Footpath temporarily closed as work continues on Lower Otter

Press release

A popular footpath on the lower Otter estuary will be closed for several weeks as vegetation clearance and the creek excavation stage of the work gets underway.

Aerial photo of the Lower Otter estary and shows the cricket club pitch — The Lower Otter Restoration Project will see land reclaimed from the sea 200 years ago being returned to floodplain

The work is part of the Lower Otter Restoration Project in Budleigh Salterton, which will see land reclaimed from the sea 200 years ago being returned to floodplain.

Work to excavate creeks on the northern end of the site starts on Tuesday 31 August and will take 5 weeks. On Wednesday 1 September, vegetation clearance will begin and is expected to take 6 to 8 weeks, and is being timed to be after bird nesting and dormice breeding seasons.

In order to keep people safe, the west footpath will be closed from 1 September for 8 weeks. This is the footpath near the top point of Budleigh Salterton Cricket Club’s pitch and the first one reached when coming down South Farm Road from East Budleigh Road. The eastern footpath will remain open from South Farm Road to the Lime Kiln car park.

It may also be necessary to prevent access to wildlife viewing platforms for short periods during the work, but marshals will be on hand to let people know if platforms are temporarily closed.

No parking is operating in South Farm Road and at Whitebridge throughout the project works, which will continue until spring 2023 when a new car park will be built off South Farm Road.

The project is part of the €26 million Promoting Adaptation to Changing Coasts project, which also has a similar scheme underway in the Saâne Valley in Normandy, France. In Devon it will see current grassland created during historic reclamation work, replaced with 55 hectares of intertidal mudflat and saltmarsh, plus a net gain of more than 2 hectares of broadleaved woodland and 1.5 kilometres of hedgerow.

Notes to editors

The French arm of the project is in the Saâne Valley in Normandy and includes building a new water treatment works and moving a campsite at Quebeville.

It is thought that up to 70 estuarine sites in northern France and southern England may benefit from the PACCo project, by following the model being used on the Lower Otter and Saâne Valley.

Published 20 August 2021

Warwickshire man who sexually assaulted sleeping woman is handed immediate prison sentence

News story

Joe Holtham has been imprisoned following an intervention by the Solicitor General, the Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP.

A Warwickshire sex offender has been imprisoned following an intervention by the Solicitor General, the Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP.

After attending a wedding on 11 April 2019, Joe Holtham, 33, and a group friends returned to their hotel where they had booked multiple rooms. The group could not locate two of the room keys and decided to all sleep in the offender’s room.

While one woman was asleep beside him, Holtham sexually assaulted her, causing her to wake up. Once she became aware of what was happening, she tried to wake another guest and fled to the bathroom.

The next day, the missing keys to the hotel rooms were found in Holtham’s pocket.

On 7 May 2021, Holtham was convicted of two counts of assault by penetration. On 15 June 2021 he was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment suspended for 24 months at Gloucester Crown Court.

Following the Court’s decision, the Solicitor General referred Holtham’s case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme. On 20 August 2021, the Court found his sentence to be unduly lenient and handed down an immediate term of 3 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

After the hearing at the Court of Appeal the Solicitor General, Rt Hon Lucy Frazer QC MP, said:

This was a shocking assault that has traumatised the victim. I am glad the Court of Appeal has increased his sentence today and I hope this brings the victim some comfort.

Published 20 August 2021

Foreign Secretary Statement: 20 August 2021

Press release

Statement from Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

The Foreign Secretary said:

The whole of Government has been working tirelessly over the last week to help as many people evacuate from Afghanistan as possible. The UK Government’s overriding priority has been to secure Kabul airport so that flights can leave.

On Friday afternoon, 13 August, advice was put to my Private Office (around 6pm Afghan time) recommending a call to the Afghan Foreign Minister. This was quickly overtaken by events. The call was delegated to a Minister of State because I was prioritising security and capacity at the airport on the direct advice of the Director and the Director General overseeing the crisis response. In any event, the Afghan Foreign Minister agreed to take the call, but was unable to because of the rapidly deteriorating situation.

The Government’s approach to prioritise security at the airport was the right one. As a result, 204 UK nationals and their families, Afghan staff and other countries citizens were evacuated on the morning of Monday 16 August. Since then, 1,635 have been evacuated. I pay tribute to the excellent team we have in place, and we continue to prioritise what is required to evacuate people to the UK safely.

