I will call Anthony Mangnall to move the motion. As he knows, there are no other speakers in the debate, although he can give way to Members if he so wishes. As an experienced gentleman, he will know that. There will be no wind-up opportunity.
That this House has considered the future of the A379 Slapton line.
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Paisley. For residents and visitors to south Devon, there can be no better view than those momentary westward glances that are revealed when travelling through Stoke Fleming or Strete. For the unacquainted, it is perhaps one of the most magnificent views these isles have to offer: that of the Slapton line, which is a bar of shingle dividing the sea and the largest natural freshwater lake in the south-west of England, the Slapton Ley. Its simple beauty has captured the imaginations of generations and has encouraged people to retire to the area. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. That bar of shingle has become not only of natural importance, but a vital link between the towns of Kingsbridge and Dartmouth and the villages in between.
The A379, which runs atop the shingle, is an arterial route that carries goods, schoolchildren, visitors, farmers, healthcare workers and emergency services across south Devon. It has become an essential link that the good people of south Devon cannot do without. The history of the area is as wide and varied as one would think: from the November 1824 storm that wrecked hundreds of ships and resulted in the Slapton line being breached, to Plymouth dredging the shingles of Slapton to expand its dock, and the destruction of the village of Hallsands in 1917, which was due to that very dredging. Perhaps most famously, in 1943 Slapton sands became the training ground for the D-day landings. The similarity of the topography to that of northern France made it the ideal training location for US troops. As a result, an area of 34,000 acres was evacuated of residents, and troops moved in to undertake their preparations for the invasion of Europe. Today, there stands a monument, presented by the United States, to recognise those who left their land to support the war effort, as well as a Sherman tank to commemorate Exercise Tiger and the hundreds of servicemen who died during the rehearsal in April 1944.
Since then, this special area has become a wildlife sanctuary and a site of special scientific interest, and a Field Studies Council centre has been created. The council has also helped to provide education and scientific research in the area. The area’s history and natural beauty are undeniable, but it is also a working environment. The villages of Strete, Slapton and Torcross are all adjacent to the Slapton line, and the local community depends on its existence and the ability to travel across the line on the A379.
Over the years, the storms have resulted in man altering the landscape to deal with the impact of mother nature: first in 1944, when sea defences were built in Torcross, and then expanded and completed in 1980; in 2001, the road had to be repaired; in 2002, a 300-metre section of the A379 was moved and rebuilt; in 2015, 25,000 tonnes of shingle was moved on to the beach; and finally, in 2018, Storm Emma caused significant damage to more than 500 metres of the road and the middle car park. While the scale and viciousness of the storms have varied over the years, it was Storm Emma that resulted in my predecessor, Sarah Wollaston, securing £2.5 million of Government funding to realign further sections of the road and place rock armour along the Slapton line to protect the road.
I was transported to the shingles of Devon county by your speech. I call Minister Opperman.
11:08 am
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Guy Opperman)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship. Mr Paisley, and it is an honour and privilege to respond to my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall), to discuss part of the heritage of south Devon and of this great country. He rightly set out the long and illustrious career of that community and surrounding area, which is particularly noted for its role in the preparation for D-day, 6 June 1944. As is set out on the memorial, without the actions of that community and countryside, we would have been impeded in our ability to invade France and take forward the changes we managed to achieve in 1945.
I thank my hon. Friend for bringing this matter forward, and I hope I can address some of the important points he raised. It is clear to everybody who has read up on this issue that he has fought assiduously—in the footsteps of our good friend Sarah Wollaston—to drive forward progress in difficult circumstances, and I give him due credit for that.
The debate not only matters to constituents in Slapton or Torcross but has a wider impact on Stokenham, Frittiscombe, Strete, visitors to Slapton Ley, and all the communities up and down the coast that use this road. I accept and understand that the issue has a wider importance than simply the stretch of road we are talking about, given the geography and the ongoing difficulties involved. I express my sympathy for those affected, given the ongoing concern and worry that this issue causes. As any Member of Parliament knows, such an ongoing worry—whether about flood risk, complications for development or the potential loss of a road—is a serious and legitimate thing. People get very exercised about such things, and we should in no way underestimate that—I certainly do not.
I have been lucky enough to read the Slapton Line Partnership November 2023 strategy, which goes to 25 pages and is a credit to everybody who brought it forward. I have also tried to look at the considerations, and there is a relevant factor with which I want to try to assist my hon. Friend and the local community. That document was created on 3 November 2023 after many months of work. Subsequently, on 27 November 2023, Devon County Council received £6.63 million of further funding after the HS2 decision taken by the Prime Minister in early October 2023—the cancellation of the second leg allowed extra funding to go to local authorities up and down the country. That has consequences when one assesses the financial capability of the local authority, and I will come to that in a bit. Clearly, the Slapton Line Partnership wrote the strategy before it knew that further funding was coming to Devon County Council. Given that further funding, I respectfully suggest that the document should be refreshed.
