Category Archives: Misc
Save our Sidmouth to fight on
Lobbying Bill: the stifling of all political dissent begins – criticise the Government at your peril
The Lobbying Bill has done nothing to stop the lobbying of Parliament by big business nor has it stopped large donations to parties in power. What it is doing is stopping charities and the like from campaigning during the period prior to the general election:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27783331
Too little, too late or too much too late?
Police Commissioner employs consultants to find savings
Er, anyone see a problem there?
Pickles says no to large solar farms: waste of arable land
Does he mean arable land or development land for houses? Time will tell:
Updates on national planning regulations
There have been some disturbing tweaks, but there is news of some funding for community building projects, and a petition is in progress. Details in this extract from an e-mail from a group belonging to Community Voice on Planning (CoVoP) , of which EDA is also a member (see LINKS).
‘…the Government has now decided to remove the zero carbon targets for housing projects below 50 houses. Although the intent is to make things easier for small building companies, there is nothing to prevent larger building companies putting in applications in tranches to benefit from the legislation.
The Government has also amended its regulations to allow developers to renege on requirements for affordable housing on the grounds of financial viability. We are concerned that this will mean no affordable housing. The link to the relevant article is contained below:
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/05/developers-able-demolish-affordable-housing-provision
On the 4th June 2014 three funding programmes, worth around £3 million, to support the development of new Community Land Trusts (CLTs) was launched in a House of Commons reception, see the link below:
http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/development/boost-for-community-building-projects-across-england-and-wales/7004001.article
A new petition for amendment to the NPPF can be accessed via http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/59376. We urge you to sign this, please.
We would like to thank all those who responded to the review of the NPPF called for by the Committee for Communities and Local Government. Many of the concerns that we have been expressing for so long were echoed by organisations such as CPRE, the National Trust, Royal Society for Town and Country Planners and so on.
Regards
Jenny Unsworth
Vice Chairman
Protect Congleton – Civic Society http://protectcongleton.co.uk/
Campaign at Woodbury Salterton
EDA’s Paul Arnott and John Withrington (Chairman and Vice-Chairman, EDA) were guest speakers at the Woodbury Salterton Residents Association meeting on Tuesday 3rd June. John was talking about Fight for Feniton and Paul about the Green Wedge campaign in Colyford/Seaton.
The village hall was packed with well-informed and motivated local people of all ages, and the association already has an impressive organisation and knowledge base. Its agenda and minutes are published on Its relatively new website which can be found at http://woodburysalterton.weebly.com/
Although the meeting was party-political neutral, news of Claire Wright’s candidacy for Parliament announced earlier in the day was met with some interest in the home village of the incumbent MP.
Coalescence between Exeter and East Devon continues apace
Too close to the M5? Not a problem! (Just don’t open your windows or sit in the garden perhaps? Bet the “affordables” – if they ever happen – are closest!).
Coalescence between West Dorset and East Devon continues (see Uplyme link) but, oddly, no coalescence between the Blackdown Hills and South Somerset.
Green Party gets a South West seat
2 UKIP, 2 Tory, 1 Labour, 1 Green
East Devon votes in Euro election – UKIP gets more votes than Tories; Greens get more votes than Lib Dems or Labour
East Devon results:
UKIP – 14475
Tories – 13647
Green – 4975
Labour – 3623
Lib Dems – 3085
“Town hall sexism turns women off local politics”
Story in today’s Sunday Times that the best way to get more women into local politics would be to set up a body that would examine reports of misconduct in local government.
The report says “sexism and sexual harrassment, which is being increasingly scrutinised in Westminster, is equally prevalent in the corridors of our local town halls” and goes on to say that some female councillors end up resigning because of sexist or inflexible behaviours that are hard to combine with family life.
It suggests that any aspiring female politicians, for whom local government could be a stepping stone to Westminster, are turned away by sexism. In England 32% of councillors and 12.3% of council leaders are women.
The society’s head of policy says, “Sexism in local government is both a cause and effect of the lack of women councillors. We have found numerous examples of male councillors making sexist, offensive and derogatory remarks”.
Lucky for us then that councillors such as Eileen Wragg, Claire Wright and Susie Bond continue to do their sterling work.
But how long before the situation changes?
EDA AGM – Chairman’s Report 2014
EDA AGM – Chairman’s Report:
The East Devon Alliance held its Annual General Meeting in Colyford on Friday 16th May. The evening was opened by retiring chairman Ian McKintosh with an overview of the EDA’s activities in the last year. These have ranged from support for major planning appeals in the district to contributing verbally and in writing to key planning enquiries, both locally and nationally. Ian also reported on the ‘progress’ of the investigation into ex-Cllr Graham Brown.
