Category Archives: Exmouth

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

17 Feb 2018

Posted under

Coastal communities, Exmouth, Flooding, Grenadier, Regeneration

Anyone else underwhelmed by Exmouth’s watersports centre?

And wouldn’t you think the safety changes might have been foreseen?

“Peter Quincey, director of Grenadier Estates, said: “Following our community consultation and the feedback received, we have focused on water safety in consultation with East Devon District Council and have made amendments to the design.

“The amendments to the design include setting the building back by four metres to allow a more substantial space between the building and the sea wall, and increasing the rigging areas to accommodate additional water sports equipment.

“To improve the visual appeal of the building further, we have included additional stone cladding and designated more space for planting trees.

“These additions have resulted in a reduction of 14 parking spaces.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/grenadier-estates-statement-watersports-centre-application-1-5397490

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

5 Feb 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Art and Culture, Austerity cuts, Exmouth, Honiton/ Gittisham, Thelma Hulbert Gallery

Given its large subsidy to Thelma Hulbert Gallery, should EDDC now save Exmouth museum?

“Exmouth’s museum faces a race against time to raise £200,000 if it is to secure the town’s heritage.

If the six-figure sum cannot be raised, the museum’s Sheppards Row home could be sold on the open market and the town may lose some of its historic artefacts, such as the original mechanism from the seafront clock tower.

Landowner South West Water (SWW) is looking to sell the Victorian building after the museum’s lease expired at the end of 2017.

The Museum Society of Exmouth has been told it needs to raise at least £130,000 to buy the building, but has set its sights on £200,000 to allow them to undertake ‘much needed’ renovation works.

Brian Leader, steward organiser at the museum, has warned that if the money isn’t found, the artefacts could either be transported to other museums out of town or may even have to be ‘dumped’.

He said: “The museum contains a unique collection of artefacts and documents dating back hundreds of years to the present day – to lose this would be unthinkable.

“If we were not able to raise the funds, we would probably have to distribute the artefacts to other museums.

“The town would definitely lose them and they could be dumped because we haven’t got anywhere to store them.

“We’re pushing for £200,000 because we need to do a lot of work to it. …”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/exmouth-museum-to-launch-200k-fundraising-bid-1-5378010

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

17 Jan 2018

Posted under

Exmouth, Leisure East Devon, Regeneration

Would you like to take Exmouth Ocean “to the next level” for £50,000 per year

Has anyone seen this advertised locally? Bold type sentence is Owl’s highlighting – not the advertiser!

“Job Title General Manager
Sector
Public Sector & Leisure Trusts
Specialism Senior/General Management
Salary £50,000
Location South West

Details

Location – Exmouth, Devon Basic salary £50,000 (OTE £60,000) plus benefits Our client operates a multi-faceted hospitality venue in a prime location on the Exmouth seafront, with a turnover of over £2m. Facilities include 3 restaurants, a superb 200-seater function room with stunning views of the coast and Exe Estuary, a 12-lane ten-pin bowling alley, a large soft play zone and a SEGA amusement arcade.

The venue opened in 2015 but has yet to fulfil its potential. A dynamic, business-focused General Manager is now required to take the facility to the next level.

Reporting directly to the group CEO and Board, you will have significant autonomy and responsibility. The post will also include the oversight of a 500-seater, traditional entertainment facility with an 80-seater restaurant. Both venues are adjacent on the seafront and form the gateway to a proposed leisure redevelopment area, with works commencing in 2018.

You will provide strategic direction for all areas to achieve or exceed growth, key performance and ‘bottom line’ financial targets. You will have effective leadership skills and motivational qualities, and be ambitious, determined, goal-orientated and a team player. You will have significant experience having managed a large multi-functional hospitality or entertainment facility, or a group of facilities.

Your hours of work will be flexible, including some weekends and evenings.

http://www.strictlypeople.co.uk/opportunities_details.asp?page=&id=381

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Jan 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Planning System, Regeneration

Tomorrow last day for comments on EDDC’s “planning application” for Exmouth seafront

The words “planning application” appear in quotes because it barely meets the requirement for an outline planning application, let alone a full one!