Thank you, Minister. I am sure the hon. Member for Totnes appreciates the opportunity for a meeting and a collective visit to the area by the entire Committee.
Question put and agreed to.
11:19 am
Sitting suspended.
We all know the fragility of the Slapton line, and we all recognise the increasing impact of storms. However, we also know that the line is integral to our rural economy and way of life and to ensuring access across the area. In 2001, the Slapton Line partnership was formed to co-ordinate policy for managing coastal change in the area. The group is made up of a range of public, private and third sector organisations; its current members are Devon County Council, South Hams District Council, Strete, Slapton and Stokenham parish councils, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the South Devon area of outstanding natural beauty, the Wild Planet Trust and the Field Studies Council.
Over the years, the group has helped to create a local strategy and evaluate what can and should be done to protect the line. Until 2018, the strategy was that the Slapton sands would operate on a policy of “retreating the road”, meaning that it could be rebuilt, moved and repaired. After Storm Emma, though, the policy of “retreating the road” was altered to “no further retreat”, which is, unfortunately, where the trouble began. When the policy for management of the line was quietly changed, no consideration was given to the needs of the local community or the economic and social impact of losing the road, nor was any thought given to what message it would send to Devon County Council, and indeed to central Government, when we ask for further funding or support.
In October 2019, the Slapton Line partnership published a strategy document, unsurprisingly and rather unexcitingly called the Slapton Line partnership policy document. The excellent work undertaken by Dan Field and Chris Brook—notwithstanding the title of that document—from South Hams District Council has helped to identify key areas of weakness on the Slapton line, areas of concern and recommendations of what should be improved. I will take a moment to put on record how very fortunate we are to have two of the best public servants working for South Hams District Council in the form of Dan Field and Chris Brook. They have done the most extraordinary work on shoestring budgets, for which I applaud them. I want to make that very clear on record in the House.
The Slapton Line partnership strategy document was updated in November 2023, with me as interim chair. The strategy document made a number of recommendations, including that the road should continue to be maintained as a highway and cleared of shingle and debris post storms. Most importantly for me in terms of this debate, it recommended maintenance of all sea defences and a review of the shoreline management plan to extend the “hold the line” policy across the line. It also recommended improved traffic planning and passing points on the back routes, increased car parking at both ends of the line, and ensuring the development of the adaptation plan.
The group recognises that we will not indefinitely be able to protect the line and road from ever-increasing storms and sea levels. However, we do believe that we need to strengthen the line against future storms, and that maintenance of the sea defences and reviewing the shoreline management plan, with the intention to extend the “hold the line” policy across parts of the line, will be the most cost-effective way of keeping the road open while minimising taxpayer cost.
For the moment, my ask of the Government is to help us to shore up those defences so that we can avoid a large cost later on. Having reached consensus, the Slapton Line partnership group produced a beach management plan in 2017, a vulnerability assessment and an economic assessment. Together, those reports have highlighted the impact that the loss of the road will have on the more than 30,000 people living in the area, along with the damage it will do to thousands of local jobs, the disruption to education, the limitations to healthcare and emergency services, and the potential danger it will do to the economy, which estimates its local value to be about £40 million gross value added. As I am sure the Minister knows, those figures are not small, but essential for rural communities like mine in south Devon.
What do we need? This year, Devon County Council is conducting the following surveys: in the first quarter, a data review; in the second quarter, what options and what the design should look like; in the third quarter, preliminary designs that can be presented to the Slapton Line partnership group; in the fourth quarter, consent and planning applications; and in the third and fourth quarters, the environmental assessments. Those surveys and applications are going to come at a cost of about £130,000 to £200,000. Will the Minister support my call for Devon County Council’s increased budget for its highway maintenance fund to help to produce those reports? We are not asking for new money; we are asking for the money that has already been allocated to Devon County Council to go towards funding those reports.
A question remains about what the extended and improved defences will look like. I believe we already have the answer. Beesands is the neighbouring village to Slapton. I welcome any hon. Members to come to see this, and I will even throw in lunch. I will extend that to civil servants, if they would like. In Beesands, after Storm Imogen, work began after South Hams District Council requested an innovative form of rock armour to be designed and trialled. Working with Landmarc and other local business, it came up with a new solution, using specialist high tensile stainless steel mesh that locked in rock and shingle and provided a solid, yet natural-looking, defence system. Doorkeepers are also invited to come and look, I hasten to add.
That prototype cell system was installed in 2016 and has worked so well that, in 2021, an improved TECCO system was commissioned and rolled out further along the beach at Beesands, protecting the village green and nearby properties. The initial work was funded by the Environment Agency, and the extension by South Hams District Council. It is my opinion, and that of many other members of the Slapton Line partnership and local community, that such technology would be more than appropriate to be installed on the Slapton Line. The successful trial at Beesands shows not only its durability but its appropriate aesthetic look.
