Category Archives: EDDC

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13 Oct 2015

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AONB, EDDC, Environment (local), Local Plan, Natural England

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EDDC, Natural England and the Local Plan: it appears the room wasn’t dark enough

The list of responses to the latest iteration of the Local Plan can be found below – many from developers, of course.

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/emerging-plans-and-policies/inspector-and-programme-officer/inspector-and-council-correspondence-since-2014-examination-hearings/

Amongst them is this one from Natural England

Natural England 30 Sept 2015

Those who attended the last set of hearings before the Planning Inspector may recall the slightly worrying image when Mr Thickett suggested that Laura Horner (Natural England) and Ed Freeman (EDDC) should shut themselves in a darkened room until they arrived at a solution on the Habitat Regulation issue, without which the Local Plan cannot be signed off.

The letter from Natural England makes interesting reading – the complain of confusion over the drafting of the EDDC version of what should be in the Local Plan calling it “over-detailed and potentially unclear and requiring substantive rewriting”. They point out that words such as “endorsed by the council” imply greater status for the Masterplan than was intended and point out that they need to clarify their intentions towards Exmouth.

They further point out that the Beer Neighbourhood Plan cannot be progressed until EDDC makes its intentions more clear.

It appears from the letter than EDDC had only one meeting with Natural England on 23 July 2015 and that little appears to have been resolved at that meeting.

Clearly, the room wasn’t dark enough!

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13 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Development at Mill Street Car Park Sidmouth

A correspondent writes:

Councillor Twiss fires off another patronising fusillade at the newly elected Independent councillors who represent Sidmouth at EDDC as reported in last week’s Herald. “These new boys and girls just don’t understand the way things are done around here” seems to be the tenor of his comments. Cllr Gardner is accused of “Making political capital out of the vital issue of providing homes for Sidmouth’s young families”.

“The proposal to build social housing on the Mill Street car park at the cost of the existing residents around it losing vital car parking spaces is another case of using pious words to cover up previous mistakes.

We remind Cllr Twiss that in February 2011 the ruling Tory group approved a planning application for a site less than two hundred yards away which was for 12 homes at market rates exclusively for 55 year olds and upwards which have only very recently been completed! Then known as Parsons Yard it is now called Mill Gardens. Where are the homes for Sidmouth’s young families there? Perhaps they don’t generate the Council Tax revenue that these new ones do!”

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12 Oct 2015

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Development Management Committee, EDDC, Planning System, Regeneration, Transparency

What is EDDC’s “Members Advisory Panel”? We had to go to Torbay to find out!

Reference is made in the post on Exmouth below to a “Members Advisory Panel”. Efforts to find this on East Devon District Council’s website came to nought, but Owl didn’t stop there – Owl traced a copy to Torbay Council’s website where it appears it may have been used as an illustrative document.

The whole 4 page document is actually titled “EAST DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL PLANNING SERVICE – PRE APPLICATION ADVICE
CUSTOMER CHARTER” and gives very helpful advice to developers (the customers, of course) about how much help the council can give them (and charge for in some cases).

Page 4 gives details of how helpful the “Members advisory Panel” can be. Here is what they say:

“The Council also offers a Members Advisory Panel for major applications. This is a group of senior officers and Councillors and other interested parties who can listen to a presentation from the agent and then through its officers respond in writing. The Council has a protocol for dealing with requests from agents to put a proposal before the MAP. Officers can advise if a particular scheme warrants a submission to the MAP.

The Member’s Planning Advisory Group is comprised of:-

The Chairman of the Development Management Committee.
The Chairman of a possible Policy sub-committee or Policy Champion.
Strategic Planning Portfolio Holder.
Environment Portfolio Holder.
Economy Portfolio Holder – as appropriate
Communities Portfolio Holder as appropriate.
Ward Members.

The system for running this group would be as follows:

(i) Developers to make presentation to Member’s Planning Advisory Group with Officers present.

(ii) Members to have previously acquainted themselves with the site in question by a site visit with Officers.

(iii) Members to ask questions of the Developers, seek clarification, test arguments but not to give any form of view in support or against the proposals.

(iv) Advice on the way forward or changes to be made to the proposal would be provided by the Officers to the Developers in writing following advice from Members in a debate once the developers have left the meeting.

(v) Any Member of the Planning Advisory Group who has a personal or prejudicial interesting the proposal should not form part of the group for that particular site.


