“This idea of rewilding is a great way for Councils to make a big difference locally. In reality, South Hams actually owns a small proportion of the green spaces in the District, only around 50 hectares and we are proposing to do this on about 1/3 of that.

“However, I am excited about the difference this could make, and it would be wonderful to get local communities engaged in this process and for them to see these habitats change and grow over the coming year.

“This consultation is all about understanding what the public thinks about this idea and if they would be supportive of it in general terms.”
The Council recognises that some members of our community may be concerned about uncut grasses looking untidy or neglected.

However, the proposals suggest that the areas selected for rewilding would still be carefully managed, often with cut grass framing the area, paths cut through longer grass and clear signposting to show everyone which grassed areas are part of the scheme.

If the consultation returns a favourable response to the concept of rewilding some Council owned land in South Hams, a proposals map will be available in the autumn , and in some cases there may be more site level consultation over the specific detail of proposals to ensure the approach fits with the aspirations of local residents.

Through this experience and the consultation, South Hams would also be able to support and offer advice to Town and Parish Councils who are also considering allocating space to rewilding.
For more information on the proposal and to have your say visit:

www.engagement.southhams.gov.uk/enhancingbiodiversity

Or to read more about South Hams District Council’s Climate Change Declaration, visit:

www.climatechange.southhams.gov.uk/climate-declaration

– ENDS

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