Rumours abound on the internet that this includes stores at Honiton, Tiverton, Barnstaple, Bodmin, Plymouth and Taunton, though some stores may re-open quite quickly as “The Range” stores.
Source: http://www.diyweek.net/news/news.asp?id=16058
Category Archives: Honiton/ Gittisham
Devon’s rural roads most dangerous in Britain
“Researchers for THINK! found that nearly a third of drivers in the region report having had a crash or near miss on a country road, while 42% have been surprised by an unexpected hazard, such as an animal on the road. Over a third also confess to taking a bend too fast.”
Read more: http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Campaign-launched-West-s-rural-roads-revealed/story-23063234-detail/story.html#ixzz3Fe4zeHZU
Follow us: @WMNNews on Twitter | westernmorningnews on Facebook
Read more at http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Campaign-launched-West-s-rural-roads-revealed/story-23063234-detail/story.html#7ztVpD8XHqYmxGyB.99
And yet EDDC proceeds to allow the building of 300+ houses in Gittisham: where the only route in and out is a very narrow country road with an even narrower point at an overhead main line railway bridge:
Gittisham – the less bad news, though it’s bad enough
Local MP Neil Parish, bewildered by the Gittisham planning application in its earlier stages, had already arranged for it to be called in for decision by Secretary of State Eric Pickles even before the EDDC latest decision.
This will be a real test of so-called “sustainability in the National Planning Policy Framework: a reserve site if there had ever been a local plan, access by one narrow country road constrained by a bridge, reliance on cars to get to shops and other facilities, real worries that doctors and education establishments cannot cope, on the direct boundary of an AONB. The pill sugared by the “promise” of social housing which, as we know, disappears from successful planning applications like morning mist in high summer in East Devon.
And all totally avoidable if we had in place the Local Plan (and Community Infrastructure Levy) that EDDC has been “working on” since 2007.
Another planning application that is left to the local community (and its concerned MP) to fight thanks to EDDC’s officers and councillors.
Now you see it, now you don’t …
EDA member Paul comments on the nonsensical and contradictory EDDC double-think…. this is his personal reflection.
“Is it just me or do others find the contradictory messages sent out by EDDC completely nonsensical (or perhaps from cloud-cuckoo-land)?
In this week’s Pullman’s View From Honiton
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?pbid=03a901df-0b77-4e35-90e6-93ca8d117094
we have:
* Two similar articles about the lack of a Local Plan (pages 3 “Council criticised for delays to plan” and page 4 “Council leaders must ‘get a grip’ on local plan”);
* An article about the 300 homes between Honiton and Gittisham (page 6 “Decision on new homes expected”)
From the first of the two articles about the Local Plan, “an EDDC spokesperson said that the council still had the power to prevent development of unsuitable sites. … ‘The lack of a five-year housing land supply in effect means that we cannot refuse housing developments simply because they are outside the built-up area boundaries that define the extent of our settlements. The majority of our settlements are adjacent to Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Green Wedges and other designations that restrict development anyway and these designations still apply anyway with equal strength regardless of whether we have a five-year land supply or not.”
Yet the 300 homes proposed in Honiton are EXACTLY THAT – adjacent to an AONB – and the development was initially approved despite this (and despite access issues and a illogical report from the county council’s Highways officer) and has been called back for review because of the strength and pressure of local opposition.
So the statement from the EDDC spokesperson (should we think this was written or approved by council leader Paul Diviani or Chief Executive Mark Williams?) is not backed up by the facts – and this is not the first time as their annual report is a masterpiece of spin and economies with the truth.
It seems to me that when these sorts of obviously contradictory statement get published in the same newspaper, it just makes EDDC look stupid / incompetent / poorly led / two-faced / full of **** / lying / away with the fairies / one sandwich short of a picnic (but judge for yourself and select the adjectives you like or add your own).”
Gittisham gone to the EDDC dogs
4-3 in favour, Helen Parr (Chair, Colyton) seconding because no-one else had the guts to do it.
For: Councillors Parr, Williamson, Gammell and Sullivan and against: Councillors Pook, Key and Atkins (note to self: where were other members of the DMC – “otherwise engaged”?)
Scorched earth yet again …..
For full information see
Houses in Gittisham: any chance of EDDC getting it right?
Don’ hold your breath – they’ve made a dog’s dinner of it the last couple of times. How have they managed to get it so wrong? A question for the Chairman of the Development Management Committee …..