E Freeman Development Manager January 2011

Click to access Generating%20Income%20from%20Planning%20Pre-Application%20Advice%20final%20App2.pdf

Seems like a good time for some Freedom of Information requests here – perhaps going back several years …..

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12 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth

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Independent EDA Exmouth Councillor’s speech to Cabinet

Cabinet meeting statement – 7 October 2015 by Independent Councillor Megan Armstrong, Exmouth Haldon Ward, Independent East Devon Alliance:

“Thank you, Chair and Members

I wonder if any of you saw the local Westcountry TV news last night? I mean particularly the distraught young woman who, last week, saw the sudden overnight collapse of her father’s Exmouth seafront business, DJ’s Diner.

As some of you may know, the closure raid, which was undertaken by Senior Council Officers, started at 6am on 1st October, without the prior knowledge of the tenant or his family.

Without going into detail now, I believe there are some serious questions to be asked about the methods and the process used, that is prior to, during and since these actions.

I was there later that morning and therefore witnessed much of it at first hand. Apart from the legal process and implications of this situation, I am particularly concerned about the human and moral response, which should be addressed in such circumstances. Surely decency, honesty and respect should be the watchwords of this Council at all times, whether from members or employees and especially towards members of the public, whom we are elected to serve.

Only two days earlier (last Tuesday) the seafront Carriage Cafe closed down and moved to Cornwall, where no doubt it will be a great success, as it has been in Exmouth for many years. The owner, a lifelong Exmouthian, moved out because he had had enough of the constant, ongoing pressure over several years for him to move, from this Council. People are devastated by this loss of a much-valued community facility and are already saying “Exmouth’s loss is Cornwall’s gain.” And they are right to say so.

So what future for the owner of DJ’s Diner and his family? At the moment it is extremely bleak with his business closed and no income.

Do we care that these small independent businesses are being pushed out? If we don’t then I suggest that we as a council should, because it is such small businesses that are the lifeblood of our communities and we should be supporting and encouraging them to be as successful as possible for all our sakes, and not hounding them out.

I question this relentless drive to ‘regenerate’ (not only in Exmouth but also in other parts of East Devon) and at what cost to people’s livelihoods? Is this something of which we as a council, should be proud? And can we as councillors honestly defend the kind of behaviour which makes successful, small businesses feel unwelcome and unwanted?

I leave these questions for you to ponder.
Thank you.”

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12 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

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EDDC Exmouth Regeneration Board interferes in choice of bus depot site by M and S and wants it on EDDC land outside main town centre

Exmouth Town Council this week voted to support the principle of an M and S food store on the site of the bus depot on Royal Avenue.

But town councillors were then concerned to hear that a letter from a ‘members’ advisory panel’ at East Devon District Council – which has long-intended for a supermarket to be built on the nearby Exmouth Rugby Club site, which it owns – had criticised the M and S proposal, which is for a site owned by Devon County Council.

Councillor Bill Nash told the town council’s regeneration and general purposes committee: “The panel has written to the [district] councillors of town ward and it is a little disturbing.

“The report at the moment is saying that they don’t think it’s the right site, and they’d prefer to see Marks and Spencer on the rugby ground or the London Inn site. Well, that ain’t on – M&S don’t want that.”

Cllr Nash said EDDC had also criticised the building’s design, and a lack of electric car charging points in the proposed car park, and said it may be off-putting for people arriving by train to catch buses.

In response, town mayor Councillor Maddie Chapman said: “I think they’ve got a damn cheek, because it’s county council land that they’ve [M and S] put forward, and the county council want to build on it.

“It’s not up to East Devon saying ‘You can’t build on county council land, you can build on ours’, without saying anything to the town council.

“They need to be told ‘push off’ – so they will be.”

Town councillors were also concerned that no Exmouth councillors were at the EDDC advisory panel meeting, with Councillor Pat Graham saying she and other town ward district councillors had been invited, but at very short notice.

An EDDC spokesman said: “East Devon District Council very much welcomes Marks and Spencer’s interest in Exmouth.

“The comments of the council’s members’ advisory panel that were raised at the town council meeting were draft comments sent to the ward members who, though invited to the panel meeting, were unable to attend.

“We look forward to receiving their views so that these can inform the final comments of the panel that will then be sent to the developer. In any event, these comments will not tie the council to any decision on this matter in future.

“It’s unhelpful to suggest that the district council is promoting its own land. The council has done a lot of work in consultation with the community on plans to develop key sites in the town, including developing a supermarket and improved transport facilities.

