Well, oddly, first for the Blackdown Hills!
Daily Archives: 18 Jul 2016
Exmouth: EDDC backtracks on Moirai Capital Investments – seafront development up for grabs again!
What a surprise! Yet another “we told you so” moment to savour!
“East Devon District Council (EDDC) says that having overcome legal delays, its leaders want to make sure that the development of leisure facilities in Queen’s Drive, between the old lifeboat station and the Maer, is of ‘high quality’, to sit alongside the proposed watersports centre, which the council says is set to progress having been agreed with a developer.
Property developers Moirai Capital Investments were identified as the council’s preferred developers for the main leisure area last year, and EDDC says Moirai made significant efforts to move their proposals forward in difficult circumstances.
EDDC says it has spoken with Moirai, advising it that due to the length of time the process has taken, it’s considering the re-marketing option, and would welcome a further proposal from it as part of this if it does so.
It is more than two years since the main part of the site was originally marketed, and EDDC says the circumstances which influence what happens to Queen’s Drive ‘have changed for the better’.
Councillor Philip Skinner, chairman of East Devon District Council’s Exmouth Regeneration Programme Board, said: “We want Exmouth to be in the best possible position to bring more money and vibrancy to the largest town in Devon. Exmouth has grown continuously for decades, but our seafront leisure facilities haven’t while other seaside resorts have invested and modernised.
“We are considering re-marketing the main Queen’s Drive leisure area to investors and developers who, because of these changing times and our progress on site, now see the potential that Exmouth has to offer.”
Chris Lewis from Moirai Capital said: “We fully appreciate the council’s decision to review this project following the legal delays.
“We remain extremely interested in the potential for the site but understand that time has elapsed and the original concepts will need reviewing. As such we remain committed to the site and will look to rebid as we see Exmouth has the potential for a vibrant and exciting scheme to attract visitors, create jobs and drive forward wet weather facilities for the area.”
The council has outline planning permission to develop the Queen’s Drive site to include a cafe and public open space, retail units, a hotel or holiday accommodation, car parking, and indoor and outdoor play facilities for children and young people of all ages.
This includes the proposed watersports centre at the front of the site, for which the council has forged a partnership with Grenadier Estates.
The council also has approval to realign the road and car park to the rear of the proposed watersports centre once planning permission for the centre is in place.”
http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/council_considers_re_marketing_exmouth_seafront_site_1_4622392
Swire: enormously missed by the Maldives
Swire’s Twitter account:
https://mobile.twitter.com/HugoSwire
is full of grateful thanks from many countries for his ministrations at the Foreign Office.
By far the most coming from the Maldives, which appears desolate at its loss, not salved by already having a new UK government representative in place, probably Sir Alan Duncan, MP who took Swire’s place.
Still, that country has about 350,000 inhabitants whereas East Devon has only about 136,000 so taking care of East Devon should be much easier and much less commuting time from Mid-Devon.
Was the new wine and candles photo at the top of the Twitter account taken during one of his visits to the Maldives, perhaps? It looks much too exotic to be Sidmouth – though climate change may well see Sidmouth transformed into a tropical climate quite soon!
EDDC: cost of officer time – selective monitoring and double standards for the Standards Committee
Isn’t it interesting that, in just about every area of EDDC’s work, the cost of officer time is not included. Take the Knowle relocation – officer time is NEVER costed. Take planning applications and the production of the Local Plan – officer time is NEVER costed.
Yet, when it comes to monitoring the behaviour of councillors, somehow officer time can be costed. Why? Because EDDC wants to subtly suggest that it costs an awful lot of money and really people should not be wasting their precious time as most complaints are dismissed by the Monitoring Officer anyway!
“The annual cost for assessing Monitoring Officer type complaints remains at approximately £40,000, which has been calculated based on an estimate of officers’ time spent assessing, investigating and administering complaints as part of their job role. Officers dealing with the Code of Conduct complaints process are:
Monitoring Officer; Deputy Monitoring Officer, PA to Monitoring Officer, Democratic Services Officer, statutory Independent Person role (of which EDDC has used two on an alternate basis) and Investigating Officer when required.”
