Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust bucks the national trend in maintaining its level of recruitment of UK qualified medical staff between 2015 and 2021. Nationally the picture is different.

The share of homegrown doctors and nurses joining England’s NHS is at its lowest for seven years, BBC analysis of workforce data has found.

Some 58% of doctors joining the health service in 2021 came from the UK, with health bosses increasingly turning to international recruitment.

The British Medical Association told the BBC the NHS faced a “workforce crisis”. It “faced a challenge retaining staff from overseas, due to the “financial and bureaucratic barriers” they faced. Dr Amit Kochlar, its international committee deputy chair, said medical graduates were charged up to £2,400 to apply for indefinite leave to remain, with each of their dependents facing the same fee.

While overall numbers have been increasing, critics said declining domestic recruitment was unsustainable to keep pace with demand.

Patricia Marquis, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Director for England, said ministers must do more to reduce the “disproportionate reliance” on international recruits. “We are seeing a sharp increase in people leaving nursing, with more of our members saying they are considering alternative careers,” she said.

Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said it was “high time for the government to commit to a fully-funded, long-term workforce plan for the NHS” to tackle “chronic workforce shortages”. He said “relentless demand” was affecting staff due to vacancies which stood at around 110,000 – “gaps which cannot and should not be filled through international recruitment alone”.

 A recent report by the cross-party Commons health and social care select committee concluded the large number of unfilled NHS job vacancies was posing a serious risk to patient safety.

The BBC analysed workforce data provided by NHS Digital from 2015 to 2021, to investigate if trends it previously reported following the Brexit referendum in June 2016 continued. The share of UK doctors joining the health service had fallen from 69% in 2015 to 58% last year.  Over the same period, the share of new UK nurses fell from 74% to 61%. Recruitment of doctors from the Rest of the World rose from 18% to 34% over the same period, and that share of international nurses rose from 7% to 34%.

In the Epsom and St Helier Trust the level of UK recruitment remained even though there was a 13.7% reduction in EU recruitment and a corresponding 13.7% increase in worldwide recruitment during the period analyzed.

News and data provided by the Local Democracy Service of the BBC in which Epsom and Ewell Times is a partner. For the full in-depth report CLICK HERE

Leatherhead 3-0 Epsom & Ewell Pre-season Friendly – Stella Lamont Trophy Wednesday 3rd August 2022. Report Source: www.eefconline.co.uk Reporter: Richard Lambert

Tanners ease to victory. In five days we have faced two Isthmian League Step Four teams in Walton & Hersham and Leatherhead and it’s fair to say there will be little between the pair as our landlords repeated the scoreline we suffered at the Elmbridge Xcel Sports Hub. As with the previous match, the Tanners could afford to miss a penalty too in their 3-0 win.

This match was listed as the Stella Lamont Trophy, named after our long-serving Club President. It is most unusual to name a trophy after someone who is still with us and indeed Stella very much is; celebrating her 94th birthday on 1st September! We also took the opportunity to show off the new kit for this season, which regrettably followed a trend of recent years in gradually becoming more white than blue, with our players almost appearing to wear white bibs across their chests!

As a larger number of players have now signed, I am able to refer to more of them by name and all eleven of our starters in this match have put pen to paper. How many of them will make the starting eleven on Saturday remains a challenge for our Management who used seventeen players and had four unused subs available too, not to mention four other signed players who were not present!

In reality this was a very similar match to our contest at Walton & Hersham, but there were a lot more goal scoring opportunities for both teams over the ninety minutes, as neither team earned top marks for their finishing. We made a bright start though and Jahobi Maher sent an early strike a yard over the bar before a Ryan “Butch” Smith free kick was headed at goal by Steve Springett, only to see the ball superbly tipped over by the Leatherhead keeper. This would prove to be our best chance of the match.

In response a tame shot from our landlords was dragged across goal, but they had more success in the 11th minute when we failed to deal with an extremely long throw in and the loose ball was drilled low past Matt Walton by Tarpey although our new keeper, who has played well in pre-season, did well to even get a hand on the shot.

