Category Archives: Beach huts

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19 Sep 2015

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Asset sweating, Beach huts, EDDC

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Beach huts, the sorry tale continues

Listed below are the RECOMMENDATIONS Scrutiny Committee made, It must be stressed they are NOT DECISIONS – the decision will be made at full council next month.

•Consider the requirements of all the community in line with equalities legislation in considering any proposals relating to beach huts
• Consider the validity of waiting lists for beach huts and sites and to review their management
• Confirm to tenants of beach huts and sites that the current arrangements will remain in place for 2016
• Ensure an annual review of hire charges for beach huts and sites be put in place
• Review its decision to establish an annual £19k sinking fund
• Give consideration to the difference between town and parish locations in relation to equality and best value requirements
• Give consideration to further discussions with town and parish councils on the options of undertaking the management of beach huts
• Give consideration to increasing the number of available beach hut sites and to review more diverse letting arrangements;
• Give consideration to wider environment and economic issues when bringing forward any proposals.”

There was also controversy as to whether beach hut users are already paying rates: some users maintain that rates have been included since 2006, EDDC maintaining that this has not been the case.

Hut users also point out that, if East Devon sells off all its huts to its current renters as it has said it will do, costs to the council will be minimal from 2016, with only sites to be allocated.

So why the £19,000 per year sinking fund – what would it be for? Or was that just added in to inflate future costs?

Will common sense prevail? Hard to say.

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8 Sep 2015

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Beach huts, EDDC, Scrutiny

Scrutiny Committee agenda 17/9/15 – beach hut omnishambles to be discussed

Agenda for Scrutiny Committee Thursday, 17 September 2015; 6.00pm

Click to access 170915-scrutiny-agenda-combined.pdf

The “analysis” of the questionnaires should be used for university first year econometrics students as a model study in how NOT to do and report a “consultation”!

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20 Jul 2015

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Asset Management Group, Asset sweating, Beach huts, Development Management Committee, Local Plan

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Can you be a gamekeeper and a poacher? Can you be “Independent” and not independent?

Given all the hoo-ha a couple of years ago when errant Councillor Graham Brown was forced into resigning as an EDDC Tory Councillor due to his extensive personal local development interests:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9920971/If-I-cant-get-planning-nobody-will-says-Devon-councillor-and-planning-consultant.html

the government put out the following press release:

Response to a report in ‘The Telegraph’ that councillors are offering themselves for hire to property developers.
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Local Government Minister Brandon Lewis said:

“This government has increased accountability and transparency over councillors’ interests, to accompany greater power and freedoms for local councils.

“Councils should adopt a Code of Conduct that reflects the Nolan principles on conduct in public life, with councillors declaring any private interest that relate to their public duties, and councillors must take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

“In addition, it is now a criminal offence to fail to declare or register disclosable pecuniary interests – which includes any employment or trade carried out for profit or gain. The register of councillors’ interests must be published online by the council.

“Councillors should act in an open and transparent way, to avoid conflicts of interest on issues such as planning applications or benefiting financially from the issuing of council contracts.”

Given this advice, how do our new councillors with extensive property development interests plan to deal with the fact that two of them are on the Development Management Committee and one of them is the Chairman of the Asset Management Forum?

Councillors Colin Brown and Paul Carter are both on the Development Management Committee.

Councillor Brown’s Register of Interests is here:

Click to access roi-colin-brown.pdf

and includes local property development interests (as well as owning a hotel that is currently used as a polling station for local and national elections):

and Councillor Carter’s Register of Interests (recently updated) is here:

Click to access roi-paul-carter.pdf

and includes local property development interests:

In addition, Councillor Carter has submitted land that he owns for inclusion in the EDDC Local Plan.

Councillor Pook may be a more complex case. In HIS Register of Interests (also recently updated) he lists his local property development interests but also adds in Section 4:

“Litehomes purchase of land from and development house for EDDC (May 2015)” (sic)

Click to access roi-geoff-pook.pdf

What on earth does this mean? Perhaps he could enlighten us about Litehomes.

Additionally, he neglects to inform us that, as Chairman of the Asset Management Forum, he leases a site for beach hut in Beer from East Devon District Council and is currently heading meetings about EDDC giving notice to all lease holders so that huts can be auctioned off to the highest bidder – something being handled by … the Asset Management Forum.