ENDS

Published 20 August 2021

July 2021 Transaction Data

News story

This data provides information about the number and types of applications that HM Land Registry completed in July 2021.

Image credit: NicoElNino/Shutterstock.com

Please note this data shows what HM Land Registry has been able to process during the time period covered and is not necessarily a reflection of market activity.

In July:

HM Land Registry completed more than 1,802,030 applications to change or query the Land Register
the South East topped the table of regional applications with 419,988

HM Land Registry completed 1,802,037 applications in July compared with 1,944,893 in June and 1,657,858 last July 2020, of which:

330,434 were applications for register updates compared with 340,767 in June
973,204 were applications for an official copy of a register compared with 982,278 in June
216,203 were search and hold queries (official searches) compared with 325,699 in June
17,207 were postal applications from non-account holders compared with 18,292 in June

Applications by region and country

Region/country	May Applications	June Applications	July Applications
South East	408,181	461,380	419,988
Greater London	321,549	360,836	323,772
North West	193,992	217,869	205,529
South West	169,319	191,804	179,015
West Midlands	143,621	162,245	152,818
Yorkshire and the Humber	135,143	149,885	141,689
East Midlands	124,503	139,228	130,392
North	82,532	91,406	88,118
East Anglia	72,540	82,177	76,628
Isles of Scilly	47	59	68
Wales	77,952	87,928	83,927
England and Wales (not assigned)	87	76	93
Total	1,729,466	1,944,893	1,802,037

Top 5 local authority areas

July 2021 applications

Top 5 Local authority areas	July applications
Birmingham	26,267
Leeds	21,718
City of Westminster	20,615
Cornwall	20,586
Buckinghamshire	19,066

June 2021 applications

Top 5 local authority areas	June applications
Birmingham	28,059
City of Westminster	23,104
Leeds	22,641
Cornwall	21,246
Buckinghamshire	20,821

Top 5 customers

July 2021 applications

Top 5 Customers	July applications
Infotrack Limited	119,308
Enact	41,537
O’Neill Patient	23,356
TM Group (UK) Ltd (Search Choice)	22,820
Optima Legal Services	21,118

June 2021 applications

Top 5 customers	June applications
Infotrack Limited	127,577
Enact	39,255
TM Group (UK) Ltd (Search Choice)	28,343
O’Neill Patient	23,564
My Home Move Limited	21,657

Access the data

Access the full dataset on data.gov.uk.

Next publication

Transaction Data is published on the 15th working day of each month. The August data will be published at 11am on Tuesday 21 September 2021.

Published 20 August 2021

£40m Government loan supports new retirement living homes

Hundreds of older people are set to be provided with new homes thanks to a £40m funding injection from Homes England, the Government’s housing agency.

The loan from the £4.5bn Home Building Fund will accelerate the construction of 255 mid-market retirement homes in Audley Group’s Mayfield Villages portfolio, in a segment of the market that is currently under-supplied and builds on Audley’s recently announced joint venture with BlackRock Real Assets.

Mayfield Villages is Audley Group’s mid-market proposition and the properties in its first village will include extensive health, wellbeing, care and leisure facilities. Property owners and members of the local area will also benefit from access to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated Mayfield Care.

Peter Denton, Chief Executive at Homes England, said: “First and foremost, this will enable hundreds of later life customers to enjoy high-quality, independent living accommodation for years to come. The area will benefit from enhanced care provision and family homes will be freed up for the next generation.

“Our loan directly addresses market funding challenges due to the pandemic and highlights our commitment to ensuring diverse communities.”

Nick Sanderson, CEO, Audley Group said: “The transaction with Homes England is an important milestone for the retirement living sector. A coming of age. Government backing underlines the importance placed on increasing provision in the retirement living sector and developing more innovative housing solutions.

“Our aspiration to transform retirement is shared with both Homes England and BlackRock Real Assets and this will be the focus as we look to the future.”

The shortage of family homes is often attributed partly to a lack of quality retirement homes for older people. The new homes in Watford will provide independent homes with care provision included and will free up family-sized homes for new generations to enjoy.

The development is a cornerstone to the wider Riverwell regeneration scheme in what is a priority location for the agency, allowing it to help deliver more ambitious plans. The project also incorporates elements of Modern Methods of Construction, covering build and project management activities.