Has Hugo Swire semi-retired now he is a backbench MP?
This was the photograph that used to grace his Twitter account when he was a Foreign Office Minister:
and this is the photograph that he replaced it with when he was sacked from his ministerial job:
From ministerial leather armchair to wine and candles somewhere that just doesn’t look at all like East Devon – what a difference a day makes!
Though, perhaps, when the carnival is really over, THIS might be the reality:
Claire Wright and MP Hugo Swire with protesters at Ottery St Mary hospital on Saturday Ref sho 21-16SH 4964. Picture: Simon Horn.
Advice for the new Communities Minister on Devolution
So many instututions are now seeing what is wrong with devolution deals – but does the newly-constituted government care? Does it have the time or the will to care? Great words on inequality and a government that failed to understand ordinary people from Mrs May but will actions follow?
But the final sentence below on “networks and influence” is chilling, and just about negates the rest of the advice and may be pointing another, more worrying, way.
” … Grasp the democratic opportunity of devolution. With mayoral elections due next spring in the devolution deal areas, a more devolved system of governance will soon have new faces and voices, which will contribute to a shift in the political centre of gravity away from Westminster.
Yet democratic engagement through devolution should not begin and end with mayors. The speed of the process has created little space for democratic innovation to accompany reform, but there is an opportunity now for a richer democratic discussion, already being led by councillors, to take place. The next phase should be much more directly shaped by local people who need to feel more connected to the tangible opportunities reform can bring – open policymaking, citizens juries and using digital tools to reach people in new ways.
Above all, the new secretary of state shouldn’t think of devolution as giving power away, but as enhancing his own ability to get results. We live in an age that respects networks, not hierarchies. Some of the shocks convulsing through the institutions of Westminster and Brussels are the effects of this. The traditional clunking levers of Whitehall machinery struggle for impact in a complex, interdependent world. So use devolution as an opportunity to create a different model of governance – where influence and relationships are prime.
We look forward to seeing where Javid takes devolution next.”
EDDC: “OAP’s battle over safety alarm bill”
Seems EDDC only likes competitive pricing when it suits them!
“The 78-year-old, who does not want to be identified, is campaigning against district council sheltered accommodation tenants being forced to pay up to £30 a month for unwanted home alarm and safety systems, writes Becca Gliddon.
The pensioner’s daughter said OAPs were being ‘bullied’ into paying for an unwelcome medical and support system.
She said the family had been fighting the council for a year to abolish the charge and compulsory service; her mum says she had been originally told the service was free.
The family’s fight echoes a Budleigh Salterton pensioner’s plea, recently shot down by East Devon District Council (EDDC), when the 91-year-old asked to source a cheaper, private option.
The Budleigh woman said the £676 annual council charge would force her to choose the unwanted alarm over heating her home.
The Exmouth grandmother says other sheltered accommodation tenants want the Home Safeguard Services scheme scrapped, but are too afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals by the council.
So she is fighting to choose her own home safety and alarm service.
She claims cheaper options are available.
EDDC said the alarm service and support system was an ‘integral part’ of its sheltered housing offer. It said it was ‘determined’ to keep it running.
The council said it had a hardship fund for people unable to pay, warned it would ‘seek possession’ as a ‘last resort’ for non-payment and would discuss other options available with tenants who thought the service unnecessary – including ‘helping tenants find more suitable accommodation’, adding sheltered housing was for ‘residents who are in need of our support services’.
The Exmouth pensioner, who has a personal SOS phone system linked to her daughter in Exmouth, said: “It should be possible to for me to be given the opportunity to supply my own service and protection. I feel I could do it at a fraction of the cost.”
http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/oap_s_battle_over_safety_alarm_bill_1_4619222
East Devon Watch 