We were back on the attack soon after and Athan Smith-Joseph produced a good run and cut inside his man, but fired a curling shot just over the bar from 15 yards. There were plenty more efforts on goal from either side, although most of them came from Leatherhead and as the half progressed our good start became more of a distant memory. A 37th minute far post header was a good opportunity for our opponents to extend their lead, but this was sent over the bar from fairly close range and the teams went in at the break with a 1-0 scoreline.

Smith-Joseph saw another effort just high and wide as we opened the second half, and Leatherhead nearly scored in the 58th minute after a deep corner was headed back across goal, but a low shot flew away off our post to safety.

We then had some half chances around the hour mark, firstly when Smith-Joseph’s shot from the right was parried by the Leatherhead keeper, but not in the usual way, as the ball spooned up off him over the bar, dropping onto the roof of the net. Then from the corner Jubril “Jibs” Adamson was unable to deal with a Smith corner in a good position and the ball hit him and was cleared. A few minutes after this Smith struck a shot from at least thirty yards which cleared the bar by a couple of feet.

The game then stopped for six minutes while a stretcher was required for a Leatherhead player who looked in a lot of discomfort. We wish him well. On the pitch we made five substitutions, but we created less as the half progressed and conceded a second goal in the 75th minute as Tarpey latched on to a long ball in a bit too much space and clipped the ball over the advancing but exposed Walton. Walton was replaced by our other regular keeper, but he suffered a similar fate eleven minutes later when the Leatherhead number three made a fine run from the full back position and took a return pass before clipping the ball over our man for a very good goal.

Substitute Adam Grant had a late chance when he received the ball from a poor keeper clearance, but his effort from 40 yards was a few yards wide of the vacant target. For all our attacking, 3-0 was a little harsh at this point, but it nearly got worse as a clumsy foul led to a penalty, although the same post came to our rescue again and the deficit remained at three.

There is a school of thought that says friendlies against top Four sides will teach us little, compared to a match against a team of a similar level and I largely subscribe to that theory. However, these two defeats have produced some positives and we will also enter the League season with our feet firmly on the ground when we open up on Saturday at Shoreham.

Having a third bite at the planning cherry Quanta Homes 3 Ltd is applying to Epsom and Ewell Borough Council for permission to demolish the old and ornately faced building situated at 24-28 West Street Epsom. In its place a new 5 / 6 storey modern residential block of 20 units. Including just 10% in the “affordable” category.

Quanta Homes 3 Ltd is one of about 10 similarly named private limited property companies, active or dissolved under the sole directorship of Mr Robert Du Toit.

Rejected planning applications for first a 13 storey and then an 8 storey building are now followed by a part 5 and part 6 storey building application.

No doubt this latest application will excite again the debate between modernisers of the Town and preservers of the Town. You can make your views known online to the Council on THIS LINK

Related

Mind the Epsom Town Centre Masterplan!

£225,000 to plan the unplanned

The Epsom Refugee Network has succeeded in securing for 75 students of all young ages a six-week Summer school at St Johns in Leatherhead. With the generous support of the school, 25 teachers, 30 general volunteers and donors the school provides English lessons, playtime and opportunities for refugee children fleeing war zones and persecutions to be “children again” and make friendships. Afghani, Syrian and Ukrainian children mix happily as one together with English and refugee teachers and volunteers.

Chris Grayling, Epsom and Ewell’s MP, visited Tuesday 2nd August and said to Epsom and Ewell Times’ reporter: “Epsom Refugee Network is amazing in what it has done. The school is a fantastic achievement and is making a huge difference”.

Ukrainian volunteer Olha Zyatyk said “It is a great thing really. A huge number of children, 114 have been registered, giving them a possibility to find friends and not feel alone. We learn from each other to understand the cultural differences. All helps make a new life in a new country”.

Helping Ukrainian refugees access work

A group of Epsom & Ewell Refugee Network volunteers are supporting Ukrainian refugees to find suitable employment in the local area.  Many Ukrainian refugees have professional qualifications and significant experience in areas such as: accountancy, medicine & health care, teaching and construction.  In order to secure a job in the UK at the same level they have previously been working at, many have to convert their Ukrainian qualifications into the UK recognised equivalent, an ambition which is both costly and time consuming.     

