In response to my recent plea for Watch Readers to submit articles (to eastdevonwatch@gmail.com ), Owl has just received this:

The latest round of consultation on the local plan ends on 30 September, see previous Watch article:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/09/04/further-evidence-for-the-local-plan-and-eddc-tries-to-pass-the-buck-to-the-national-trust-and-woodland-trust-for-required-open-spaces/

Readers may not have had time, or indeed may never have the time, to look at the paper deluge Ed Freeman has sent to Inspector Thickett this time around. It comprises a covering letter from Ed; a summary report and 13 supporting papers all of which amount to over 1,000 pages!

It’s the latest attempt by EDDC to try to convince Mr Thickett that 17,100 (minimum) is the right housing target over the next 18 years; that we have a 5+ year land supply in East Devon, despite what the Developers’ say; that none of this building will have an adverse effect on our rare landscape and habitats (all we need is collective membership of the National Trust (see above); and to carry out some belated consultations and box ticking exercises.

There are:

6 papers on housing delivery;
2 papers on housing numbers;
an overdue Habitat Assessment

plus the republishing of

2 supporting papers,
one commissioned by the National Trust
the other for Cranbrook;

and, finally,

2 papers on a sustainability box ticking exercise.

There are also two public consultations in progress: one on Gypsy sites the other on village Built Up Area Boundaries (BUABs).

All this should have been done in preparation of the Draft Plan years ago [at least in 2011 and possibly earlier when “The Local Development Framework Panel” was spending its time, under ex-Councillor Brown, mostly visiting sites of interest to the East Devon Business Forum – ed].

So is this the action of a Local Planning Authority confident in what it is doing – or does it have the feel someone desperately trying to play catch-up?

Four consultancy contractors have been employed to write these papers during August 2015.

Hard cases are hard to sell.

Dear Reader, it is all being done in your name, guess who is footing the bill!