Election of Officers for 2014/15 then took place. Committee member
Paul Arnott was elected to be Chairman.
John Withrington was elected to stay on as Vice Chairman.
Nicky King also stays on as Secretary.
Sheila Smith was elected as new Treasurer.
The new chairman thanked Ian McKintosh for his energetic and astute leadership in the foundation of the East Devon Alliance, and also thanked retiring Treasurer Ron Roberts for putting sound financial structures in place for the EDA to build on. The meeting was pleased to note that both will continue to work with the EDA.
In his opening comments, the chairman outlined the many problems in East Devon in the current planning context. It is widely understood now that democratic practices by the governing entity are gravely insufficient to meet the current crisis created by EDDC’s failure to satisfy the Inspector with its proposed Local Plan, a failure made more acute by the government’s National Planning Policy Framework.
However, he emphasised that in the coming period when a planning free-for-all might be feared, examples represented in the room from Feniton, Talaton and Colyford/Seaton showed that major applications could still be defeated on “sustainability” grounds.
The discussion was opened to the floor, and largely centred on a forthcoming application in the Uplyme parish, where an overspill development is mooted in the AONB near Rousdon. Those potentially worst affected live a few yards into West Dorset, where they worry that Lyme councillors and West Dorset councillors are all in favour. Their plight is worsened by findings in the recent Inspector’s response to EDDC’s Local Plan, where he criticised the failure of EDDC to work with West Dorset to identify and meet housing need. No sooner was this finding made, than this new proposed plan arose. It was felt that Uplyme Parish Council will need to help defend their area, as will EDDC Councillor Ian Thomas and MPs Oliver Letwin and Neil Parish, who may be mindful of this being an election year .It was generally considered that all EDA members and those attending benefitted from this exchange of views and experiences.
Concerns were also raised from the floor about the disproportionate number of complaints being processed by EDDC against Independent councillors at every level, while complaints against those connected to the ruling party seem rarely to be green lit for further investigation. A discussion was had on Thursday’s pushing through at the EDDC Overview and Scrutiny Committee of proposed speaking restrictions at EDDC Development Management Committee meetings, and on the new plans to restrict councillors’ freedom to table motions.
It was considered that there are two key actions for the way ahead. The first is to tackle unwelcome overdevelopment applications as they arise, and support each other across the district in a context where councillors may not always be relied upon to act in the public interest rather than in those of their own allies. The second is that for real, sustainable changes to be effected at EDDC, many Independent council candidates will need to come forward in May 2015.
Thanks are due to our hosts at Colyford Memorial Hall for an excellent facility, and apologies that we seem to have completely run down their wireless microphone batteries after two hours of enthusiastic debate.
EDA has new Chairman
At EDA’s well-attended AGM last night, some new officers were elected to posts.
Our new Chairman is Paul Arnott of Colyton, Vice-Chairman remains John Witherington of Feniton
More to follow.
So, how is South Somerset’s Local Plan getting along?
South Somerset is Lib Dem controlled but shares the same Chief Executive with East Devon District Council:
….; “Cllr Nick Colbert raised fears that the council had “not properly listened” to the inspector’s demands.
He said: “We can’t just say the inspector doesn’t know what he’s talking about, and I’ve got serious worries that this whole plan is going to go down.”
http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Government-held-gun-heads-Local-Plan-south/story-20819075-detail/story.html
And just where will EDDC find land for self-build?
Under the Community Right to Build, people with a local connection to an area can reqiure a council to identify suitable plots (public or private owned) and the council will have to provide the necessary services such as water, etc. The warning is that self-builders can still be outbid for identified plots by developers.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster … council finds plot, tells self-builder about it, developer snaps it up.
Villages under siege due to NPPF says Daily Telegraph
And guess which councils head the list for large planning applications
Using the map, take a look at East Devon and South Somerset compared to surrounding areas.
Now, what do East Devon and South Somerset have in common? That’s right, they share a Chief Executive and do not have agreed Local Plans – though one is Lib Dem controlled (South Somerset) and one is Tory controlled (East Devon) and each blames the opposition and NIMBYs for the messes they are in!