The Epsom & Ewell Refugee Network work support group is looking for local employers who can utilise the extensive skills and experience that these refugees bring to us now; who can offer jobs that do not require UK professional qualifications as a prerequisite to carry out associated or similar work; recognising that work offered in the UK is unlikely to be at the same level than they have recently been operating at.

If you have a vacancy that may be suitable for a Ukrainian refugee or want to know more please email: epsomrefugeenetwork@gmail.com 

For any further information on local initiatives to support refugees please visit Epsom & Ewell Refugee Networkwww.epsomrefugeenetwork.org 

Historic England has announced £9,988.00 in funding to the Friends of Horton Cemetery Charity in Epsom and Ewell as part of its ‘Everyday Heritage Grants: Celebrating Working Class History.’ [Photo: Aerial shot of Horton Cemetery taken in 1952.]

This grant will help the charity realise their heritage project titled ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ which will amplify in-progress research by 50+ volunteers to reconstruct biographical histories of the thousands of men, women and children buried in ‘pauper graves’ within the largest abandoned hospital cemetery in the UK. Co-creation of 900 ceramic flowers to commemorate former psychiatric patients without memorialisation, an exhibition and crafting workshops.

 This announcement follows an open call earlier this year, inviting community or heritage organisations across the country to apply for grants of up to £25,000.00 in a bid to further the nation’s collective understanding of the past. Competition was intense with 57 successful bids being announced today out of 500 nation-wide applications. 

Historic England hope the grant will contribute positively to participants’ wellbeing, as well as providing innovative volunteering opportunities for young people or those facing loneliness and isolation. Local heritage also gives people a sense of pride in place, a cornerstone of the levelling up agenda, and they are excited to help it act as a powerful catalyst for increasing local opportunities and prosperity.

Dr Alana Harris, Director of Liberal Arts at King’s College London, local Epsom resident and expert consultant to the Friends of Horton Cemetery will direct the Project. She said “The support of Historic England is a ringing endorsement of the importance of Horton Cemetery as a heritage site of national importance and widespread interest. I am excited by the opportunities provided by this prestigious funding grant to involve more people in remembering these forgotten histories.”

Kevin McDonnell, who leads the volunteer research team, responded to the award of this grant: “Winning this grant is down to the skill, dedication and time generosity of the great team of volunteer researchers who are telling the stories of the forgotten people, mainly Londoners, buried in this cemetery as paupers, and bringing them “back to life”.

The Friends of Horton Cemetery are encouraging teams researching other psychiatric hospital cemeteries around London to use a similar model to theirs. Anyone interested in working on these projects should email hortoncemetery@gmail.com

Visit www.hortoncemetery.org for further information

Epsom & Ewell Borough Council (EEBC) has responded to Transport for London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) consultation. TFL’s proposal is to expand the ULEZ to all London boroughs, including Kingston-upon-
Thames and Sutton. This means eight out of the 13 wards in the borough will border the ULEZ and be directly affected. The Council anticipates the remaining wards will also be impacted by increased parking demand and use of side streets by non-exempt vehicle owners.

The following response was agreed by members at Full Council on 28 July:

1. Provision is required for exempt routes which enable access to essential places and
   roads such as:
   a. A3, M25, A240.
   b. Facilities, e.g. the existing St Helier in Sutton.
   c. SW Region stations and other transport hubs that at present are outside the
   ULEZ but require EEBC residents to pass through the proposed ULEZ to reach
   them.
2. Owners of non-exempt vehicles in EEBC to be included in any scrappage scheme that
   the Mayor of London is requesting from central government for London borough
   residents.
3. The consultation period of two months should be extended until 31 December 2022 to
   allow more careful analysis of the cause and effect to the welfare and economy of the
   boroughs.

Councillor John Beckett, Chair of Environment and Safe Communities Committee, said: “We support the move to reduce high levels of air pollution, which the ULEZ scheme aims to achieve. However, owing to the acute economic pressure households and business are facing at this time, the scheme needs to consider the economic, social and mental health needs of all communities affected by this scheme, not just London boroughs.”