More haste … more money?

The planning application reference is 17/2944/FUL and must be quoted at all times.

You may write, email or login to the planning portal

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/view-planning-applications-enforcements-and-planning-appeals/

to place your objections. If you wish to speak to someone in planning the number is 01395 516551.

Please note that your objections must be to EDDC by 17th January so it is too late to write.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 Jan 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

“Exmouth Town Council opposes plan for temporary attractions on seafront – again”

Owl says: Amazing how some district councillors can change their attitudes when EDDC development is in THEIR town’s back yard!

“Town councillors have again refused to support an application for temporary attractions on Exmouth seafront.

Planning committee members decided not to support the proposal to install pop-up food outlets and a large to screen to show live sport, such as World Cup football matches, at the former fun park site in Queen’s Drive.

If given the go-ahead, East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) plan could also see the former boating lake filled in for a hard or soft seating area and a fenced-off children’s play zone created.

The current proposal is a full application and town councillors have suggested that it should be reverted to an outline plan. They say it could progress to a full proposal, with more detail, later.

The amended plans now include a letter intended to dispel previous objections over the lack of information in the application and the permanent infilling of the boating lake.

EDDC says the lack of detail was due to a ‘tight timescale’ and there is no ‘specific engineering solution’ for how the infilling will take place.

Objecting to the installation of the big screen, Nick Hookway, chairman of campaign group Save Exmouth Seafront, pointed out that an extensive environmental monitoring programme had previously been recommended for the site.

He said: “I think that the presence of a large number of people on that site will be highly damaging to that site itself.

“Will this present application prevent damage to the site or merely get the public to do the council’s work?

“Will this application have the same environmental mitigation conditions that the reserve matters application had?”

Exmouth Town Council Planning Committee members voted to oppose the amended proposals, saying the blueprint has not answered their original concerns and the plan should come back as an outline application.

In the additional information, EDDC says it wants the application to be decided on by its development management committee in March.

Councillor Bill Nash said: “March is plenty of time for this application to come back in to this committee as an outline application, which I think would be considered properly and probably be acceptable.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/exmouth-town-council-opposes-seafront-temporary-attraction-plan-1-5351548

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

9 Jan 2018

Posted under

Coastal communities, Economy, Exmouth, Tourism

Exmouth Royal Beacon Hotel in administration

“THE company behind one of Torbay’s best-known hotels has gone into administration. But company boss Keith Richardson said all the hotels remained open and it was ‘business as usual’. …

… The companies operate a collection of five hotels including the Grand Hotel in Torquay, The Royal Beacon Hotel in Exmouth, The Falmouth Hotel in Falmouth, The Fowey Hotel in Fowey and The Metropole Hotel in Padstow.

All have either three or four stars and are notable for their prominent seaside locations, period architecture and award-winning dining.

All five hotels will continue to trade on a business as usual basis while the administrators assess the current financial position and available options. …”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/top-devon-hotels-administration-boss-1033893

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

9 Jan 2018

Posted under

Coastal communities, Developers/ Development, Exmouth, Otterto, Tourism

Sandy Bay caravan park looks bigger than some East Devon towns!

“The holiday park, at Sandy Bay, is holding an open day on Saturday, January 20, from 10am until 3pm, where applications will be accepted for more than 400 vacancies.

Pat Titley, talent manager at the holiday park, said staff training starts at the end of January in readiness for March 1 and the new holiday season.

Allen Main, Devon Cliffs Holiday Park assistant general manager, said last year more than 23,000 families holidayed at the attraction. …”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/exmouth-hundreds-of-jobs-available-as-devon-cliffs-launches-summer-season-recruitment-drive-1-5348502

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

6 Jan 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Exmouth, Planning System, Regeneration, Scrutiny, Spin, Transparency

EDDC’s justification for Exmouth seafront “planning lite” application

Would you or I get away with this?

Exmouth Town Council arranging hurried meeting on 6 January 2018.

Let’s see what they think (Tory dominated, don’t build up you expectations!)

