Daily Archives: 1 Jul 2015
Gypsy and Travellers policy: 7 years and still we don’t have one (but EDW has the answer!)
Planning Inspector Mr Thickett comes to East Devon – again – next week to see if the Council’s Local Plan is yet fit for purpose.
One of his comments in March last year was that the district had no gypsy and traveller policy. Fifteen months later, and with the subject due to be investigated next week, we learn that we STILL don’t have a policy but we DO have half a million pounds set aside to try to come up with one:
http://www.devon24.co.uk/news/500_000_allocated_to_find_sites_for_gypsies_1_4126709
And, as Councillor Mike Allen so clearly puts it:
“This particular approach had been an absolute essential since around 2008, when we started looking at the proposals.
“I’m very disappointed that it’s taken six or seven years to bring forward any proposals because if the local plan fails, it’s due to lack of gypsy and traveller sites.
“I thoroughly endorse the proposal – it’s long overdue.”
The article goes on to say:
“Subject to approval by the local plan inspector, the council will put out a call for sites – areas, such as Cranbrook, on the western side of East Devon have been earmarked as potentially suitable.
As well as the proposed £500,000 budget for purchasing sites, the council is looking into other sources of finance available to it.”
Bet people in Cranbrook didn’t see that one coming!
Fear not councillors – East Devon Watch has the answer! Simply put the site next to EDDC’s new Headquarters at Heathpark, Honiton. That way, councillors get to keep an eye on the site and ensure that it works!
Then again, Skypark has a lot of empty space now, we hear!
Pull the other one!
A press release tells us that the Turks Head roundabout is being improved with DCC money because of the imminent arrival of the Premier Inn on the motel site and a 100 dwelling housing area further away.
Oh come on – motel, hotel just means traffic stays similar and industrial site traffic will be replaced by domestic traffic. But add the new EDDC headquarters on the Heathpark site and then traffic problems at the roundabout really kick off.
But this way, the whole county of Devon pays for the road improvement rather than the cost having to be incorporated into the relocation costs for EDDC.
Well, that’s good for the council tax payers of East Devon but it isn’t good news for other Devon taxpayers.
We wonder what Section 106 payments would have been expected for the Turks Head roundabout if a major supermarket HAD decided to use the site and if EDDC will offer similar inducements?
Changes to the judicial review process
The (only, expensive) way of allowing members of the public to bring councils and developers to justice:
Beach Huts: where’s the news? It’s not happy-clappy
Spotlight last night featured East Devon beach hut owners up in arms about proposed changes that would see the agreements between hut renters and EDDC torn up in favour of an auction of five year leases of sites only which would go to the highest bidder. There would be no restriction on where new leaseholders would come from. ITV regional news featured this item last week too.
Apparently, Leader Diviani was pictured on an East Devon beach yesterday saying that the idea would be looked at again due to the backlash from local renters which he appears not to have anticipated.
Pulmans View titles has carried articles on this hot topic and mention of two meetings in Sidmouth and Seaton about it.
And the Herald titles? Not a mention in this week’s Midweek Herald. In fact, we must give an award for the most Good News About East Devon to the Midweek Herald. It DID carry an article on industrial estate tenants being kicked off EDDC Heathpark estate to make way for a housing development and an item on SW water polluting the River Axe but the rest of the paper was totally happy-clappy Good News – not even a mention of the new Local Plan public investigations next week.
Whatever happened to investigative journalism and controversial local news? It seems alive and well at the View titles but not in Archant titles.
There were, however, a lot of EDDC official notices at the back of the Archant newspapers though – mostly about planning developments. Indeed, Archant received over 90% of EDDC’s not inconsiderable £200,000 newspaper advertising budget last year.
East Devon Watch 