“The council is simply seeking to implement these plans and enable the best development possible that accords with planning policy and meets the needs of the town.”

The spokesman also said town ward councillors had been given six weeks’ notice of the meeting date.

M and S will hold a public consultation event about its plans at the town hall on October 16, between 11am and 7pm.

http://www.devon24.co.uk/news/m_s_store_eddc_told_to_push_off_1_4262916

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11 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Local Plan, Local Plan Inspector

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Hello, Mr Thickett, hello, anybody there …?

Our Local Plan Inspector, Mr Anthony Thickett, was efficient and to-the-point when he held his two examinations into our draft Local Plan. He eventually decided that, such was our council’s poor drafting, he would have to make many of its major decisions himself. He asked for more information and got a further 1,000 plus pages of evidence (some of it duplicated) in September 2015. He also got a promotion to Chief Planning Inspector for Wales – more work for him.

Our Local Plan examination is now itself dragging on, and well on its way to mirroring how long the Current draft Local Plan took (at least 7 years). The inspection process started way before in August 2013, when Mr Thickett threw out the first draft submitted by EDDC because Mr Thickett decided it contained 53 major amendments agreed by councillors on the Development Management Committee and Cabinet and ratified by full council AFTER public consultation that then required the public to be consulted yet again.

It was thrown out again in March 2014 for still having major flaws and being considered unsound by Mr Thickett. The 2015 hearing was also inconclusive.

Is it going to be thrown out again? Is it so controversial it will be a major headliner? Is it lost down the back of a sofa?

EDDC appears to be in no hurry to see it arrive. Developers continue to benefit from its unavailability. What’s the problem?

We appreciate that Mr Thickett is a very busy man (not least because of all the extra work EDDC has forced him to do) but surely this sorry saga has to end somehow and somewhere – even if it is (heaven forfend) back to its on-its-last-legs drawing board.

And, if it were to fail again, would this constitute misfeasance or malfeasance in office on the part of officers and councillors involved – a criminal offence?

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10 Oct 2015

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Affordable and Social Housing, Cranbrook, EDDC

Cranbrook: anti-social behaviour issues continue

Cllrs Karen Jennings and Kevin Blakey met with Cranbrook Police on Thursday 8th October, to discuss residents’ concerns about perceived increasing levels of antisocial behaviour. The methods and processes for dealing with this were discussed in detail, and it was agreed that the Police would post a description of the potential consequences of such behaviour on their Facebook page, which is shared below:

“This week the parents of several young people in the local area have been issued with letters informing them of their child’s anti-social behaviour and warning …the children that the behaviour must cease before Police are forced to take more serious action against them.

These letters are the first step in the Anti-Social Behaviour Escalation Process, which can eventually culminate in a Criminal Behaviour Order (or CBO, which has recently replaced the ASBO) for those that continue to act anti-socially, although the aim is to try and put an end to the behaviour long before the need to issue a CBO.

For those that live in Social Housing, anti-social behaviour of any type is a breach of the tenancy agreement made with the housing provider and can therefore lead to eviction if it continues.

If you witness anti-social behaviour please report it to the police straight away via 101 (or 999 if it is an emergency) and provide as much information as possible to help us deal with the incident and identify the offenders.

https://www.facebook.com/cranbrooktowncouncil

Is it just Owl, or do remarks about those in social housing sound somewhat (pre)judgmental. And is it possible that the town’s lack of facilities for young people (e.g. no evening sports because there are no floodlights on the school playing fields) contributing to the town’s problems?

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10 Oct 2015

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EDDC

Most deprived areas in Devon: time to address their needs first?

A list of areas of deprivation has been produced for the 326 council areas in England. In this ranking, 1 = most deprived, 326 = least deprived. Devon scores are:

Torbay 46
Torridge 67
Plymouth 82
North Devon 127
West Devon 141
Mid Devon 156
Exeter 165
Teignbridge 177
South Hams 209
Isles of Scilly 242
East Devon 246

As can be seen, East Devon is classed as even more affluent and in less need than the South Hams area.

If Devon becomes a devolved authority, should those deemed most in need receive resources (including housing) first? If so, Torbay, Torridge and Plymouth would be where most resources would be targeted, and East Devon the least.

It seems we are pretty well off – do we need to expand more at the expense of areas more deprived than ours?

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Large-swathes-Devon-Cornwall-named-deprived-UK/story-27953138-detail/story.html

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9 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Regeneration, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Promises, promises, promises … warnings, warnings, warnings …

Owl was much engaged with the Guardian article in 2010 on Seaton’s regeneration referred to below. And many, many thanks to Councillor Twiss for ensuring that we revisited this important topic and took stock of the last five years.