From EDDC to Town Councillors – how to justify the unjustifiable!

One for the Scrutiny Committee? Oh no, wait – not allowed to discuss individual planning applications! But maybe CAN investigate how there are double standards in planning – one for their own officers and one for everyone else.

No – even that’s not right! One for EDDC and its developers and one for the rest of us.

“Queen’s Drive Temporary Uses Planning Application Response to Concerns Raised by Exmouth Town Council

1. CONCERN ABOUT TOO LITTLE DETAIL IN THE APPLICATION.
The lack of detail in the planning application is a result of the tight timescale that we are faced with in delivering the temporary uses.
Time is a key driver for the delivery of the Temporary Uses project. We aim to have new facilities available by early spring 2018.
In order to achieve this, we have to secure a planning permission first, before starting work on the installation of the new facilities.
We also have to go through the research and then procurement process to find the suppliers (and operators where appropriate) for the new facilities.
We realised that if we are to achieve this tight timetable, we would need to undertake tasks concurrently. So we would need to submit a planning application without necessarily knowing the detail of exactly what the facilities would be and who would be supplying them.
We discussed this with our planning advisor and the Local Planning Authority and identified that we could submit a planning application that provided a general description of what we propose to do (and was therefore without too much detail), where (if approved at committee), the planning authority could put conditions on the permission and request the detail at a later time.
We agreed on a strategy for the planning application that would show the three zones for the three different “themes” of what will be on offer. Namely: children’s play, food and drink, and a range of one-off events.

2. CONCERNS ABOUT RESIDENTIAL AREA AND NOISE.
The District Council will have to apply for necessary licences to cover the hours of opening for the operation of the events on site. Again, as yet we do not know the detail of what the events will be as we are still in the research and planning stages. We would not expect that any event would be later than midnight. But note that this will only be on odd occasions – not every night. This application will be heard by the Licensing Committee in due course.

3. CONCERNS ABOUT THE FILLING IN OF THE PONDS.
We do not yet know the specific engineering solution for how the ponds will be filled in. It is thought that this will be loose material topped with sand. Whatever is used to fill the ponds could be removed in the future if required.
4. CONCERNS ABOUT THE TIMING OF SUBMISSION.
We are aiming for the application to be heard at DMC on 6 March 2018.
To meet this date and allow for the lead in period for the application to be processed, we therefore had to submit the application before Christmas (early December). It was not until early December that we had finalised the application ready for submission.

Alison Hayward
EDDC 3 January 2018”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

4 Jan 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

Exmouth Fun Park temporary “attractions” – consultation extended to 17 January 2018

“The deadline for comments to be submitted on plans for temporary attractions for Exmouth seafront has been extended.

East Devon District Council has submitted plans for a temporary use of land, buildings and structures for a 12-month period for the purposes of entertainment, recreation and leisure on the site of the former Fun Park.

… The initial deadline for comments to be registered was January 12 – and some residents reported that during the Christmas holiday period, they were unable to either access the application or submit any comments.

An East Devon District Council spokesman said: “We are not aware of any issues with accessing the application on-line. It certainly appears to be working perfectly at the moment and the site was periodically checked over the festive period to ensure that it was working. We are therefore content that there is no problem with the system and our web-site.

“We have received some additional information from the applicant in the last couple of days. This information is now available on our web-site and to enable interested parties to review and comment on this information the consultation period has been extended to January 17, 2018.”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/deadline-extended-comments-temporary-attractions-1011312

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Jan 2018

Posted under

Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

Exmouth temporary attractions planning application – consultation period should be extended

Reminder to people to comment on EDDC temporary attractions planning application to replace the Fun Park.

Closing date 12 January 2018

17/2944/FUL

However the comment page for this planning application was inaccessible over Christmas this should mean that the consultation period should be extended.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

3 Jan 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

District council criticised by Exmouth Town Council for too little detail in planning application!

Another story from the Christmas break:

Our district council is the local planning authority and has professional planning staff – yet it can’t put in a decent explanation of what it will put on Exmouth seafront next year to replace the businnesses it evicted this year.