In this case, he has sought to say that Beer, where he leases his hut, should be a “special case” because:

“I have suggested that the history of beach hut ownership and use in Beer is perhaps different from other towns and villages in East Devon – families have traditionally had tea on the beach in Beer and this is part of the historic character of the village”.

http://www.beerparishcouncil.org.uk/news.php?id=4604

As EVERYONE who leases a beach hut anywhere in East Devon also by default has “tea on the beach” we are not entirely convinced by this argument for making Beer a special case!

It should also be noted that on 11th May 2015, 4 days after the latest local election, Councillor Pook left the Independent Group. On 15th May he was identified as a cabinet member. At the beginning of June it was rumoured that he may have indicated that he might not continue as an “Independent” councillor for much longer.

Some Beer voters might feel a little miffed if that transpires.

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11 Jul 2015

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Asset Management Group, Asset sweating, Beach huts, EDDC

Sidmouth beach huts meeting: Councillor Pook gets it in the neck – again

Futures Forum of the Vision Group for Sidmouth

PUBLIC MEETING TO CONSIDER EDDC PROPOSALS FOR BEACH HUTS

Kennaway House, Sidmouth: Tuesday 7th July 2015

Minutes/Report

Apologies from: Officer Donna Best (EDDC Property), Cllr Iain Chubb (EDDC StreetScene Portfolio), Cllr Stuart Hughes (EDDC Sidmouth/Sidford), Cllr Dawn Manley (EDDC Sidmouth/Sidford), Cllr Simon Pollentine (STC Tourism Portfolio), Cllr Ian Thomas (EDDC Finance Portfolio)

Attendance: approximately 45 members of the public.
Councillors at the meeting: Cllr David Barratt (EDDC Sidmouth Rural), Cllr Matthew Booth (EDDC Sidmouth Town), Cllr John Dyson (EDDC Sidmouth Town), Cllr Cathy Gardner (EDDC Sidmouth Town), Cllr Roger Giles (EDDC Chair, Scrutiny), Cllr Geoff Pook (EDDC Chair, Asset Management Forum), Cllr Marianne Rixson (EDDC Sidmouth Sidford)

The Chair’s notes/agenda can be found here:
https://www.visionforsidmouth.org/media/93781/vgs-futures-forum-7jul15-beach-huts-debate-chairs-notes.docx

Every attendee was invited to address the meeting. Comments included:

Cllr Roger Giles (EDDC Chair, Scrutiny) confirmed that the issue would be on the agenda of the Scrutiny Cttee of 17th September.

Cllr Geoff Pook (EDDC Chair, Asset Management Forum) clarified that the previous AMF had decided to consider ‘best value’ and ‘market price’. The new Cttee will review the situation, identify the way forward and make proposals.
The EDDC questionnaire was only one part of the current consultation; Cllr Pook has attended other meetings on the issue in the District. He understood the depth of feeling and that the document which had been sent out was flawed.
Cllr Pook would be willing to receive correspondence on the issue and will consider concerns by e-mail: gpook@eastdevon.gov.uk

Tom Griffiths, (former Sidmouth beach hut franchisee) pointed out that in 1962 proposals had been made for ‘double-decking’ of huts at Jacob’s Ladder.

Dr John Twibell (Chair, Devon Plant Heritage) outlined the value of the beach garden at Clifton beach, planted together with Sidmouth in Bloom.

To summarise the conclusions from the meeting:

> There was overwhelming opposition from all parties to ‘commercial development’ along Clifton walkway or the beach in general, in that this would devalue the resort, rather than enhance it. It was felt that Sidmouth’s beaches, including its huts, were family-friendly – and that any new arrangement could seriously compromise the welcoming feel of the resort.

> It was recognised that each seaside town in East Devon is different and that this diversity should be recognised in any proposals.

> It was felt that the long-term sustainability of Sidmouth’s seafront should be the priority. Any plans for beach huts should be included in the current Beach Management Plan.

> It was recognised that the waiting lists were long. Should extra huts be required, alternative sites could include:
– one of the terraces behind the existing Jacob Ladder huts;
– on the Esplanade below the Belmont Hotel.

> A design competition for any new huts would excite positive interest.

> A system of ‘lockers’ was suggested to supplement the provision of beach huts.

> There should be a return to a flexible tenure for the whole year, with approx. 10 huts hired out on a weekly basis during the peak summer season, allowing tourists to benefit. Local residents enjoying a long-term let have been more than prepared to accept this arrangement. This could ensure a doubling of current income – as well as a balance between different types of user.

> It was suggested that a lottery system for the out-of-season period might be a fair system of allocating beach huts in the future.

