The parliamentary register of interests shows David Reed received £5K, on 2 August 2024, from 3West Group, the Woodbury based developers of Goodmores Farm Exmouth!

On Monday David Reed MP asked questions in Parliament about EDDC’s failure to plan infrastructure for development of tens of thousands of homes.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST DAVID REED?

Did he declare this at the beginning or his speech in the house on 7 April [Not according to Hansard] or just assume it was OK because it’s recorded in the parliamentary register of interests, so everyone, including his constituents, are bound to know?

Like Jupp’s move to SSW’s parent company Pennon; it’s all within the rules, but it smells.

Here is David Reed’s link to his oral question.

Here is the text of his question from Hansard:

In my constituency of Exmouth and Exeter East, the Lib Dem local council is proposing to build tens of thousands of new homes with little thought for corresponding infrastructure. I have spoken to local councillors, and they believe they have no agency in this process and central Government are telling them what to do. What more can be done to ensure that local authorities are held accountable for their decisions?

Let Owl put the record straight.

Overall Housing Targets

It’s not this council that wants to build “tens of thousands” of new homes it’s the toxic consequence of an historic local plan Tory legacy and the “build at any cost” Labour Government.

It is well recorded in the “Watch” how Paul Diviani, alongside the faithful Philip Skinner, were the architects and driving force behind the EDDC “Build, build, build” strategy from 2005 to 2020. It resulted in the current Local Plan having a development target of 950 houses/year, based on an aggressive “jobs led policy on” scenario.  Where studies showed only around 580 houses/year would be required to satisfy demographic and normal migration growth trends. 

This is an uplift of 370 or 64% on what is strictly necessary and is the target that the current EDDC coalition has inherited. It is the basis on which the government thinks reasonable to set its own growth strategy.

Goodmores Farm is a good example of how a council’s hands are tied once it grants outline planning permission. Seeking outline planning permission has become common practice. In this case it was the outgoing Tory Council that granted outline permission which the incoming coalition were unable to control. For example, along the line, the targets for affordable housing fell from 25% to just 5% as the developer pleaded, successfully, that it would be “economically unviable” to proceed with the higher figure. There now appears to be £5K left for David Reed.

Here are some quotes from councillors at the time:

“The scheme won’t win awards for the layouts”

“Of all the sites, this is the runt of the litter” 

“It is everywhere houses in an everywhere town.” 

“This flagship new housing development says to many younger people seeking a first house, ‘You are not welcome here’.”

So a question for you David Reed is what infrastructure is your sponsor 3Ways Group planning?

Infrastructure

Not all infrastructure is provided by EDDC. Highways is an example; think how long has Exmouth waited for the Dinan Way extension?

The provision of adequate sewage treatment is another classic example. The problem local authorities have is that, although they are the planning authority, they can’t successfully defend an appeal against planning rejection on the grounds of inadequate sewage capacity unless supported by the Environment Agency (e.g. phosphate levels in the Axe) or South West Water.

SWW rarely claim they can’t deliver the required resources – indeed they promised new capacity for Cranbrook which never materialised.

It is also worth noting that the government of the day (Labour) insisted the planning for the new town of Cranbrook should be developer-led including the town center, schools, medical clinics etc.

Building Affordable Housing

Build enough houses and the developers will cross subsidise the building “affordables

That’s the theory but it hasn’t worked in East Devon.

Having gained planning permission on a promise to deliver a certain number of affordables, developers frequently claim later that “viability assessments” mean that they have to reduce the number.

Notorious local examples include Goodmores Farm (25% down to 5%), Evan’s Field in Budleigh (30 houses to 5) and Cranbrook. (67 houses 28% of total reduced to 44 just 18% when EDDC’s policy target is 25% in one zone, and 26% reduced to zero in another).

Who is happy to stick their election posters by the Goodmores site?