About a hundred people from various parts of East Devon gathered on the lawn terraces at Knowle on Sunday afternoon 12th April to listen to speeches from parliamentary candidates and others about the national planning set-up.
The event was part of a nationwide Day of Action called for by Community Voice on Planning (Covop) and was organised by Covop trustees and Vision Group for Sidmouth.
Parliamentary candidates representing all parties, except the Conservatives ( from both the Honiton and Tiverton and the Devon East constituencies) gave their views on the national planning system and in particular the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
All of them promised reforms, mostly involving prioritising brownfield developments, protecting the countryside and building more affordable homes for local people. Conservative candidates were unable to attend and failed to respond to requests to send a written statement.
The first speaker was ex-judge Ian McKintosh, of East Devon Alliance and Covop. After reviewing the situation nationally and locally, he argued that local communities were being ignored in favour of developers.
Caroline Kolek, Labour candidate for Honiton and Tiverton, claimed that Labour would stop land-banking and prioritise brownfield sites. She shared her slot with Henry Brown, district councillor candidate for St Paul’s ward, Honiton,who made the case for more affordables for local young people.
Paul Edwards of the Green party and candidate for Tiverton and Honiton, said the countryside was our greatest resource and should be protected.
John Kelly, standing in for Andrew Chapman, UKIP parliamentary candidate for Devon East, who was indisposed, argued that the planning crisis was caused by EU regulations.
Stuart Mole, Liberal-Democrat candidate for Devon East, contended that the reforms recommended by the recent Communities and Local Government committtee should be immediately instated, for instance the proposal that all planning permissions be counted towards the 5-year land supply.
Claire Wright, Independent candidate for Devon East, put the blame for the massive increase in inappropriate development squarely on the government’s deregulation of the planning system and on the Local Council’s developer-bias and failure to produce a Local Plan.
Robert Crick, for Vision group of Sidmouth, read a litany of some of the inappropriate developments approved in the district in the past three years together with statistics provided by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England. These included the prospect of about a thousand houses a year in East Devon until 2031.
A Covop petition, to be presented to the new government, was handed out along with a short guide to the planning system and suggested reforms. The petition is available online at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/covop2015
East Devon Watch 
It was a fascinating event and really interesting to hear the differing views. I was particularly pleased to hear Henry Brown, not least to hear a young voice speak passionately about the issues we face in East Devon, but also because he spoke so forcefully against the Hayne Lane development for 300 houses on the edge of Honiton. This was a reserve site only to be used if Honiton could not find sufficient sites for their allocation of housing over the plan period. But the lack of Local Plan helped the developer win the day … The sorry saga is available to read on my blog (www.susiebond.co.uk), search for ‘Gittisham’.
Interesting too to hear LibDem, Stuart Mole, say that if elected in May, the LibDems are intending to amend the NPPF to allow planning permissions to be included in the 5-year land supply. Which begs the question what have they been doing the last three years while the country has been suffering under the developers’ cosh as they rush to landbank sites waiting for more favourable economic times?
Oh and he also proposed that EDDC would be lost in the next round of local government re-organisation which would solve the relocation issue once and for all. A new headquarters wouldn’t be needed.
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There are 59 East Devon District Councillors. How many of the 59 turned up for this very important event at the EDDC headquarters?
Answer: Just 3 – Susie Bond, Roger Giles and Claire Wright (all Independents).
Of the 42 Conservative councillors on EDDC – none attended.
The Conservative candidate Hugo Swire was invited to participate in the event, but was not present. Neither did he send a message to be read out.
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