“Honiton for Sale” part 2 – some questions but very little chance of answers
This week’s Midweek Herald adds some interesting information to the story carried yesterday that former Chairman of East Devon District Council and town councillor, Peter Halse, believes that Honiton is being asset-stripped to pay for the vanity project EDDC HQ office relocation.
The Midweek Herald adds more comments from Councillor Halse:
… “In my personal view, Honiton is being put up for sale. Assets are being raised in order for the council to move to the outskirts of Exeter, which is not in the public interest”.
Mr Halse told the meeting that he had made strong protests to the district council regarding the move and added that he thought the district council had now realised “the Knowle is not quite the jewel in East Devon’s crown as it thought it was and that it was having to find other assets elsewhere.
An EDDC spokesperson said in response to this:
… “The question of succession to East Devon Business Centre has given us an opportunity to look again at how we can help meet the needs of business into the future in a words of enterprise and entrepreneurism very different from what existed when Heathpark Business Centre first opened its doors.
Lead members for business and officers carried out a tender exercise and interviewed four different consultancies. The chosen company, Carter Jonas, are in the process of gathering evidence and are expected to report back with their findings and recommendations within the next month or so”.
This raises several interesting questions:
If a respected and long-serving majority party Councillor has no real idea what is going on – how on earth do councillors not privy to the thoughts of those in the “inner sanctum” understand what they are voting for with the Skypark project?
The press release speaks only of something going out to tender – it does not say exactly what the tender was for and we will never know because the Asset Management Forum at EDDC has always met in secret and provides no agendas or minutes of its meetings for the public.
Councillor Halse’s comments seem to imply that EDDC is not going to get as much as it had wanted for Knowle. They have long said that the move will be “cost neutral” but that was when only Knowle and Manston Depot were mentioned. Is it still cost neutral when you add in the loss of the Heathpark site and the East Devon Business Centre? Again we will never know because the Relocation Working Party meetings are also held in secret and no agendas or minutes are produced.
We have a situation now where ALL decisions are now made in secret. Instead of information going to committees for discussion and decision they are being referred to creatively-named “Forums” and “Groups” so that the decision-making can all take place behind closed doors where even majority party councillors have no idea what is going on.
Let us hope that when the next council is convened it votes for a Committee system of decision-making rather than an Executive Board system which allows a very small number of people – hand-picked by the Leader – to take decisions on behalf of the majority.
Remember Leader Diviani’s last election promise: Clean, Green and Seen. Not Unclean, Ungreen and Unseen.
“Town Up for Sale” says Honiton Mayor, EDDC Councillor (and former Chairman of EDDC) as he criticises his own council on the Knowle relocation
Councillor Peter Halse, Honiton Town Councillor, East Devon District Councillor and former Chairman of EDDC is quoted in the “View from Honiton” newspaper today. He says the town is being “put up for sale” by district councillors to fund their costly relocation project. The article is quoted below”
“He [Councillor Halse] says decisions were being made that were not in the interests of Honiton residents. Land at the Heathpark estate had been identified as a possible location for EDDC’s new office complex. But in a controversial move earlier this year, councillors opted to reject the Honiton site and build new headquarters at SkyPark on the outskirts of the district. The land [at Honiton] now looks likely to be sold for the development of a new supermarket.
And in a further blow to the local economy, the district’s business hub – currently based at Heathpark – has also been lined up for closure.
At a town counbcil meeting last week, former mayor Councillor Vernon Whitlock raised the issue of businesses being forced to relocate. And Councillor Halse admitted that he shared the concerns of businesses, councillors and residents, who feel the town is being stripped of its assets.
“I am a loggerheads with the (district) council on the way this has been done. I am disappointed that they will be demolishing a building that is of great use to the town and is not costing anything. Initially they told us another facility would be provided, but it turns out that they were thinking the private sector could replace it. The fact of the matter is that Honiton is being put up for sale and its assets are being razed in order for the district council to move to the outskirts of Exeter”.
MP Neil Parish gets controversial Gittisham decision “called in”
Good to see Honiton and Tiverton MP Neil Parish giving the same support to Gittisham that he gave to Feniton but also raises some questions:
… “Neil Parish MP wrote to the Minister on behalf of Gittisham Parish Council and the local residents on the 10th June to ask that the Department for Communities and Local Government review how the decision was made to grant planning permission and whether the correct procedures were carried out.”