To install that technology, those scoping documents and assessments need to be completed and planning consent approved. I am led to believe, because Slapton Sands falls under the category of a SSSI, that Natural England will block any proposals we put forward. I appreciate that Natural England has a fine balancing act to work on, but I believe it is counter-productive to reject any plans put forward, especially when the loss of this road would impact the local community so significantly. Does the Minister believe that highway maintenance should be able to circumvent application processes and allow us to proceed in a timely manner to introduce those defence measures?
The estimated cost of the measures we would like to put in place is still being worked out, but it is likely to be several million pounds. Although we might gulp at the prospect of that sum being spent, it is considerably less than what would have to be spent if the road were washed away, and we would have to focus all our attention on the back roads. The considerable back-road network would require a far greater sum to be spent on it, while being less effective.
Time and tide stop for no man. Although I recognise the brilliance of the Minister, I am not asking him to do that. What I am asking is whether he can make our defences fit for purpose, to help us extend the life of the line for the next three decades, ensuring that south Devon remains a community that is open and accessible, where businesses and residents can thrive together.
My hon. Friend kindly asked me to visit, and I would be delighted to accept. It is legitimate for a Minister to sit down with the local authority and the interested parties—there has been support from arm’s length bodies, whether that is the EA or Natural England—and drive forward a compromise solution that gives security and peace of mind to the local communities my hon. Friend so ably represents. Surely, that is in everybody’s interests. We are not talking about what the policy will be in 100 years, but people do need to know what it will be in the next two, five and 10 years. That is totally legitimate and understandable.
Different Administrations have made serious interventions dating back to 2018, when the then Transport Secretary gave £2.5 million to support the local authority’s works after Storm Emma. There was an adaptation manager, and other work was done, ultimately producing the Slapton Line Partnership strategy. However, that strategy has to take into account local people, and I would be concerned if local communities felt in any way that the impact on them was not considered over and above the statutory and arm’s length bodies—that would be of concern to any Member of Parliament, let alone any Minister. This issue is a classic example of the difficulties of combatting climate change and coastal erosion, and of addressing people’s modern-day needs to get their children to school and to get out and about across the rural community, but I have no doubt that there is a middle ground where the situation can be to the satisfaction of all.
It is right that I set out the statutory position. Under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, the local authority has a duty to maintain the highways network in its area. Importantly, the Act does not set out specific standards of maintenance, as it is for each highways authority to assess which parts of its network need repair and what standards should be applied, based on its local knowledge and the circumstances that apply.
Clearly, a key matter in all of that is funding. Devon County Council receives significant funding—in fact, more highway maintenance funding per capita than any local authority—to reflect the fact that it is responsible for more miles of local roads than any other authority, including my own in Northumberland. There is a variety of ways in which that funding is provided. There is the original highways maintenance block grant. Budget 2023—we are now on Budget day 2024—announced a further £9.39 million. And there is the £6.63 million, which was announced in the late autumn, or early winter, last year. That means that the total budget from the Department for Transport for highways maintenance was £68.88 million in 2023-24.
That matters, because it is a 30% increase on the sums from last year. That is a massive increase in any business or local authority funding, and it clearly makes a difference. By way of context, if I go back to 2009-10, total funding was £27 million; we are now up £68 million. That is a massive increase in budget, and it has come about under this Government. That allows funding to be spent on the local highways maintenance priorities that matter most to local people.
Clearly, the views of arm’s length bodies matter—they are very important—but it is also about what local people want, as personified by their local parish council, their county council and their individual Members of Parliament. That unquestionably includes potential roads that are under threat, such as the Slapton line. I genuinely hope that Devon County Council, my hon. Friend, the local community and the partnership will go away and reflect on the increase in funding. I hope they will have a proper sit-down—I am very happy to facilitate as a Minister, if I am able to find the time in the diary—and a genuine discussion about what the local community wants, how there can be ongoing preservation of the Slapton line and how we can have a long-term, practical policy that everyone can get behind and that provides peace of mind over the next two, five and 10 years, with an acceptance that things may be different over a much longer period. That is surely a practical and pragmatic approach that we can all get behind, and I hope it will provide assistance and comfort to my hon. Friend and his constituents.
Clearly, it is for Devon county councillors to spend the money as they see fit once it is given to them, because they are the elected representatives. In relation to the HS2 money, I want to be utterly clear that the £6.63 million is not ringfenced—it is not prescribed solely for potholes or whatever. It can be spent on any capital project or programme, but highways maintenance is particularly prayed in aid in support of that announcement.
To conclude, it is an honour and a privilege to respond to my hon. Friend and to address a part of the nation’s heritage, and I will be looking forward to visiting when diaries permit. I am certain that there is a way forward that will maintain and continue this line in the near future.