Councillor Salter was reported to police for not declaring a pecuniary interest in a planning application in Newton Poppleford. Police (who were quickly called in by EDDC unlike when Councillor Brown was exposed in the Daily Telegraph) declined to take the matter further. However, EDDC’s Monitoring Officer has decided to pursue the case against him:
Click to access standards_hearing_sub_committee_agenda_150514.pdf
Today there was a reference to a “small” development anticipated at the eastern boundary of East Devon.
Hallam Estate has put in a proposal to build up to 400 properties on green fields in AONB area in Uplyme, adjoining the A3052, near the Park & Ride parking area. This is in East Devon, but it is to allow expansion of Lyme Regis which is in Dorset.
Small? Wonder if Uplyme would agree? We shall see.
There are three environmental sites of European significance on either side of the Exe: Dawlish Warren; the Exe Estuary and the Pebblebed Heath. These sites are so special that local authorities have a legal duty to ensure no adverse effects occur from increased recreational demand as a result of new developments. Putting it crudely a way has to be found to stop members of the public visiting these site as frequently as they do as there will be a lot more people around. This concerns not just dog walkers, it includes recreational use of the Exe Estuary for activities like kite surfing!
A little known study called the South-east Devon European Site Mitigation Strategy was published in June 2013. It weighs in at 243 pages and can be found here:
http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/plg_sedevoneuropeansitemitigationstrategy.pdf
Our correspondent has extracted the following salient points but no doubt there is more to be gleaned.
It is thought that around 30,000 new homes (this is last year so is probably an underestimate by now) are likely to be built close enough to affect these sites. The study looks at the suite of mitigation measures that will be necessary ranging from “soft” measures and “proactive” work with local resident to enforcement. In other words things like fencing and car park charging cannot be ruled out. While mitigation measures might seek to control or limit access in some areas, the overall aim is to enhance the existing recreation experience and provide opportunities such that access and nature conservation interests are not in conflict.
One of the main measures suggested in the report is the creation of Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace (SANG) to divert visitors to somewhere less sensitive. The current guidance provided by Natural England is that SANGs may be created from:
• existing open space of SANGs quality with no existing public access or limited public access, which for the purposes of mitigation could be made fully accessible to the public
• existing open space which is already accessible but which could be changed in character so that it is more attractive to the specific group of visitors
• land in other uses which could be converted into a SANGs
EDDC have already put forward initial plans for expansion and enhancement of the Clyst Valley and in the “Valley Parks” around Exmouth. Two areas within the “Valley Parks” are considered which follow the Littleham and Withycombe Brooks but they also include links to the South West Coast Path and the surrounding countryside (including East Devon Way and proposed cycle way routes towards Budleigh Salterton).
However EDDC have now shot themselves in the foot as reported on page 121 of the report:
“At the time of finalising this report, it has transpired that planning permission for residential development has been given by East Devon District Council on land that forms part of the Exmouth Valley Parks. This matter requires urgent resolution with the identification of alternative SANGs provision for the Exmouth area to replace that now being lost to development. The alternative provision will need to be identified and costed in order to finalise the overall calculations for SANGs provision and the resultant tariff placed on new development.”
The Clyst Valley Park proposal remains but we are fast running out of greenspace in East Devon. So EDDC may have difficulty in fulfilling their legal obligations.
Indicative costs for mitigation, including what Teignbridge and Exeter will have to do, come to £20M. The suggestion is that this will in part have to be funded by a levy on all development within some 7km to 8km of each of these sites.
So maybe EDDC should not have dismissed out of hand last year’s proposal from Dorset to create a new National Park – see article for 5 June on SIN:
http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/?s=national+park&submit=Search
The excellent Mr Freeman assked an interesting question of the Planning Inspectorate and received an admirably concise response on the whatdotheyknow website recently:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/local_plans_status#incoming-509480
NEW TRANSPARENCY CODE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT JUST PUBLISHED
The link to the document is here
Click to access Local_Government_Transparency_Code_2014_Final.pdf
Local authorities must publish all information they hold unless there is a compelling reason not to, the Government has suggested.
That principle has been laid down by the Department for Communities and Local Government in its new Local Government Transparency Code, which said local authorities should see data as a valuable resource not only to themselves, but also their partners and local people.
“In principle all data held and managed by local authorities should be made available to local people unless there are specific sensitivities (eg. protecting vulnerable people or commercial and operational considerations) to doing so,” the code says.
The DCLG said three principles had guided the development of the code (which applies in England only):
Demand led: “there are growing expectations that new technologies and publication of data should support transparency and accountability. It is vital that public bodies recognise the value to the public of the data they hold, understand what they hold, what their communities want and then release it in a way that allows the public, developers and the media to use it”;
Open: “provision of public data should become integral to local authority engagement with local people so that it drives accountability to them. Its availability should be promoted and publicised so that residents know how to access it and how it can be used. Presentation should be helpful and accessible to local people and other interested persons”; and
Timely: “the timeliness of making public data available is often of vital importance. It should be made published as soon as possible following production even if it is not accompanied with detailed analysis.”
Part 2 of the code sets out information which must be published (and is “recommended practice for parish councils whose gross annual income or expenditure – whichever is the higher – does not exceed £6.5m”).
Quarterly publication is required for expenditure exceeding £500, for Government Procurement Card transactions and details of every invitation to tender for contracts to provide goods and/or services with a value that exceeds £5,000, together with any contract, commissioned activity, purchase order, framework agreement and any other legally enforceable agreement, also with a value that exceeds £5,000.
Annual publication is required for certain information in nine data sets, including local authority land, grants to voluntary bodies and senior salaries.
Part 3 of the code meanwhile sets out areas where the DCLG suggests local authorities should go beyond the minimum compulsory requirements set out and are recommended to make information public.
These cover data in relation to: expenditure, procurement, land, parking, grants, fraud and organisation chart.
The code includes an annex summarising, in a table, all information to be published.
East Devon Watch 