Given the worryingly strange behaviour of the Development Management Committee in Newton Poppleford recently one wonders if a review should be much wider and more far-reaching. And definitely one for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
http://www.neilparish.co.uk/news/neil-parish-mp-calls-minister-gittisham-development
Development at Gittisham: some strange goings-on
Developers want to build more than 300 houses on the outskirts of Honiton along the country lanes between Honiton and Gittisham. This planning application has gone like a ping-pong ball at DMC meetings.
See here for a summary of the latest omnishambles:
https://susiebond.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/decision-deferred-on-land-west-of-hayne-lane-gittisham/
So many, many questions!
Why was the warning of Councillor Claire Wright (which predicted exactly these problems in November 2013) not heeded? Surely not because she does not belong to the majority party because, of course, as we all know, planning is not a party issue:
Why was this originally recommended for approval when even the Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government has said it is so controversial it will need to go to him for determination?
Why, given that so many of our councillors have “two hats” and serve on local AONBs (and boast about it) did they not object earlier?
Why did officers not take into account the effect of this development on health service education and local infrastructure?
The Chief Executive NOW says:
“Further consideration and discussion needs to take place. As a result I would like to recommend that Members defer this application to enable this further work to be carried out. The matter to then be reported back to the committee at a future date when all of the necessary information and professional advice can be made available to Members in the officer’s report so that a fully informed decision can be made.”
so what has changed since this development was recommended for approval?
Who ARE Welbeck Strategic Land LLP – they seem to have appeared all over the country with their reductive compass and square logo, shoving in similar speculative applications just about everywhere? Why is its original planning application form so devoid of information (no information about the types of houses, parking, no waste storage or collection information, etc.? If people can put a planning application in with so little information how can a DMC make a decision about it?
A30/A303 road widening: consultation in Honiton, 9 July 2-7 pm
A SERIES of exhibitions on improving the A303 is being staged during July by Devon County Council.
They are part of a study into improving the A30/A303 between Honiton and Broadway. The drop-in sessions will set out the progress of the study so far and next steps to improve one of the main arterial routes into the far South West.
The first event takes place on Wednesday, July 9, from 2pm to 7pm at The Beehive in Honiton.
The study is part of a wider campaign, led by Somerset, Devon, Wiltshire and Dorset Councils, as well as the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, to lobby and put the case to Government to improve the entire A303/A358/A30 road corridor between Honiton, Taunton and Taunton
East Devon Business Centre: correction – it’s a £1 m building being demolished, not £850,000!
The building costs (£850,000) did not include VAT so add another £150,000 plus (assuming most work done at 17.5% and not the current 20%)
So it isn’t £850,000 – it’s a £1 million olus building that’s being demolished.
Now, bearing in mind how small it is – can you see the Skypark HQ being built for a TOTAL cost of £4m including land costs and planning costs?
£850,000-plus East Devon Business Centre to be demolished to make way for supermarket in Honiton
Where will Economic Development Manager and former Hon Sec of the East Devon Business Forum be decanted to one wonders?
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/value_of_it_contracts_placed_wit#incoming-532767
If Honiton Town Council is deemed a financial high risk for Beehive what will Skypark do to EDDC?
“The Council had minimal free reserves at the start of the project and therefore should have risk assessed the implications of a cost overrun on the project and ensured that sufficient resources could be put in place so as not to jeopardise existing Council services in that event.“
EDDC finally bites the bullet on the Thelma Hulbert Gallery – or does it?
Thank you an eagle eyed reader for pointing out that the Cabinet Agenda for 4 June 2014 also seals the fate of the constantly loss-making Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton.
On page 92 of the 93 pages of the agenda and under the part where discussion is in private it recommends:
That Cabinet agree in principle to a transfer of the Thelma Hulbert Gallery to the LED Leisure Trust, and that the transfer takes place
subject to
(i) successful grant applications which mean the Gallery can still function with a reduced financial support package from the Council.
(ii) satisfactory detailed transfer arrangements being agreed between the Council and LED, with delegated authority being given
to the Chief Executive, in conjunction with the relevant portfolio holder to approve them, and subject to further legal, financial and
valuation advice as required.
Questions to be asked:
Why is EDDC still subsidising this little-used facility? Perhaps its collection could be moved to the new Beehive Community Centre (which EDDC has so generously funded). Or perhaps to Skypark!