BELOW WE REPORT ON RESPONSES FROM OTHER SURREY DISTRICT COUNCIL AREAS THAT WILL BE IMPACTED BY THE ULEZ EXTENSION

Julie Armstrong – Local Democracy Reporter adds:

London Mayor Sadiq Khan will be asked by Elmbridge Borough Council to delay expanding the city’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) in order to do more research.

Any vehicle not complying with minimum nitrogen dioxide emissions standards has to pay £12.50 per day to drive inside the zone, with a £180 penalty charge issued by TfL for late or non-payment.

According to the 2011 Census, nearly two in five (37 per cent) of Elmbridge residents commute to work in London.

TfL said it “would be happy” to meet with Elmbridge representatives to discuss the proposals before any decision is made.

Nicholas Martin, Elmbridge’s policy and community safety officer, said on Monday (July 11) he thought it could push drivers wanted to avoid heading into London to leave the A3 at Copsem Lane towards Esher, “already a congested route”. Increased use by commuters of Elmbridge’s car parks could lead to a lack of space for shoppers, for example in The Dittons, Hinchley Wood and Weston Green, Claygate and East Molesey.

Additional resident parking schemes and pay and display may have to be introduced, he said.

And many who park in Richmond for Hampton Court Palace would instead park on the Elmbridge side, negatively impacting the Hampton Court Air Quality Management Area. On the other hand, air quality could be improved if drivers in the area switch to compliant vehicles to avoid the charge.

Air pollution contributed to the premature deaths of around 4,000 Londoners in 2019 and TfL estimate that expanding the ULEZ to outer London could reduce traffic emissions of nitrogen oxides there by 6.9 per cent.

Mr Martin said detailed analysis of impacts had not been possible in TfL’s two month consultation period and they had not provided any modelling on air quality or traffic flow. The borough council’s consultation response says: “Such analysis will take time and we would hope for a delay in implementing the scheme to allow for this.”

There are concerns that Elmbridge businesses may have problems accessing materials if deliveries are coming from or through London. A borough council report says: “Small businesses continue to be impacted by the pandemic, energy price increases, inflation, and supply chain issues. An expansion of the ULEZ London-wide could see further increases to their cost base that could harm their future viability at an already uncertain time.”

Council leader Chris Sadler (The Walton Society, Walton Central) said: “We feel strongly that the residents of Elmbridge should see some kind of tangible benefit as a result of the payments being made by Elmbridge residents into this scheme.”

Spelthorne, Epsom and Ewell, Tandridge and Reigate and Banstead also have more than one in five of its residents commuting to London.

A TfL spokesperson said: “The length of the current consultation to expand the ULEZ London-wide is of a similar duration to those for previous schemes of this significance. As part of the consultation we have provide detailed local air quality data for all parts of London and surrounding areas, including Elmbridge. We would be happy to meet with representatives from Elmbridge to discuss what the proposals mean for them ahead of any decision to go ahead with the plans.”

Emily Coady Stemp Local Democracy Supporter further adds:

A Surrey council is calling on Sadiq Khan to extend London’s scrappage scheme to the county’s residents.

Tandridge District Council voted in favour of a motion put forward by its leader objecting to the proposed extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).

A consultation on the proposed extension to the boundary ended on July 29.

Councillor Catherine Sayer’s motion said a request to central government from the London Mayor for a scrappage scheme for Londoners would mean “that Tandridge District taxpayers would subsidise new cars for Londoners whilst getting no support themselves.

“That is clearly unfair and, if there is to be any such scrappage scheme, it should include bordering councils.”

A meeting of the district council on Thursday (July 21) also heard the leader read out an example of the son-in-law of one of the councillors, who lives in Hurst Green, Oxted.

The son-in-law was a firefighter who worked at Croydon Fire Station and also did window cleaning in Sutton approximately 2 days a month.

He had worked out the cost of paying the ULEZ charge if the boundary were to be extended as £325 a month or £3,900 a year.

