Category Archives: Development Management Committee
REMINDER: ‘Knowle landgrab’ objections DEADLINE NEXT FRIDAY 20 FEB
What is widely considered the secretive saga of EDDC’s bungled relocation plans, is reaching a costly crescendo…and not just in monetary terms. If the District Council’s plans go-ahead, this unique landmark parkland will have restricted access, and the Public Open Space will be much reduced.
To have your say, see http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/02/12/where-how-to-send-comments-on-appropriation-disposal-of-land-at-knowle/
Following EDA
As you will have noticed, the East Devon Alliance has grabbed the headlines, and been prominently featured in the local press and radio over the past week or so.
Now this invitation has come from EDA, for any EDWatchers who might like to follow EDA news for themselves:
There are 4 options:
a. Subscribe to emails on the site – http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk
b. Subscribe to RSS on the site – http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk
c. Like EDA on Facebook – EastDevonAlliance
d. Follow on Twitter – EDevonAlliance
And if anything specially grabs EDWatchers’ attention, it can be shared with neighbours and local friends by:
a. Forwarding the email
b. Clicking the share buttons on the EDA website
c. Sharing EDA posts with friends on facebook.
d. Re-tweeting.
……There seems to be lots going on!!
“..together, we really can do this”
…East Devon Alliance (EDA) certainly believes this, as do the new network of Independent candidates supported by them.
And the same theme is in this message today from the Organiser of the Save Clyst St Mary Campaign:
‘I have been asked to point out that the Neighbourhood Plan meeting on 12th February is only for the original Planning Committee in this instance. There will, however, be another opportunity to view and comment on the Plan in early March. I apologise for any confusion this may have caused.
Due to the anticipated number of people who want to see Hugo Swire on the 19th February at 6.30, we have now been able to secure the Village Hall ( note the change of venue) . Please do come and ask our MP, who is responding in response to the invitation we sent, about any issues and questions you may have regarding planning in his Constituency.
Finally, thank you once again for your contributions towards paying for Charlie Hopkin’s reports. Do keep visiting the EDDC ‘s Planning website. The recent contribution for English Heritage is particularly interesting.
I know I seem to have said this many times before, but please remember – together, we really can do this.
Gaeron Kayley
Disposal / Appropriation of Open Space at the Knowle..who decides?
DEADLINE FOR OBJECTIONS TO KNOWLE LANDGRAB IS 20 FEB. Your voice counts!
More thoughts from the public on EDDC landgrab at the Knowle are here: https://www.streetlife.com/conversation/3w1f67nozab7/
Info and how/ where/ to object, at this link: http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/02/04/fact-file-on-knowle-plan-and-land-to-be-appropriated-reminder-deadline-for-objections-20th-feb-2015/
Action on Knowle landgrab
Planning meeting this evening… 05/02/15..reminder
Just a reminder that this evening there is a meeting in the village hall at 7.30pm to discuss the planning proposal to demolish no 16 Clyst Valley Road and build 40 new houses on the land sandwiched between the football ground and the back gardens of houses on Clyst Valley Road. Charlie Hopkins (Expert planning consultant) will be there.
Should anyone need transport please ask. We have several willing volunteers that have offered to ferry residents to and from the meeting.
Hope to see you all later on.
Best wishes
Planning reminder from Save Clyst St Mary
Urgent reminder from Save Clyst St Mary Campaign:
‘Thank you to everyone who has paid their money that was previously pledged. Every penny is gratefully appreciated. Anyone can donate – you simply need to pay your money into the SaveClyst ST Mary account via the village Post Office or if you prefer to do it electronically, into Natwest Bank account: 56-00-49 32633181
Please be aware that there are only forty six letters of objection on the East Devon Council website. We desperately need to get that number over one hundred (at least – the Winslade Park proposal had over two hundred) so please do post or email your objections as soon as possible (remember, the closing date is now only three days away).
If you decide to input your comments directly on to EDDC’s site, do check that the comments actually appear! A number seem to have vanished into cyber world. EDDC is aware of the issue and has requested that anyone who has problems contacts them immediately.
Finally, don’t forget the meeting in the village hall Thursday 5th February at 7.30pm. Charlie Hopkins(Expert planning consultant) will be attending. This meeting will be focusing specifically on the proposal to demolish a house in Clyst Valley Road and build forty houses on the field, currently owned by the Plymouth Brethren, situated adjacent to Clyst Valley Football Club’s grounds.
A big thank you to you all for your continued support. As we have said previously, it’s a big challenge ahead of us – but together, we can do it!’