East Devon Alliance’s Submission to the Communities and Local Government Inquiry into the Operation of the National Planning Policy Framework
East Devon Alliance’s Submission to the Communities and Local Government Inquiry into the Operation of the National Planning Policy Framework
A. Executive Summary
The East Devon Alliance, its aims and its concerns about the application of the NPPF in the district.
Members’ views on the Cambridge report.
The actions we believe Parliament should take to redress the bias and the damaging effects of the current NPPF.
B. East Devon Alliance
1. The East Devon Alliance is a voluntary, non-party-political, not-for-profit organisation, bringing together communities from across the district of East Devon. Its purpose is to conserve, for future generations, our priceless environmental assets. At the same time it supports appropriate development for housing and employment, especially for local people, so that East Devon remains a flourishing and vibrant place.
We are deeply concerned at the excessive growth projections threatening our towns, villages, countryside, heritage and tourist industry. Many green spaces – Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, “green wedges”, high-grade agricultural land, public parkland, and allotments – are being turned into housing estates that are out of character and scale with the surrounding location. Speculative building on green spaces is not delivering low-cost homes for local people. All too oftensuch building is not accompanied by the infrastructure necessary to produce the vibrant, sustainable environments called for by the NPPF.
The failure of East Devon District Council to set a Local Plan and to meet a 5 or 6-year land supply is a case in point. The NPPF’s presumption in favour of ill-defined “sustainable development” has inevitably tipped the balance in favour of developers, keen to build on open – and cheap – local countryside, causing widespread anger across local communities, and amongst Council-Tax payers whose voice has generally been ignored: material objections are being overridden in favour of housing numbers that have been described by many as “fanciful”.
Deficiencies and a perceived lack of transparency by East Devon District Council has led to a situation where many believe inappropriate development to be an inevitable consequence. These faults – and the influence upon the Local Plan by a former developer Councillor, who had direct influence on the genesis of the draft Local Plan, and was exposed seemingly as a “Councillor-for-hire” by the Daily Telegraph”(March 11, 2013) – has contributed to a suspicion on the part of the public that planning in the district is “developer-led”. In such an environment, the pro-development stance of the NPPF affords the public no comfort.
In light of this, planning officers have recommended, and in almost all cases councillors have approved, massive housing applications across the west of the district in ribbon, green-wedge and green-belt developments on top-grade agricultural land of special landscape value and on flood plains. Elsewhere, across the whole district, numerous housing estates on Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty have been recommended by officers and approved by Council. Officers’ reasons for recommendation have routinely been the lack of a 5 or 6 year housing supply in the context of No Local Plan. As a result, we fear that the baleful influence of the NPPF will continue to encourage further destruction of the East Devon countryside.
The Localism Bill of 2011 has clearly not worked in East Devon, having failed to “give members of the public enough influence over decisions that make a big difference to their lives”. What happened to the promise that “local communities should have genuine opportunities to influence the future of the places where they live”(Localism Bill 2011)?
C. Comments on the Cambridge Report
1. Our members felt the Cambridge Report was biased towards planners and developers, with little or no account taken of the views of local communities and tax-payers who are not regarded as stakeholders. Localism is not working and Government Policy is dictating to Local Government.
2.The report is based on a presumption in favour of building and encourages Chief Executives, planning officers and elected members to be “pro-development” and therefore disregard material considerations such as the preservation of the green environment. The green environment includes flood plains, AONBs, high-grade agricultural land – and objections on these grounds are seen by the report merely as a “source of delay”.
3. Since, like many other umbrella organisations, we represent the views of and are concerned about the whole district and its future, we should not be labelled nimbys. We are in favour of appropriate development especially of genuinely affordable, low-cost housing and wish expenditure on infrastructure to be prioritised in favour of building on brownfield and windfall sites. We also maintain that the countryside has a value that is not properly recognised in the NPPF.
D. What we want the Government to do
recognise that the NPPF is flawed, biased in favour of developers and causing widespread resentment among local communities
recognise that the term “sustainable development” is highly ambiguous and can and has been used to support inappropriatedevelopment. Much greater weight should be given to the conservation of our heritage, ecology, carbon footprint and transport.
give much stronger protection to green areas of special value to local areas
give priority to developments on brownfield sites, offering incentives and bringing in legislation to enforce this
allow planning permissions for developments to be counted as part of the 5-year supply
recognise that housing numbers are “guesstimates”, not proven fact
recognise that in many areas localism is not working, local communities being denied a voice
recognise that the right-to-buy scheme and NPPF’s encouragement of building-for-building’s sake are contributing to a housing bubble