This was broken down by eight day shifts a month at £100, eight night shifts a month at £200 (because it would cover both days) and the two  window cleaning days at £25.

Councillor Taylor O’Driscoll (Conservative, Westway) said: “Residents trying to drop children off in Coulsdon, going to work as fire fighters in Croydon, visiting family in Biggin Hill, relaxing in Bromley, attending hospital appointments in Tooting or visiting friends in Wallington will have to pay £12.50 whenever they cross the greater London boundary if they don’t have a ULEZ compliant car.

“And not every resident in Westway can afford a ULEZ compliant car.”

Councillor Jeremy Pursehouse (Independent Group, Warlingham East Chelsham & Farleigh said he agreed with the motion being put forward by the leader.

But he added: “Air quality within London is a huge issue and it needs tackling. People are suffering, people are becoming ill because of it.”

The leader committed to try to meet with TfL representatives, as had also been proposed by Elmbridge Borough Council which will also be impacted by the proposed boundary change.

Hundreds of Surrey parents cannot afford a school uniform for their child, a councillor has claimed, as calls for an emergency summit dealing with the cost of living crisis were thrown out.

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Fiona White proposed a host of organisations draw up a joint countywide plan to alleviate residents’ financial pain, including Citizens Advice, food banks, trade unions, chambers of commerce and the legal advice charity Surrey Welfare Rights Unit. She said with energy prices more than doubling, inflation heading towards 11 per cent and the highest tax burden since the 1940s, people were struggling – and 450 people had been referred to a charity because they had no money left to buy their child’s school uniform.

Cllr Carla Morson (LD, Ash) warned the council they “could well be on the edge of a mental health crisis” unless they act, saying: “People in debt are considered to be three times more likely to have considered suicide”.

But the majority Conservative group said they were already doing what they could and one dubbed the Liberal Democrats’ motion “nonsense”. ‘We are putting more money into residents’ pockets’

Council leader Tim Oliver said the council’s Surrey Crisis Fund gives people at crisis point grants for energy bills, basic household goods or urgent repairs. He said: “I’m fully aware of the cost of living challenges. What we need to do is get more money into our residents’ pockets now and that is exactly what we are doing.”

Surrey County Council has launched an online health and welfare hub to provide residents with financial, health and general welfare information. Alongside this is a community helpline for residents who would rather talk through their situation, to which Cllr Oliver said the Job Centre referred one person who hadn’t eaten for five days.

The council was also providing £10,000 grants for cavity wall insulation, loft insulation or solar renewable technology, for those on a low income living in a hard-to-heat home, though the deadline for this has passed.

lt had also increased its match funding grants to the Community Foundation for Surrey, “invested £500,000 to find barriers faced by excluded groups to try and get them to enter the job market”, and dedicated a one per cent rise in this year’s council tax to mental health early intervention and prevention.

Cllr Oliver added that Surrey council had agreed staff on the lowest pay grade would get a 7.85 per cent increase, to £10.24 an hour, with the percentage increase dropping further up the pay scale and no increase for top earners. “These are practical things we are doing,” he said. “We can talk about the crisis forever, we can have summits, that is not what we should be doing.”

Cllr George Potter (LD, Guildford East) asked: “Are we really saying that there is nothing more that can be done by the county council? I’m happy to agree a great deal has been done, but to say that there’s nothing more we can accomplish by working with others – no new ideas – is absurd and obscene.”

He said from October the average household’s energy bill alone would rise to £270 a month, and Universal Credit for under-25s paid £260 a month for recipients to house, clothe and feed themselves as well.

‘You need to walk in those person’s shoes in order to really understand’

Cllr Liz Townsend (LD, Cranleigh & Ewhurst) told the leader: “I would say that you need to walk in those person’s shoes in order to really understand. Spare a thought for those people who really now cannot make ends meet, who are going around supermarkets comparing prices, having to put things back on the shelves, who are going to bed hungry.”

Cllr Bob Hughes (Con, Shere) said: “It sounds to me like posturing, as if somehow the Liberal Democrats are the only people with the answers, trying to give the impression they’re the only people who care about this. The upshot of this nonsense is a motion that would make the poor poorer in the long run.”