LED is itself subsidised by EDDC so surely this is simply removing the subsidy to a less transparent area (though we have not been allowed to see the operating figures for this gallery on which EDDC decisions have been made).
What exactly does LED have in mind?
What will be the basis of the Trust? Will EDDC still be underwriting its losses?
If LED cannot make a go of it, what happens to it then? Who “owns” it in those circumstances?
The people of Honiton might well wish to ask a few questions.
The report ends with this sentence “The Gallery helps achieve the priorities under Enjoying this Outstanding Place in the Council Plan as well as supporting the economic objectives of the Council”
Oh that the council REALLY understood what “Enjoying this outstanding place” REALLY means!
And more from this packed-full agenda! A reference to the East Devon Business Forum!
Agenda HERE
Extract:
Business Space Review – As part of the redevelopment of the Council’s Heathpark site, the East Devon Business Centre will be vacated. In preparation for this, Cabinet agreed in April to review.
Its approach to the provision of business space and support across the district.
EDDC currently provides business units across the district comprising office and workshop space in a variety of locations. The question of succession to EDBC [they mean EDBF, of course] has given us the opportunity to look again at how we can help meet the needs of business into the future in a world of enterprise and entrepreneurism very different to that when the Heathpark Business Centre first opened its doors.
Lead members for business and officers have carried out a tender exercise and interviewed four different consultancies. The chosen company, Carter Jonas, will begin their work shortly, gathering evidence over the next few months and report back their findings and recommendations by September 2014 at the latest.
And here’s some news about Heathpark and the supermarket!
From the same Council agenda of 4 June 2014:
Heathpark Supermarket Development – Feb 2014 Cabinet and Council reports agreed the selection of Terrace Hill as preferred developer for EDDC’s former SITA depot site on Honiton Heathpark and authorised officers to enter into a conditional contract with Terrace Hill.
Officers have been in further negotiation with the developer involving the Project manager and Council Legal team. Following agreement of Heads of Terms, we are now agreeing t contract terms. This will enable the developer to begin the process of preparing their planning application for a supermarket development. We anticipate that an application will be made later this calendar year.
Funny that we seem to get lots of press releases about puff jobs for the council but very little about hard facts stuff like this.
Launch of photo competition for new book on East Devon
The sheer variety and volume of writing inspired by our local area is behind the idea for a new book, Literature and Landscape in East Devon, to be published later this year.
As announced at last Friday’s hugely entertaining East Devon Writing event, original, relevant, high quality photographs are now being sought for inclusion in the book. Please see PHOTO COMPETITION on the EDA Home page, for precise information.
For a flavour of the forthcoming book, see the following list compiled by Mike Temple of Sidmouth (N.B. only some examples from the list will be included!) the-literature-of-east-devon-by-location . Another ‘taster’ is Robert Crick’s sharply humorous view on the Napoli shipwreck, Cargoes
East Devon Literature: from Exmouth to Axmouth
Although not an East Devon Alliance event, many members attended Michael Temple’s fascinating evening on the literature of our district last Friday in Ottery St Mary.
Many great writers have been inspired by our area: Coleridge, Conan Doyle, Defoe, Tennyson, C Day Lewis, Wells, Raleigh and Patricia Beer. In an hour and a half of readings, we heard from all of them, and from living local authors too.
Beautifully narrated by Michael, this ninety minute feast reminded us that our part of the world – from Exmouth to Axmouth – has as distinct an identity and a place in literature as any other part of the country.
Thanks were given to all who helped, including local libraries, bookshops and newspapers. Prizes were generously funded by the Sidmouth/ Ottery Herald. The prizewinners were warmly applauded. They were Philip Smith, for Beer Beach in January: ; and budding author Libby Dean (aged 12), for A Scene from Sidmouth Folk Festival .
(Please note that contrary to an earlier report,Harry Guest did not win a prize in the writing competition – his excellent poem, the Boyhood of Raleigh,pointing to things today which would be unfamiliar to a child of that time, was published back in 1997).
Organiser Michael Temple has added: “I should like to warmly thanks all the readers and living authors who read the extracts and poems so well. (I was the link-man.)”
Gittisham tries to work out what they can do to avoid the disaster of 300 extra houses
https://susiebond.wordpress.com/
Once again local communities are left to fund their own objections to unsustainable developments passed by EDDC – as happened with the Seaton/Colyton green wedge and Feniton where local people raised funds and overturned the decisions.
East Devon Watch 