Can you imagine if you put in an outline planning application for a house with a line around the property and just words like “bedrooms might go here” or “the kitchen might be here” but “then again I might change my mind – and maybe have a conservatory over there , I’m not sure – but give me planning permission and I’ll sort it out”!

AND it’s a regeneration site!

From Exmouth Journal:

“Concerns have been raised over a lack of information on the attractions, which also includes pop-up food outlets and a children’s play area, set to be in place for 12 months from March next year.

An outline planning application is for the Queen’s Drive site – formerly home to Exmouth Fun Park which was evicted in September this year.

EDDC says the attractions will stop the site from becoming ‘unused and derelict’ prior to its redevelopment as part of phase three of the Queen’s Drive regeneration scheme.

At a planning committee meeting this week, Exmouth Town Council opposed the application raising concerns over the lack of information given on the nature of the attractions.

At the meeting, councillor Bill Nash branded the plans ‘a blank piece of paper’.

He said: “There is insufficient information for a decision to be made and I would ask the applicant to withdraw this application and resubmit it.

“The documentation says that at this stage because the end users are not being specified, the size, extent and nature of the structures cannot be identified – how can we give approval on something if we don’t know what it is?”

Nick Hookway, chairman of the Save Exmouth Seafront campaign group, said: “The idea of slicing up the site with three categories of attractions is to be deplored as being quite unnecessary. The application is lacking any form of detail as to the type of facilities that will be available next summer and in no way makes up for the closure of the popular, successful and much valued ‘fun park’.”

An EDDC spokesperson said: “This planning application is for uses that are specifically temporary and it responds directly to town council and wider public concern that the Queen’s Drive area might be unused for a while as development of sites happens.

“It is unfortunate that the town council felt unable to respond positively and promptly to the district’s desire to pave the way for a mix of new, temporary attractions.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/insufficient-detail-in-exmouth-seafront-plan-say-town-council-1-5329825

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

20 Dec 2017

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Coastal communities, EDDC, Exmouth, Housing (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Exmouth sees drop in second home sales

“The number of second homes in Exmouth has fallen by almost three per cent since 2015. But, the town still has the second highest number in East Devon.

An FOI request, submitted by the Journal, revealed that on average, for every 38 properties in the town, there was one second home.

The statistics revealed there were 16,987 households in Exmouth and of these 422 were second homes, meaning they made up around 2.6 per cent of the total number of properties.

Over the last three years, the number of second homes across the district has slowly been decreasing. Across East Devon there are 69,333 households, with 2,339 being used as second homes. This has fallen by 2.8 per cent since 2015.

In Exmouth, the drop was slightly more, with a three per cent decrease from 459 to 442. Estate agents have suggested this is down to the increase on stamp duty when purchasing a second house. Mike Dibble, a director Bradleys Estate Agents, said anybody who bought a second home now paid an extra three per cent in stamp duty. He added: “For example, if you are a first-time buyer and purchase a home for £250,000, the stamp duty would be £2,500.
“But, if you are buying a second home or a buy-to-let then you would pay an extra £7,500, paying a total of £10,000 in stamp duty”.

Mr Dibble added the estate agents sold ‘nowhere near’ as many second homes as they used to.

The town with the most second homes was Sidmouth, which by April of this year, had a total of 471. The town has half the number of households compared to Exmouth and statistically, of Sidmouth’s 7,885 properties, six per cent are second homes.

The third highest was Seaton where around 5.4 per cent of the total number of properties are second homes – for every 19 properties in Seaton there is around one second home.

An East Devon District Council spokeswoman said: “There are a large number of second homes in East Devon for which the owners pay council tax in the same way as do all other home owners in the district.”

Source:
Journal 14 December 2017

The original article:

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

9 Dec 2017

Posted under

Exmouth

Exmouth: Christmas market with not much Christmas spirit?

”There’s been mixed reaction to the “cracking” Christmas market, which took place at Exmouth Ocean on Sunday, December 3. Some visitors enjoyed the event, describing it as ‘an enjoyable day’, ‘fab’ and ‘a lovely time’. But others said it was a ‘health and safety nightmare’, with ‘no emergency procedure for elderly, infirm or young mothers’. One visitor went further, saying they thought the people of Exmouth had been ‘shortchanged’, and describing the event as a ‘creaking Christmas market’.