He said the Lib Dems had ignored the Government’s £15billion support for those most in need, which includes a household support fund for the country of £421million between April-September, given to local authorities to use at their discretion.

Surrey has used it to, for example, continue to provide food vouchers for schoolchildren in holidays and top up food banks, community fridges and food clubs. It is not something individuals can apply for directly.

The £15billion also includes a £650 payment for means-tested benefit recipients and a one-off £400 discount to be delivered by energy suppliers to households over six months from October.

Cllr White (Guildford West) said £400 was not going to cover the increased bills.

In May, Ofgem said a typical household would pay £800 more a year from October, so £2,800.

The government used this estimate when deciding how much financial support to offer households.

But now consultancy firm Cornwall Insight has said it’s more likely to be £3,244 – and to go up further in January to £3,363.

‘People are consumed with their debt, they cannot think of anything else’

Forty councillors voted against the emergency summit proposal (July 12th), while 19 were in favour.

Cllr Will Forster (LD, Woking South) said he thought councillors would regret voting it down and added: “To get everyone together across Surrey to share best practice would have been really helpful.”

Cllr Townsend said: “To call the details in the motion nonsense is fairly insulting. People are consumed with their debt, they cannot think of anything else.”

Among 12 members who abstained was Eber Kington (Residents’ Association, Ewell Court, Auriol & Cuddington) who said he didn’t like the issue being “a vehicle for making party political comments”.

The motion included a call on the Government to reduce VAT, reinstate the pensions triple lock so pensions would rise with inflation, and restore the cancelled £20 Universal Credit supplement.

Cllr Jonathan Hulley (Con, Foxhills, Thorpe & Virginia Water) said the One Surrey Growth Board, which is already set up, was tasked with addressing inequality.

Cllr White responded: “I didn’t see Citizens Advice on there, despite the fact that they, day after day are having to try and deal with and help people through these issues. All too often we hear politicians say, ‘We recognise there is a problem but we are already doing…’. I think the examples given show that what we are already doing is not enough. We have heard that people are becoming absolutely desperate. We are leaving people behind.”

Where to find or offer help:

Apply to the Surrey Crisis Fund for help with energy bills or basic household items like a fridge or washing machine: https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/community/surrey-crisis-fund

For help on where to turn for financial advice, Surrey County Council’s Community Helpline on 0300 200 1008 is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays): https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/health-and-welfare/support

Community Foundation for Surrey takes funding applications for projects to advance physical and mental health or to reduce disadvantage and increase access to services: https://www.cfsurrey.org.uk/applyforfunding/

More than 20 primary school places are being made available for autistic children in Surrey, with 12 from this September. A special educational needs (SEN) unit will be created at Epsom Primary and Nursery School, using existing classrooms.

The county’s existing specialist provision in state schools – over 3,700 places – is full and the council wants to reduce its reliance on the independent sector. The most common additional needs of Surrey children who need a specialist placement are autism and communication and interaction.

The SEN unit was approved on Monday (July 4) by Councillor Denise Turner-Stewart, cabinet member for education and learning, who said: “There was very good support for this proposal in the consultation. This contributes to our £139million capital investment programme providing new school places in our local community and also reduce the reliance on home to school transport. I’m very happy to approve this decision.”

Epsom is a £1.1m investment that will make 12 places available in September 2022 rising to its full capacity of 21 in September 2026. The 21 places will save the council £630,000 every year, by avoiding having to pay for the places at non-maintained independent schools. This will contribute to bringing down its multimillion pound dedicated schools grant deficit.

By 2030-31, the total number of Surrey pupils aged 4-19 with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) is forecast to be more than 2,500 higher than the 2020-21 total of around 11,000. The growing need for SEN places among primary pupils is expected to increase by 160 in the four years to 2024-25, when the council projects it will peak and then reduce.

Commissioning manager Jane Keenan said: “The most prevalent primary needs for pupils aged four to 11 who require a specialist school placement are autism and communication and interaction needs.”

Refurbishment will take place over the summer and Epsom’s SEN unit will open at the start of September in time for the new academic year.