For example, a day before the General Election in that year, a Tory spokesperson said:

“The Conservatives have voiced unease about Tesco Towns. Bob Neill, shadow minister for local government and planning, says: “I am concerned that the rise of so-called supermarket towns will lead to developments where small retailers have no place or face uncompetitive rents. Planning rules must be amended to allow councils to take into account the benefits of greater competition and the need to protect small business.”

The party has pledged to introduce greater local participation in planning through its “open source” proposals if it wins tomorrow’s general election.”

and

“A spokesman for the company says Tesco has been providing much-needed mixed use development since 1997 in deprived areas. “These are urban areas which have not received investment for a number of years. We are willing to invest, and that kind of investment has to be applauded and welcomed. We’re looking at providing more than 2,000 jobs in these areas that can benefit the community for years to come. He adds: “Councils are very welcoming because we are bringing in jobs and investment.”

Anyone seen many of those 2,000 jobs anywhere! Excluding zero hours, of course.

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9 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Regeneration, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

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A correspondent writes on “regeneration” East Devon style

This is a comment to the previous post which we have published as a post, from Sandra Semple, Mayor of Seaton during the major part of its regeneration process:

“Can we knock several of Councillor Twiss’s naive misconceptions about Seaton “regeneration” on the head. I know, I was there as Mayor at the time.

First, we got nothing but a massive Tesco and a housing estate with no affordable housing. No hotel, no leisure facilities, no community facilities. The town’s yourh club, day nursery, swimming pool and gym were demolished along with a thriving 500 bed holiday camp. The nursery was re-located (with a Devon County Council grant) on land meant to be for a re-located youth centre – which could not be built anyway as it was during the recession, the land was not adequate after the nursery was completed, grants were hard to come by and we were given only a paltry £80,000 towards a new facility (Colyton’s Reece Strawbridge Centre built at that time cost £500,000).

Ah, people will say, you got a wonderful new Visitor Centre (due to open next year, 6 years after the Tesco). Wrong: EDDC was paid £2 million by Tesco for a right of way across land OUTSIDE the regeneration area (where the youth club stood) as otherwise they would have been classed as an out-of-town store. This would have given the edge to Sainsburys which was what the town wanted, smaller, closer and would have included a completed Visitor Centre on the first floor (fully accessible to disabled people and overlooking the Wetlands) on the day the store opened.

The current Visitor Centre could not have been built without a hefty injection of lottery funding and an agreement that it would be run by Devon Wildlife Trust. The centre had been meant to include a terminus for the Minehead-Seaton national cycle route (lockers, showers etc) but these were cut out due to the extra cost involved. As to whether it will (continually, not just in its first year) attract 50,000 visitors remains to be seen, especially now Lyme Regis is extending its town museum and there is talk of a Jurrasic Eden-Centre type project on Portland.

We lost half our main car park to the Visitor Centre (an overflow carpark has been built on former public open space) and without the 500 beds at the holiday camp (85% occupied 50 weeks a year) we lost the main accommodation base for the annual Grizzly Run. Our biggest hotel is 10 beds and tourists visiting the Wetlands are unlikely to find accommodation in Seaton easily. But never mind, they can go to Premier Inns in Honiton and Exmouth.

Each and every desire of the local population – most of which could have been achieved – was ignored or ignominiously dismissed. If it did not come from Tesco or a small coterie of officers and councillors – forget it. Though mostly from Tesco. Even our “Regeneration Board” was a fantasy (a Twiss word) as it was just a talking shop which rubber stamped decisions already made. I was asked to leave it because I criticised Tesco (privately) and I did leave because it was achieving precisely nothing.

Regeneration? In your dreams. As I said in a national newspaper article at the time: “My town was sold to Tesco”:

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/may/05/urban-development-tesco-towns

and I see no reason to change my mind almost exactly five years since Tesco opened.”

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8 Oct 2015

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Austerity cuts, DCC, EDDC

Buck stops with councils when contracting-out goes wrong

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24666:ombudsman-fires-warning-to-councils-over-contracting-out-and-accountability&catid=52&Itemid=20

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8 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project, Transparency

EDDC confirms that meetings about Exmouth seafront are taking place in secret with no minutes

“You have asked for details of meetings held with Grenadier, Exmouth Bowling Club and NCIS as well as a copy of a presentation to Exmouth Town Council, in relation to the development at Queens Drive, Exmouth.