In response, LED, which organised the event, has admitted that the market had “a few teething problems”, but say that for its first event of this nature “about 5,000 people attended what was generally perceived to be a great event”.

The ‘cracking’ Christmas Market, with additional entertainment provided by Exmouth Town Council, was promoted as a replacement for the cancelled Christmas Cracker. With entertainment on other floors, the market itself took place on the top-floor Ocean Suite and outside terraces.

Visitors found there were problems with access to the market, as there was only one small lift, reserved for those with limited mobility and mothers with buggies. Consequently the stairs became clogged and LED staff restricted the numbers who were allowed in. At times it’s understood that crowds were three deep on the stairs, and the lift broke down, allegedly trapping a person in a wheelchair.

Visitors took to social media to praise and criticise the event. One community group described the event as ‘a really enjoyable day’, and that customers were ‘generous and appreciative’. Other comments included ‘fab’ and ‘a fun day’. However, one visitor, who did not wish to be named, was unhappy, flagging up over-crowding, uninspired stalls and mulled wine – served by LED – that was cold. It was not a particularly inspired craft market with nothing to distinguish it as a Christmas event. The bar was offering a festive menu, but when you’ve got cold mulled wine, how festive is that? “I think it was very sad. The people of Exmouth have been short-changed. A cracking Christmas market? More like a creaking Christmas market!”

LED Leisure has defended its festive offering, saying it was a ‘super event for Exmouth’. “In response to the few negative comments that have been received by the Journal, LED Leisure welcomes constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve,” said Peter Gilpin, chief executive officer, LED Leisure. “As our first event of this nature, it was probably inevitable that there would be a few teething problems. Despite these few problems, about 5,000 people attended what was generally perceived to be a great event – so no wonder there were queues to get in at some times of the day!

“We received many compliments from visitors, who despite the wait loved the Christmas gifts, sweets, music and entertainment. Between them, Ocean and the Pavilion had over 90 stalls, including some that were accommodated from the cancelled Christmas Cracker event from the Strand, at fairly late notice. Stall holders were also very complimentary – they were busy all day!”

Mr Gilpin also thanked Lisa Hamer, Janette Cass and their respective teams at Ocean and the Pavilion ‘for putting on what I think was, overall, a super event for Exmouth – 5,000 people having a great time on Exmouth seafront in December; whatever next?!’ “

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/mixed-reaction-to-exmouth-s-cracking-christmas-market-1-5310426

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

30 Nov 2017

Posted under

Austerity cuts, Democracy, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

Exmouth’s Lonely Christmas Tree

“The Lonely Christmas Tree”

I am the lonely Christmas Tree,
In Exmouth’s market place;
No vending stalls are round about
No shopper’s welcome face.

The Strand is bare of trade and cheer
In Exmouth’s market place-
All moved to Ocean’s empty hall
To fill that empty place.

Shopkeepers have all tried their best
Around the market place
To pay their rates and sell their goods
With patience and good grace.

The loss to trade and income gone-
They’ve moved the Christmas Cracker;
No help then for the working shops-
Their Christmas has been knackered !”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

24 Nov 2017

Posted under

EDDC, Exmouth, Grenadier, Regeneration

When were plans mooted to reroute the road in Exmouth – and why?

A comment received:

“… It follows a council document from 2015 about the Queen’s Drive development that says: “The people of Exmouth are …

So – the road and car park move was recommended in the Masterplan?

It was also put forward apparently as a new idea in April 2003 in a letter to Mr Karime Hassan at EDDC. The letter was in support of a planning application for new premises for Spinnakers Sailing Centre. It was signed by Stephanie Bridge now of Edge watersports the business she runs with her husband Eric Bridge that is destined to have prime position on Grenadiers site. – or Bridgetown as I have heard it called recently.

