Daily Archives: 10 Jul 2024

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10 Jul 2024

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Planning applications validated by EDDC for week begining 24 June

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10 Jul 2024

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Budleigh experiences Sidmouth scale cliff fall, naturist beach cut off!

Now the mist has cleared, a correspondent sends Owl dramatic pictures.

According to DevonLive, the landslide came as large swathes of Devon were battered by heavy rainfall overnight and into this morning [yesterday]. One such affected area was Budleigh Salterton, between Exmouth and Sidmouth, where the cliff collapsed. The collapse will cut off parts of the beach to the west at high water, according to an eyewitness.

The coastal town was under a blanket of rain for most of Tuesday morning, up until around lunchtime and it seems it was too much for its striking red sandstone cliffs, which tower above the 2.5-mile stretch of pebble beach.

The cliff collapse took place at 11.40am, leaving behind a huge mound of sandstone with dust swirling through the dark skies and over the choppy waves crashing against the shore.

Thankfully, the beach was deserted at the time due to the adverse weather, save for one passer-by who snapped the photographs after the event. He said that the cliff collapse attracted a lot of attention after it had happened, with a number of people venturing close to the site to check out the rock fall.

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Climate expert Chris Stark appointed to lead UK clean energy taskforce

Labour has appointed one of the country’s foremost climate experts to lead a “mission control centre” on clean energy.

Eleni Courea www.theguardian.com

Chris Stark, the former head of the UK’s climate watchdog, will head a Covid vaccine-style taskforce aimed at delivering clean and cheaper power by 2030.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the centre would work with energy companies and regulators and would be the first of its kind in Whitehall, following Keir Starmer’s plan for mission-driven government.

According to this model, ministers will focus on tackling five of the biggest challenges facing the country, one of which is clean energy.

Stark said: “Tackling the climate crisis and accelerating the transition to clean power is the country’s biggest challenge, and its greatest opportunity. By taking action now, we can put the UK at the forefront of the global race to net zero.”

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: “Years of underinvestment has left our country suffering energy insecurity, with working people paying the price through their energy bills and a cost-of-living crisis. That cannot happen again.

“This new mission control centre, benefiting from the expertise and experience of Chris Stark’s leadership and bringing together the brightest and best in the national interest, will have a laser-like focus on delivering our mission of clean power by 2030.”

Stark was head of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) for six years until January. He was director of energy and climate change in the Scottish government between 2016 and 2018.

During his tenure the CCC recommended a UK net zero target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which is now in law.

Stark won praise for his management of the CCC at a difficult point, when the government was briefing against many of the statutory watchdogs. Some on the right of the Conservative party would have liked to dismantle the 2008 Climate Change Act, under which the committee was set up with the mandate to advise on meeting the five-yearly carbon budgets.

Throughout his six years as chief, he maintained his steady insistence on telling the government truths it did not want to hear – on how far off-track the UK was straying from its climate goals, and how much more it would cost to delay action than to take it now.

Stark clashed with Conservative ministers at the time of his departure from the CCC earlier this year. He warned that the concept of “net zero” had turned into a political slogan used to start a “dangerous” culture war over the climate.

He said sensible improvements to the economy and people’s lives were being blocked as a result and that he would be “intensely relaxed” about losing the term.

Shaun Spiers, executive director of the Green Alliance thinktank, said the appointment would help Labour attract much-needed international investment for its plans. “This shows the government is ambitious and serious about delivering on its clean energy promises, and is really reassuring,” he said. “It’s been a very good few days [since the election] in action from Labour showing they want to get things done quickly.”

Reforms to the UK’s planning system have been a focus so far, including the lifting of an effective ban on onshore wind turbines in England, but Spiers said the government would have to look across a much wider range of issues to be successful in decarbonising electricity by 2030. “Planning is important, but it’s not the whole problem – grid connectivity is key, and there’s a need to build supply chains [for green equipment], building up skills, looking at the cost of borrowing, and attracting international investment. The appointment of Chris Stark will help with all of that.”

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Altered plans for retirement flats on former council office site in Sidmouth are rejected

A marathon debate to thrash out altered plans to build a major Sidmouth retirement development on the former site of the district council offices has ended in rejection.

Local Democracy Reporter eastdevonnews.co.uk

Revised plans for a major retirement living scheme have been rejected by East Devon planners after a lengthy debate which united residents and Councillors united in opposition, writes local democracy reporter Bradley Gerrard.

McCarthy & Stone recently put a tweaked version of its scheme in front of the district council’s planning committee, but objectors bemoaned the small number of changes made.

The size, scale and number of properties remained the same, residents claimed, and while some balconies had been removed from one side of the building in an effort to reduce fears of overlooking, a large number were still included.

The applicant’s first planning application for the former council headquarters which suffered a fire in March last year, was refused in February, and it has lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate.

In assessing the revised application, residents reiterated concerns including about overlooking into nearby Knowle Gardens and Knowle Park, questioned the need for more retirement accommodation in the town, and raised fears about whether the sewage system could cope with the extra demand.

Kelvin Dent, a resident and member of Friends of the Knowle, which helps look after the area’s gardens and park, said the scale, mass and design of the scheme had “not materially changed”.