I am advised that no minutes of the meetings referred to above are held.”

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/meetings_re_the_splash#incoming-716477

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6 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project

“Exmouth Splat”: recent EDW post has had renewed interest

It’s not often an old post gets resuscitated by readers of this blog, but this one – on the chequered past of Moirai Capital – the company chosen for the Exmouth seafront development, posted in July, has suddenly sprung to life again – hmmm:

https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/07/23/moirai-the-property-company-involved-in-exmouth-water-front-development-a-chequered-past/

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6 Oct 2015

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Asset Management Group, Asset sweating, Beach huts, EDDC

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“Significant increases” to cost of beach huts

A report tabled VERY VERY late to Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting at 5.30 pm at Knowle

Click to access item-5-amf-beach-huts-chalets-4.pdf

Is such a late report legally allowed?

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5 Oct 2015

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Corruption, EDDC, Electoral Commission, Transparency

The (huge, extra) cost of one party councils

A report from the Electoral Commission states:

 Study shows ‘one-party councils’ could be wasting £2.6bn a year in lost procurement savings

 University of Cambridge research analyses 132,000 public procurement contracts between 2009 and 2013 to identify ‘red flags’ for corruption

 One-party councils have on average 50% higher ‘risk of corruption’ than politically competitive councils

 First report to use ‘Big Data’ to look at the financial dangers of single-party authorities

Click to access THE%20COST%20OF%20ONE-PARTY%20COUNCILS.pdf

The lead researcher reports:

“Fazekas said: “The persistence of uncontested seats and one-party dominated councils at the local level is a cause for concern across England in terms of quality of public services, value for money, and government responsiveness to citizen needs. One particular high-risk area is the integrity of government contracting when controls of corruption are weak.

“In modern democracies, one of the main pillars of good government and control of corruption is elections and electoral accountability. The change of political leadership or the risk of such change is expected to discipline holders of political power to use it for the public good rather than their own private benefit.”

And ERS chief executive, Katie Ghose, said: “It’s not true of all one-party councils, but it’s bound to be true of some – and this new research suggests that lack of scrutiny could be costing us dear.

“The fact that taxpayers in England could be losing out on £2.6bn a year in potential savings is a damning indictment of an electoral system that gives huge artificial majorities to parties and undermines scrutiny. This kind of waste would be unjustifiable at the best of times, let alone during a period of austerity.

“The risk of corruption at the local level should set off alarm bells in Whitehall. The public are getting a poor deal through our voting system.”

Josiah Mortimer, communications officer at the ERS, said that a fairer and more proportional electoral system – “such as the one used in Scotland for local elections” – would make one-party councils “a thing of the past”.

http://www.publicsectorexecutive.com/Public-Sector-News/one-party-councils-waste-26bn-a-year-through-corrupt-procurement

The problem is, of course, that one-party councils keep much secret because they are afraid that if we knew what is really going on, they would lose power. Holding on to power (and the inherent or perceived or real risk of corruption is seemingly much more important than governing ethically.

We wonder how many majority party councillors prefer silence about corruption to whistleblowing – too many we suspect.

We also have to question the role of the police in council corruption issues – where often they seem to lack the desire, the will and/ or the resources to make investigations – perhaps wary of covering up their own inadequacies in this area and the disruption of cosy cross- interest relationships which keep the wheels of power oiled.

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5 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Small and Medium businesses

Osborne to allow local councils to keep £26bn raised from business rates

Just watch that Business Rate Relief disappear for small, struggling businesses once the money doesn’t go to central government!

Ah, but wait: they can only raise them by a maximum of 2p in the pound and the view is that many councils will engage in a “race to the bottom” to attract new businesses.

Rather a dilemma there, then! And much worry about the north/south divide where, currently, richer councils with high value ratings subsidise poorer councils.

http://gu.com/p/4d2ee

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3 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project

“Exmouth Splat” and Moirai Capital UK

The developers behind what some are calling “Exmouth Splat” is Moirai Capital UK.

Strange name Moirai – what does it mean?

“The Moirai or Fates were three sister deities, incarnations of destiny and life. Their names were Clotho, the one who spins the thread of life; Lachesis, she who draws the lots and determines how long one lives, by measuring the thread of life; and Atropos, the inevitable, she who chose how someone dies by cutting the thread of life with her shears. They were often described as being ugly and old women, stern and severe. Three days after a child was born, it was thought that the Moirai would visit the house to determine the child’s fate and life.