From the letter

“In our opinion we need to be on the beach side of the road, not least as we have many children on weeks courses and the safety aspect on crossing the road is not something we relish.”

NOT the case. It has been acknowledged that it is not safe for children to be trained in the sea at that point.

“One idea we had was to reroute he seafront road around the back of the car park ( ref to a map and pics 9 +10) this could create a large pedestrian area, room for businesses such as ours and encourage natural traffic calming on the seafront in that area. It wouldn’t have a detrimental effect on other businesses…………”

Er……. complete elimination of Fun Park, DJs, Golf and Putting course, Carriage Café, Model railway, ….. not a detrimental effect?? Most of them were prepared to upgrade and modernise their facilities. …”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

23 Nov 2017

Posted under

Accountability, Developers/ Development, EDDC, Exmouth, Grenadier, Philip Skinner, Regeneration

Comments

2 Comments

EDDC has difficulty explaining the difference between a gift and a loan

“… It follows a council document from 2015 about the Queen’s Drive development that says: “The people of Exmouth are being offered a gift of a new Watersports Centre that will operate as a community interest company (not a private facility) whereby a philanthropist is investing up to £4m of his own money in this national venue.”

But a council spokesman said that the debate is about what constituents a gift and that once the original investment without interest is recovered all income generated will be reinvested in Exmouth.

Save Exmouth Seafront spokesman Nick Hookway said: “We have a number of concerns about the arrangements that East Devon District Council has made with Grenadier.

“Grenadier is not gifting the Water Sports centre site to the people of Exmouth. Information supplied by both the developer and the Council shows that the cost of the project will initially be paid for by Grenadier. The whole cost of this development will then be paid back to Grenadier over a number of years with no interest except for the cost of inflation. Inflation is running at 3.9% as measured by the Retail Price Index. Wouldn’t it be nice if residents could get 3.9% on their savings accounts?

“In most people’s minds Grenadier is a making a loan not a gift. Why are Councillors unable to see this?”

But a council spokesman said: “Grenadier is investing £3m to £4m upfront in providing a water sports centre and we have seen the attractive plans that will enhance Exmouth’s seafront and attraction to visitors and residents.

“The developer is involved on a not for profit basis with a business model that involves recovery of their original investment (without interest). The water sports centre and associated facilities will then be operated by a non-profit making Community Interest Company. Income generated from that point on will be used to reinvest in Exmouth by the Community Interest Company.

“There seems to be some debate about what constitutes a ‘gift’. To be clear, the cost of building the asset will be paid upfront by Grenadier and this will be paid back to Grenadier by the CIC without interest using income derived from the operation of the facility.

“The specifics and priorities of that re-investment will be something that the Community Interest Company will decide and it will have local representation on the board. This varies considerably from the standard investment model that commercial developers would usually follow and, in fact, Grenadier has chosen not to make a profit on this project when they could have directed their funds elsewhere into a profit making venture as would normally be the case for a private developer.”

Questions were also raised by SES as to who exactly is behind the realignment of Queen’s Drive that will see the road move from its current position on the seafront to behind the proposed new watersports centre.

Mr Hookway said: “Why is the road being moved and who suggested this realignment? Grenadier has stated the realignment of the road was not something that they asked for. East Devon District Council will say that it was included in the Exmouth Masterplan which was adopted in 2011.

“However there was no explanation in the Masterplan for the proposed realignment, indeed recent changes to the design of the road are different from those proposed in the Masterplan. Save Exmouth Seafront wants to know why the road is being moved and who proposed these changes.”

But in response, the council spokesman said: “The road and car park move was recommended in the original masterplan and made a lot of sense in creating a new, accessible and safer space connected directly to the beach.

“There is no confusion here since the council marketed the site on that basis and Grenadier bid on the clear understanding that the road and car park were being moved. This was a council decision following the recommendation of the masterplan.”

Save Exmouth Seafront in response to the plans say that they would like the main buildings to be moved back eight metres from the current proposed location, is it necessary for it to be two storeys, and will there be a clearly displayed safety plan for kite surfers, but did say the consultation process funded by Grenadier was a most welcome change from the usual process of planning consultations.