Problems with East Devon District Council On line Planning
From Gaeron Kayley of Save Clyst St Mary campaign group:
‘Please be aware that a number of people are having difficulties logging their comments onto the EDDC website. The website suggests your comments have been successfully submitted, yet they never appear. If this has happened to you too, please notify: icthelpdesk@eastdevon.gov.ukIt will help if you can include the application on which you were commenting, along with the approximate time and date you submitted your comments.’
Which committee will scrutinise the fiasco of the Draft Local Plan?
Seems Overview and Scrutiny are loathe to overview and scrutinise anything, especially now the elections are looming. Audit and Governance don’t seem too concerned. about it, now they have been panicked into dealing with the relocation scandal. The Development Management Committee seems content to spend all its time dogging their hats to developers large and small and so has no time or interest, relying in “updates” that update nothing.
No guards and therefore no-one guarding the guards.
Lamentable AND shocking.
Contaminated land: guidance for lawyers
There are a number of development sites in East Devon that are, or may be, on contaminated land.
For anyone considering buying a home on land that may be contaminated, this is the new guidance for lawyers and conveyancers about what they must endeavour to find out and what perhaps the Development Management Committee should be aware of when dealing with such land.
“Suggest that your client considers obtaining an independent valuation of the property. A reduction in the market value of the property as a result of contamination may lead to the buyer requiring a price reduction. It may also lead to a lender withdrawing from, or imposing additional conditions in, their offer.”
“Consider and advise your client of the use and effect of appropriate contractual protections. For example, by including exclusion and indemnity clauses and apportionments, warranties, or by making the contract conditional upon the seller complying with any remediation notices, to the buyer’s reasonable satisfaction, prior to completion.
Consider and advise your client of the appropriateness of obtaining an environmental insurance policy. Such policies are widely available to cover the costs of remediation of both undetected and disclosed contamination and related liabilities. However, such policies may contain limitations on what and who they cover. The amount of any premium, the level of excesses and the imposition of certain conditions are important factors to be considered in selecting a policy.”
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/support-services/advice/practice-notes/contaminated-land/
The plot Thicketts
So what has been EDDC’s response to Mr Thickett’damning criticism of a Local Plan that has been years in the making, and yet is still found to be “unsound”?
The answer lies in the papers for the Development Management Committee (DMC) meeting to be held on 8 May. It’s a disappointing read, studiously avoiding commitment to a target date for the delivery of a revised Local Plan.
The paper acknowledges the need to work closer with West Dorset, to ensure that housing needs are met cross-border. (Too bad it took Mr Thickett to point out that the draft Local Plan seemed to have forgotten to do this.) The paper also volunteers that East Devon will have to help solve the housing needs of Exeter City as well.
However, rather than defend its turf, the turf of a district of which about two-thirds is to be found in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the paper makes no attempt to avoid being caught between the hammer of Exeter and the anvil of West Dorset.
Why is EDDC not fighting its corner? “There is some, though maybe limited scope, to question the appropriateness of continuation of accommodating part of Exeter generated development needs in East Devon and indeed to consider capacity constraints and limitations in the District overall”. Damn right, etc.
The paper continues, “it is not clear how such capacity limits could be modelled and established”. Has anyone tried? A Duty to Co-operate should not mean rolling over and giving away countryside to our neighbours.
Elsewhere there is more to worry about. The villages Development Plan Document is to be put on the back burner, and the methodology used to calculate growth in villages – a blanket 5%, dismissed as too crude a tool by Thickett – is to be re-evaluated. Villages of East Devon beware!
One might have thought that EDDC would be anxious to have monthly updates, a transparent assessment of how close it was hitting housing numbers. Not a bit of it – the best the paper can do is generously offer to review the position not annually, but twice a year. Why not for each meeting of the DMC? Given that EDDC recently approved c.750 houses in Pinhoe and 300 for Gittisham, how much further do we have to go before East Devon can breathe a sigh of relief?
There is one final issue which should give East Devon cause for concern, and that is Thickett’s observation that the Council did not have a Gypsy and Traveller plan in place. Nine sites will have to be found, and none have been put forward by landowners or agents. (Now there’s a surprise!)
While the DMC paper seemingly believes that reconvened hearing sessions for a revised draft could be complete by October – but this is only if significant changes are not required – the vagueness elsewhere in the paper, and the job of work to on the Gypsy and Traveller plan makes this aspiration look very optimistic indeed.
East Devon Watch 