“The only change is the removal of some balconies on the west elevation and inclusion of more on the south,” he said.

“Those have made things worse, and if the committee wishes to be consistent, then I suggest the present application should be refused.”

The planning committee turned down the scheme previously because it “failed to reflect the local distinctiveness and is not compatible with the character of the site… and so will adversely affect the townscape and local landscape of Sidmouth”.

It also said the large windows and balconies on one block would “result in an unacceptable level of overlooking and overbearing impact on neighbouring properties”.

Resident Barry Kerwin felt the proposal to use a mainly surface water drainage scheme would create a “serious risk of flooding”, especially during heavy rain when local sewers were struggling to cope.

“The sewer has been cleaned and surveyed but the overflow still occurs, and if this is added, flooding is likely,” he said.

Michael Temple felt the increase in balconies on the south side of one of the buildings, the 60 windows and a central viewing platform on top of the four apartments included in the scheme, would “all look down on our secluded public gardens”.

He added it was “out of character with the gardens, the conservation area and the neighbourhood”, while fellow resident Stephen Jones bemoaned the “poor design”.

“It will not enhance the entrance to Sidmouth,” Mr Jones said.

“Stow-on-the-Wold had a great McCarthy and Stone development, although Exmouth’s is not a good example,” he noted.

“This seems to be a situation where it is an off-the-peg design, but this site must be one of the most beautiful, and any architect worth their salt would be excited by the challenge to create something for it.”

The agent, David Williams, defended the scheme, saying that for a second time, officers were recommending approval.

“This is an allocated brownfield site within the settlement boundary and the principle of substantial older person accommodation is established with a previous appeal decision,” he said.

“During the pre-application and application process, we have had detailed discussions with the council, local residents and stakeholders for nearly three years, and accordingly this scheme has evolved and been fine-tuned to provide the optimum and sustainable level of development.

He claimed the inclusion of extra care elements helped Sidmouth meet its need for housing and job creation, and that the care provision for over-sixties and over-seventies would bring “social and economic benefits via a reduction in demand on the public sector and health care services”.

McCarthy & Stone’s scheme includes 33 retirement apartments for the over-sixties and 53 extra care/assisted living homes for the over-seventies.

Also included is a care home building with staff and resident facilities and two pairs of semi-detached properties and three townhouses.

This is lower than the 113-apartment assisted living community previously planned by PegasusLife, which secured permission for its scheme after appealing East Devon’s refusal, but then never went ahead.

But Councillors firmly opposed the latest scheme, using the same reasons for refusing it as earlier in the year.

Councillors raised further concerns, including that the scheme “significantly increases the average density of residential development in an existing urban area”, meaning it would contravene part of the National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF.

“And the NPPF says that if a scheme is not well designed it should be refused where it neglects to reflect the local design policies and government guidance on design,” Cllr Colin Brown (Conservative, Dunkeswell and Otterhead) said.

Cllr Ian Barlow (Independent, Sidmouth Town) was concerned that local NHS services couldn’t cope with a large addition of homes for elderly people, and questioned whether the town should be trying to encourage new developments for younger residents as Sidmouth’s elderly population grew.

Cllr Matt Hall (Liberal Democrat, Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh) said while the principle of development on the site was accepted, it was now about finding the “right development”.

He continued: “I think the original design and layout was far better, and I think it had far less things to be critical of.

“But I think this is overdevelopment of the site and is not in keeping with the existing urban grain, and no offence to the architect, but this is an off-the-peg design, and I don’t think it fits in or acknowledges the local character or creates something distinctive.”

Cllr Barlow proposed the motion to reject the scheme, with a debated ensuing to agree the right wording, content and reasoning.

Eventually, the Councillors agreed to reject the scheme, with one abstention from planning committee chair Olly Davey.

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Boil water notice finally lifted in Brixham

South West Water says its “especially sorry”.

Two months after a parasitic outbreak in the water supply in Brixham, the final properties under a boil water notice have been told they can finally drink from their taps again.

Radio Exe News www.radioexe.co.uk

Cryptosporidium, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea was discovered in the supply in May. To start with, South West Water denied it had anything to do with the water network and said tap water was safe to drink. The company later U-turned on that statement.

At one stage, 16,000 properties were affected, but the notice for the final 674 in Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary’s has now been lifted.

Bottled water stations were setup in response to the incident, but these will now close. Water deliveries will also stop.

In a statement, chief customer officer Laura Flowerdew said: “A triple layer of protection is now in place including microfilters and UV at our tank and in-line microfiltration in your supply zone providing additional barriers. So you can be confident that the water is safe to drink.

“We want to let you know that now you can use your water as normal, we will be closing the bottled water stations from 9pm this evening (Monday 8 July).

“Water deliveries will also stop in the final area to be lifted from the Boil Water Notice today, we will though continue to deliver water to customers on our Priority Services Register today and tomorrow.

“We are sorry for the disruption the Boil Water Notice has brought. We are especially sorry for the distress caused to those who fell ill because of cryptosporidium and to the ones who had to care for them.”