A spokesman for Grenadier added: “We are currently reviewing all feedback received during the community consultation process. All comments are receiving our full attention and we will provide an update once we have completed our review. In the meantime we encourage the community to check back regularly at http://watersportscentreexmouth.co.uk/ for any updates.”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/public-havent-been-misled-over-822186

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Oct 2017

Posted under

Accountability, EDDC, Environment (local), Exmouth, Grenadier

Wildlife refuges on River Exe agreed – will it affect water sports?

Will this affect the watersports centre and, if so, will EDDC effect a covenant on its land to allow for it?

“… The Exmouth site covers an area on the east side of the River Exe, running from a point west of Exmouth Leisure Centre up to a point west of Lympstone Manor. …

“We are now calling on the wide range of Estuary users for their co-operation and support as we ask them to avoid a very small part of the Exe Estuary – all year round at Dawlish Warren’s refuge and from mid-September to end of December at Exmouth’s refuge.”

The refuges are part of the Exe Estuary Special Protection Area, which regularly provides space for 20,000 birds to rest and feed.

East Devon District Council, Teignbridge District Council and Exeter City Council must legally prevent disturbance to birds and deterioration of their habitats [though this may or may not continue after Brexit when the UK is freed from EU regulations].”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/wildlife-refuges-given-green-light-in-exmouth-and-dawlish-warren-1-5249723

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Oct 2017

Posted under

Accountability, EDDC, Exmouth, Grenadier, Philip Skinner, Regeneration

Comments

1 Comment

Grenadier in Exmouth again today – some questions to ponder

Grenadier are at Ocean again today. 9 to 5.

Here are a few possible questions to ask Grenadier or EDDC:

How much is Grenadier paying EDDC for the 125 year lease for the whole of the Phase 2 site? (Presumably this is no longer commercially sensitive information) and what are arrangements for profit-sharing (if any).

Does the designation of Phase 3 now as “mixed use” means business, commercial or residential or a combination of these uses?

Whose idea/decision was it to reroute the road? There is confusion as to whether it was EDDC or Grenadier.

Is there a longer-term plan for the area that has not yet been disclosed?

Chance of straight answers to simple questions?

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 Oct 2017

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Development Management Committee, EDDC, Exmouth, Inequality

Exmouth “has too many retirement flats” – what, only Exmouth!

“The number of elderly people moving into new retirement developments in Exmouth is becoming unsustainable, town councillors have warned

Developer McCarthy and Stone is proposing 59 retirement flats on land to the south of Redgate, next to Tesco in Salterton Road.

Members of Exmouth Town Council’s planning committee were asked this week to reconsider plans for the scheme, which they had previously opposed, after additional information was submitted by the developer about why permission should be granted, on subjects including flood risk and land use policy.

However, councillors voted to continue their previous objections, which were on the grounds that site had been allocated as employment land in the East Devon Local Plan, and they felt Exmouth had reached ‘saturation point’ with developments of this type.

Councillor Brenda Taylor said: “All of that land up from Tesco is allocated as employment land.

“We need jobs here. I think we should again refuse it on those grounds.

“Years of work went into the local plan, and for what?

“They have got five or six properties in Exmouth already, and it’s a huge overload on our services.

“We can’t sustain these older people.”

Councillor Maddy Chapman said that an argument by McCarthy and Stone that employment would be provided by the development was not satisfactory.

She said: “When they say they are supplying jobs, and it’s going to be a care home sort of thing, the qualifications of people they employ, you cannot say it is a care home.

“For those number of flats, to say they are going to employ 15 people, you put them on a rota basis, and it’s absolute rubbish.

“Also we’ve got the other retirement flats being built up Drakes Avenue, so we’ve got two lots of flats going up. Who is going to look after all these people?”

Councillor Fred Caygill said: “If it’s not going to be employment land I would rather see affordable housing on the site, rather than I think probably the fifth McCarthy and Stone development in the town, which we cannot sustain.”

EDDC will rule on planning permission.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/exmouth-can-t-sustain-more-retirement-flats-1-5235760