> The voluntary rotation and sharing of the use/tenure of huts between tenants should be recognised and encouraged – as should the value of the huts as a focal point for the local community and for ‘regular tourists’. A set of different rents/rates for huts would disrupt a sense of social cohesion.

> There were fears that a system of ‘highest bidder’ could bring about a similar situation to that in many parts of Cornwall where ‘wealthy outsiders’ have bought up huts at the expense of local people – who, it was felt, should be the priority. Whilst it was understood that EDDC were facing budget cuts, it was important that an equitable solution be found, that tenants not face eviction and that rents be affordable.

> It was generally felt that the consultation had been based on erroneous information, that it had not been fair and open, that proper responses to concerns had not been addressed and that, consequently, any auctioning process would lack legitimacy.

> The financial basis of the proposals was not clear, including the method for calculating the rates, and the final profit made on the huts.

> On the separate but related issue of street trading, there was also overwhelming opposition to relaxing regulations any further. Sidmouth’s retail and hospitality industry relies on the peak weeks during the tourist season – and any provision of commercial services on the beach could jeopardise Sidmouth as an all-year-round resort.

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7 Jul 2015

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Beach huts, Beer, Budleigh Salterton, EDDC, Exmouth, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

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Seaton Beach Huts meeting: not a happy place for EDDC Councillor Pook

Councillor Pook, Chairman of EDDC’s Asset Management group was given a rough ride in Seaton this afternoon, according to this report from a correspondent:

Cllr Pook Needs Longer Spoon

Cllr Geoff Pook, the only “Independent” on East Devon District Council to refuse to work with the recently strengthened Independent group has been rewarded for this with a seat on the Cabinet by Paul Diviani and his non-whipping bulldog, Councillir Phil Twiss.

But almost immediately Cllr Pook has realised that the temperature under his own cabinet seat has been turned up to boiling point. For reasons best known to himself, Beer councillor Pook has it in his head to lead the charge to offer the district’s beach huts to the highest bidders, a policy his East Devon Tory playmates did not dare put in their manifesto this May.

At Seaton this afternoon, more than a hundred and fifty worried locals gathered to hear him explain himself, with Seaton’s own district councillor, Jim Knight, looking on in silence.

Pook initially made an attempt to defend the ridiculously loaded “survey” on beach huts to the gathering, switching as fast as he then could to a George Osborne-style line that East Devon District Council need to save more than two million pounds in the next four years. Beach huts would not be the only casualty to the Tory cutbacks, he said, but if an auction was not agreed his new chums would find another way to get “best value” from them.

Seaton folk are no fools and asked for some hard financial data on all this. This, said Pook “was being prepared”. The usual EDDC cart-before-horse strategic style.

It was obvious to anyone who has seen EDDC in action that Pook & Co will try to drive this through various committees before bringing it before his Cabinet in early Autumn. By then, without his being defeated by public action, it will be too late, and non-whipmeister Cllr Twiss will be growling from his enforcer’s seat to make sure at Full Council that any waverers on the Tory side put their hands up at the right time.

Meanwhile, back in Seaton, Pook finally realised that his uncosted, ill-considered scheme was being roundly booed by the usually very polite people in the room.. So he waffled that he had only just taken over as chair of EDDC’s Asset Management Committee, but nobody was buying his “I am only obeying orders” defence. The Asset Management committee is one of the most notoriously secretive of all the many hole-in-the-wall arms of the dismal district council. Still, at least none of his Beer constituents can say he is going against his election manifesto. Nobody voted for him; he was unopposed.

What next? Many in the room felt that one answer would be to provide even more beach huts if there is such a waiting list. Another idea is that the town councils take on the beach huts themselves – but be very, very careful with this one. How long before a town council, in Beer perhaps, “struggles” and sells the whole operation off to the private sector ….

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6 Jul 2015

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Beach huts, Beer, Budleigh Salterton, EDDC, Exmouth, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Meetings about sale of beach huts to rich people tomorrow

Tuesday 7 July

In Seaton at 2 pm at Town Hall
https://www.facebook.com/groups/498639013619794/

In Sidmouth at Kennaway House
https://www.visionforsidmouth.org/calendar/2015/july/the-future-of-east-devons-beach-huts.aspx

Selling beach hut leases to highest bidders – meetings in Sidmouth and Seaton

Basically, EDCC wants to give notice to all current beach hut tenants and sell 5 year leases of sites only to highest bidders – local, not local, individual or business or investors.

They have 300 beach huts and a waiting list of 300. No attempt to create more sites – just flogging off current sites (some used by families for decades) to the highest bidder.

Brave New World!