Martin Shaw seatonmatters.org /

The Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) have said that the ‘stakeholder engagement process’, on the proposal to hand back a wing of Seaton Hospital to NHS Property Services (potentially leading to its demolition) will NOT include a public consultation – although the wing was WHOLLY paid for by public donations, making the Seaton area community THE most important stakeholder.

Only this week the ICB released, at my request, its report on the proposal, which boasted about the original consultation process for the hospital beds closure in 2016. Presumably they’ve realised, as I reminded them in my letter this week, that the consultation showed people DIDN’T want the closure.

So – fearing the Seaton public would once again say no, they’ve simply cut us out altogether this time!

Local people can share their ideas on how Cranbrook’s new town centre should look. eastdevon.gov.uk

By answering a short survey at eastdevon.gov.uk/cranbrook-town-centre before 10th November 2023, you could be in with a chance of winning a £50 voucher.

Cllr Paul Arnott, Leader of East Devon District Council and Chair of the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone, said:

“This is an important opportunity for you to help shape the future of Cranbrook. Your ideas really matter. We want to hear from as many people as possible – especially young people and those who don’t normally get involved.

“Legal agreements are being put in place which mean developers will contribute millions of pounds towards facilities and spaces in the town centre, like a library and leisure centre.

“We want your ideas to help decide what else should be included, what should be built first and where it should be built. Your views and ideas will then be used by EDDC and its partners to create a long-term town centre masterplan in summer 2024.”

To discuss in more detail, please come along to drop-in sessions. The first one takes place at the free Family Fun Day on 24^th October, 10.30am – 1.30pm at Cranbrook’s Younghayes Centre, where there will be refreshments and children can have fun on a bouncy castle or get creative in THG’s Creative Cabin . You can also share your ideas on 9^th November from 4-7pm at the Younghayes Centre or on 16^th November at the Cranberry Farm pub from 6-8pm. 

Keep an eye on these websites for events and other ways to get involved:

facebook.com/ex5alivehub

eedez.com/cranbrook

Cranbrook town centre is one of the sites in Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone. The first shops, the beginning of a town square and a Morrisons supermarket are being built and should be finished in Spring 2024. East Devon District Council (EDDC) has recently bought 3.85 acres of land next to the supermarket and will receive more from the developers shortly. This will make it easier to agree what happens next and start the next phase of the town centre development.

There is a lot of work to do before more facilities are built in the town centre. When the consultation closes, the responses will be analysed and the information used to help draw up a town centre masterplan. The masterplan will show how the town centre will be laid out and what kind of place it will be. There are already commitments from Devon County Council to build a youth centre, children’s centre and library. Cranbrook Town Council is aiming to develop a community building which will also house the town council offices. A leisure centre is included in the EDDC Leisure Strategy and there are plans for a Health and Wellbeing Hub and a Fire Station. More needs to be done to finalise how each of these buildings will happen. In challenging financial times, this includes finding the full amount of money to build them as the developers will not fully fund everything. EDDC is committed to working with its partners to realise the ambitions for a 21^st century town centre for Cranbrook that meets the needs of the people who live, work and visit it.

Martin Shaw seatonmatters.org /

I’ve gone back to Mary Wood’s splendid booklet on the history of Seaton Hospital (1991). While the original hospital opened in 1988 was paid for £1 to £1 by the League of Friends’ fundraising and the NHS, the ‘whole cost’ of the wing which the ICB now wants to declare redundant – potentially to demolish – was met by the League. The NHS only had to pay the running costs when it opened in 1990.

This makes it all the more outrageous that Seaton Hospital was placed in the ownership of NHS Property Services in 2016, and they could now bulldoze it. Morally the hospital, especially this wing, belongs to the community in Seaton, Colyton, Colyford, Beer, Axmouth and surrounding villages who raised the money to build it in the first place. The ICB, having shamefully failed to make proper use of it, should now hand it back free of charge.

Thanks to Ted Gosling, curator of Seaton Museum and the town’s only Freeman, who gave me this booklet back in 2017.

By-election disaster shows no seat is safe for the Tories as Keir Starmer gets closer to No 10 Inews.co.uk

John Curtice: No silver lining for Tories in by-election drubbings www.thetimes.co.uk

‘Architects of disaster’: Boris and Truss accused of destroying Tories www.independent.co.uk

Simon has made no secret of his support for the right wing of the party.

Watch: Tory candidate bolts from Tamworth by-election while winner gives victory speech www.telegraph.co.uk

[Didn’t Helen Hurford do something like this at theTiverton & Hontion by-election count when Richard Foord overturned a long standing Tory majority?]

Efforts are ramping up to save part of Seaton Hospital at risk of being demolished.

Campaigners are pushing for the two-storey wing at the community hospital to be repurposed as a care hub, which would include support for patients with dementia, as well as palliative care and bereavement support.

Bradley Gerrard, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk

MP Richard Foord (Lib Dem, Tiverton & Honiton) raised the issue at prime minister’s questions in parliament on Wednesday, and has written to health secretary Steve Barclay to request an urgent meeting.

“The proposal to demolish this wing is an insult to the community that raised millions of pounds to help fund the upkeep of services at that hospital,” he told MPs in the house of commons.

His letter to Mr Barclay, he said Seaton & District Hospital League of Friends has raised £2 million in recent years to support the hospital, adding that the demolition of the wing could “threaten the long-term viability of the hospital as a whole.”

And East Devon District Council leader Paul Arnott (Lib Dem, Coly Valley) told the authority’s council meeting this week that he understood the seriousness of the situation.

“We have already started having internal meetings about what the possibilities may be, and we will explore those as urgently as possible,” he said.

“My personal view is that this is the havoc caused when too many agencies are involved, and we as East Devon need to show leadership here as we are the closest tier of local government that can do something about it.”

The hospital wing has been largely unused since 2017. However, some services remain based there, including offices for palliative care nurses and other teams, with parts of it also used during the covid pandemic.

The space is currently rented by the Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB) from NHS Property Services, a government-owned company.

A spokesperson for NHS Devon said the site costs about £300,000 a year in rent and other charges.

“This is poor use of taxpayers’ money at a time when we are forecasting another budget deficit of more than £40 million this year,” the spokesperson said.

“In recent months, we have been talking to local health, care and community partners to see if they are interested and financially able to take on the space, but no viable schemes have been received and we started the process of handing the ward space back to NHS Property Services (NHSPS) so we can save the money that is currently being wasted on it.

“We have always been very happy to talk to prospective occupants of the space if they have a financially viable scheme to take it on – and we remain so.”

A spokesperson for Mr Foord said the MP had a meeting planned with the chair of NHS Devon on Friday (20 October) to further discuss the proposals.

Campaigners hope that NHS Property Services might consider transferring ownership of the building to the NHS in Devon, or alternatively to a community interest company, that could then pay rent.

A spokesperson for NHS Property Services said it had not yet received a formal approach from Mr Foord.

“However, if and when it does arrive, we will of course respond according to our usual protocols,” the spokesperson said.