A man was paid £500 after Epsom and Ewell Borough Council wrongly labelled him a “vexatious complainant” in a planning dispute. The local government ombudsman, which looks into complaints against councils, found Epsom and Ewell Borough Council at fault over its handling of contact from a man known as Mr X.

The authority was told to pay him £500 for the distress he suffered, made up of £300 for distress and £200 for his time and trouble in contacting the council and the ombudsman.

The authority was also told to apologise to Mr X for its “failure to deal properly with the planning enforcement investigation and its decision to apply the unacceptable behaviour policy to him”.

Mr X had been in contact with the council before an investigation was opened, in October 2020, into an alleged breach of planning control regarding his neighbour’s driveway. This report was added to an already open planning enforcement investigation, with Mr X saying the council had failed to act on his reports that his neighbour carried out development on a front driveway without planning permission.

A spokesperson for the council said they were unable to comment on enquiries relating to an individual case. According to the ombudsman’s report, the council claimed to have sent a report into Mr X’s complaints to him in December 2020, though he claims he was not informed of the decision not to take enforcement action. The council did not provide evidence to support its claim it had sent the report to Mr X, as part of the ombudsman’s investigation. It closed the enforcement investigation in February 2021, though the ombudsman noted that it appeared the council did act on the reports but did not provide evidence on its conclusions.

The report states: “Based on Mr X’s statement that he did not receive the report and the council’s failure to provide evidence that the report was sent to him, I conclude, on the balance of probabilities, that the report was not sent to Mr X. This is significant because Mr X’s further contacts with the council from January 2021 over the planning breaches were justified.”

Mr X had sent emails and photographs about the issue to the head of development management and had contacted the enforcement officer dealing with the case. He was concerned about the building of a wall, drainage systems, lack of screening, a failure to screen off the building site and raising of the height of the garden in relation to his neighbour. He also said an enforcement officer made a visit to the site, but did not inform him of it in order to meet with him afterwards.

He made a complaint about the enforcement officer to the head of development management.

The head of development management stopped working for the council in January 2021, and did not respond to the complaint he received from Mr X before he did. He also had contact with the authority’s chief legal officer, who he made a complaint about, saying the officer was “protecting his neighbour”.

He said the officer had repeatedly ignored his correspondence and threatened to block his emails while making an allegation of defamation against him.

Mr X continued to contact council officers up to summer 2021, until he received an email in August to say the council would restrict contact with him under its unreasonable behaviour policy.

The letter said most of Mr X’s correspondence did not fall within the definition of a complaint the council could deal with and that the context and nature of his correspondence threatened the welfare of council employees. It said said Mr X would be restricted to a single point of contact and the restriction would remain in place for six months.

The ombudsman found: “The chief legal officer triggered the policy even though the council had not dealt with Mr X’s reports of breaches of planning control properly and in line with relevant procedures and statutory guidelines.”

The council’s policy on “unreasonable behaviour” covers people who hinder council work on their, or other people’s complaints, because of the nature or frequency of their contacts. It says unreasonable behaviour may include one or two isolated incidents or persistent behaviour over a longer period.

The ombudsman concluded: “There was fault by the council because it did not inform Mr X of the outcome of its planning enforcement investigation. It consequently improperly applied its policy on vexatious complainants. The council agreed to apologise to Mr X and make a payment to him to address the injustice he suffered in consequence of its fault.”

A borough council spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on  enquiries relating to an individual case in the borough. “We can inform you that we work with the ombudsman regarding individual case work and its recommendations.”

The full report of the ombudsman is HERE

 Epsom and St Helier and St George’s Hospital are holding a series of workshops starting this week and next for patients and the public to attend. The workshop will involve shaping the new joint strategy for St George’s and Epsom and St Helier Hospital. The workshops will be approximately 60-90mins long and facilitated by the hospital’s transformation and strategy team. Teas and coffees will be served on the night. A full break down of the events, dates and times can be found below. Epsom and Ewell’s will be held at the Premier Inn Dorking Road Epsom on Wednesday 10th August at 6.00pm RSVP via esth.sguh.strategy@nhs.net