It seems that the Moirai controlled the fates of both mortals and gods alike. It may be that Zeus was the only one not bound by them, as an epithet that was used for him was Moiragetes (he who commands the fate). Other sources suggest, though, that he was also bound by the Moirai. It is also uncertain who their parents were; in some myths, they were daughters of Zeus and the Titan goddess Themis, the goddess of divine order. In others, they were daughters of Ananke, the personification of necessity.”

greekmythology.com

The moral of this story is: Beware Greeks bearing gifts especially those who spin, those who measure the inevitable and those who control your life, especially when they are able to cut it off with shears and who ars not sure of their parentage!

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3 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project

Exmouth Splat – spot the missing words

EDDC said:

“Our aim is to bring all-year-round attractions to the seafront, which will be enjoyed by a wider range of people – visitors and residents alike.

“Tourism is key to Exmouth’s long-term economic success and we want a seafront that combines the traditional and modern.

“We are working closely with our tenants to help them with the changes that are happening so that they can be part of this regeneration, if that is possible. Currently we have developers waiting to submit planning applications and there will be detailed future consultation on plans for the site.”” …

What’s missing? Nothing about the new luxury apartments that dominate this site!

And, as for those forthcoming “consultations” people might want to check that what is being consulted on is the scheme EDDC is actually working up with developers in secret meetings rather than something that will bear no resemblance to what is being discussed. Designs at consultation somehow don’t seem to pan out later on …..

Will luxury apartment really want to look out on noisy children playing in expensive enclosures, blocking their expensive views of the sea?

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2 Oct 2015

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East Devon Alliance, EDDC, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

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Sidmouth Herald: EDA Councillor Cathy Gardner sounds alarm over “eastern Sidmouth”

” …This isn’t about the Mill Street car park – it’s about the whole of the eastern side of town,” said Cllr Gardner. “It’s to do with plans for Port Royal and the seafront. Everyone can get excited about the rights and wrongs of increasing parking charges, but it’s part of a bigger picture.

“EDDC owns a lot of land there and I don’t know if people are aware of how much – the lifeboat station, the Drill Hall and the sailing club are all in the Local Plan for development. …”

http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/cathy-gardner/20151002/sidmouth-herald-war-cry-over-future-of-eastern-town/

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1 Oct 2015

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EDDC, Exmouth, Moirai Exmouth project, Richard Cohen

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EDDC boards up legitimately trading cafe on Exmouth seafront without telling the owner

A seafront cafe owner was heading back to Exmouth today to find out just why his premises had been boarded up overnight.

Dean Gardner, owner of the popular DJ’s Cafe on Queen’s Drive, Exmouth, was in the Midlands looking after a sick relative, when he heard the bad news.

Mr Gardner, who has run the cafe for 11 years, said he had been told by East Devon District Council last month that the cafe could remain open for the “foreseeable future” in the run up to the redevelopment of the Exmouth seafront.

But in the early hours of October 1 a small number of contractors, went to the premises changed the locks and boarded up the premises up.

A notice, signed by Richard Cohen, Deputy Chief Executive EDDC, stated that council had taken possession of the premises.

The notice also indicates that: “as you have not made an application to the court before the expiry date (of the notice to terminate the lease) EDDc has exercised the right to take possession.”

Mr Gardner said: “It is a living nightmare. I restocked the cafe on the basis of being told that nothing was going to happen for the foreseeable future and now they have taken possession and boarded the place up without any notice.

“I have to say that when the Carriage Cafe was hauled away I wondered what was going on but I knew they had had enough and had a new site set up in Cornwall.

“I didn’t expect this to happen and I am now heading back to Exmouth straight away to find out what on earth is going on.”

Mr Gardner added that he had spent thousands of pounds on the cafe but was being offered “less than £15,000” in compensation.

According to campaigners opposed to the seafront development, EDDC said on its website that businesses operating in Queen’s Drive will be able to continue to trade beyond 30 September 2015

A Council spokesperson said previously: “East Devon District Council would like to make clear for the benefit of local residents, as well as its Queen’s Drive tenants and customers, that businesses currently operating at Queen’s Drive, who have formally notified the council that they wish to renew their tenancies, will continue to trade beyond 30 September 2015 until the necessary legal processes have been followed and concluded regarding their future.

“The council would like to apologise for any misunderstanding that has occurred.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Exmouth-seafront-caf-owner-shocked-premises/story-27904199-detail/story.html