Noon – 7.30 p.m.
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/see_how_knowle_plans_have_evolved_at_exhibition_1_4388404
Maybe ask how they plan to have 100+ units on a site that is now in the Local Plan for 50?
Category Archives: PegasusLife
Owl’s alternative Christmas message
New improved ways of working will make us a leaner and more efficient modern council says the Leader of East Devon District Council, Councillor Paul Diviani in his Christmas message
(translation: we know we have always been a bloated and inefficient council but this is the sort of thing our public relations people tell us we have to say)
“A friend of mine recently told me that when she first moved to East Devon to take up a new job, she thought she had died and gone to heaven. Even now, having lived here for 12 years, she says she still wakes up every morning thinking how unbelievably lucky she is to live and work in such a wonderful place.
There is almost NO doubt that this “friend” will be living in the Blackdown Hills where our Leader protects his backyard like no other).
“East Devon inspires this level of passion in people and no more so than in myself, my fellow councillors and the officers of East Devon District Council. We are all passionate about the work that we do and, above all, we want to ensure that East Devon remains a fantastic place for people like us to live in, work, visit and enjoy.
Why wouldn’t you say you are passionate when “people like you” get a lot of money so that you can live, work and enjoy your status whilst people like “us” get a lot less so that we can find our daily commute a nightmare, our work seasonal and low-paid and our enjoyment of council provided services something we remember from the distant past.
“So over the next four years we will be rising to meet the many challenges that reduced funding and increased demands on our services brings. In order to make necessary savings of £2.6m, we will be using new ways of working, involving systems thinking principles and our ‘WorkSmart‘ approach, which together harness the latest technology and modern working practices. Our move from Knowle to new accommodation in Honiton and Exmouth is part of this plan and will help us become a modern day council in every sense of the word.
Over the next four years we are going to have to do the darnedest to make you think that things are getting better whilst we slash services, increase costs for those that are left and hope like hell that we can keep the REAL cost of the move from Knowle under wraps. And presumably, “we” didn’t WorkSmart before but we will gloss over that.
“All of this will make us leaner, more efficient and better placed to deliver the kind of service that we know you, the residents of East Devon want. We are keen to keep improving and to help us do so, we will be listening to what you have to say in consultations and through our viewpoint surveys.
WE may be getting leaner, but our fat cats (particularly our developers) will be getting fatter and fatter. We’ve covered “more efficient and better” above – the repetition is getting a bit tedious now!
“Great services and great service, first time and every time is the standard that we have set for ourselves. To do that we need to be bold, creative, open and innovative, but above all we must pull together as one council. These are values that set us apart and make the council a place where people want to work – in fact, over 93% of our staff said they would recommend the council as a place to work!
Well, yes, you will get great service and great services if you are a developer. But, frankly, for the rest of us, if you turn out to be timid, hidebound, closed and backwards we will never hear about it from you. And they are NOT “great values that set you apart” – it is how ALL councils are supposed to be! And can we see that survey of the staff please – in its entirety as, so often, your so-called surveys leave a lot to be desired in terms of design.
Focus on four priorities
“To help us deliver these aspirations, we have developed our new council plan, which provides a constant focus on four main priorities:
(ALL councils focus on four or more priorities – this seems to be a public relations rule – but hope that everyone forgets what they were before a local election. East Devon Watch will NOT forget on your behalf.
“We will be encouraging our communities to be outstanding, by helping them to solve their local problems. We also want to encourage people to live healthier, more active lifestyles through sport and exercise and to make the most of the wonderful countryside that surrounds us.
Don’t come to us when you want money or help – do it yourself – and when it all gets too much take a LONG walk in what countryside remains after we have concreted over most of it.
“We will continue to promote East Devon as an outstanding place in which to do business and we will strengthen the local economy by attracting inward investment and supporting businesses.
Developers – we are still your bestest friend. Businesses that we approve of – we are the council that gave you the East Devon Business Forum and its leader Graham Brown and now give you (or rather they give to you via us) the Local Enterprise Partnership. Businesses that we don’t approve of – fend for yourselves.
“It is so important that our natural and built environment is protected and we will be working to reduce levels of waste produced in the district, as well as controlling levels of pollution through education and enforcement of environmental legislation.
Have to say, this one almost renders Owl speechless (or rather hootless) – they are going to reduce pollution by educating US! And “enforcement of environmental legislation” – remember that this government is attempting to water down environmental legislation to almost homeopathic levels and our council is slavishly behind this government in every respect.
“We will be prioritising a culture of openness and transparency by keeping our residents fully informed and we are fully committed to innovative ways of working and commercial thinking, including an improved digital service to give our customers the chance to self serve.
Ah, the culture of openness and transparency where, unless you own a computer, you will be cut off from the majority of council services. The same culture that keeps so many committees and think tanks secret behind closed doors. The culture that allows the majority party to have talks about privatising our services out to the Local Enterprise Partnership and wants to delegate the decision-making and agreement signing to the CEO and Leader without ANY councillor knowing what exactly either or both may be signing. Hmmm.
Pride in our achievements
“But as we draw near to the end of the year, it is only right that I mention with great pride, a few of the many significant achievements that this council has made during 2014/2015.
Quick, someone, gloss over all our omnishambles – look for something, anything that we can boast about!
“Top of the list of our accomplishments is housing. We have delivered a grand total of 388 homes for local people, which is our highest number of new affordable local homes in one year. It is our continuing aim to provide more good quality, local homes for local people.
Those would be the good quality homes that, in Cranbrook, the town with almost no shops. Homes which, if you get your way, will now be built on much-needed car parks! And what about all those affordable homes that developers refused to build and you allowed them to strike out (for example, Seaton Tesco land, where Tesco and the developer were “too poor” to provide any affordable homes). And let’s see how many Pegasuslife can provide at the Knowle!!!
“Homelessness in East Devon is extremely low thanks to our homeless prevention initiatives and we are working hard through our Empty Homes Plan to help owners of neglected empty properties in East Devon to bring their properties back into residential use, which will relieve pressure on the private and public housing sectors.
Homelessness in East Devon is characterised by two homeless people dying in the street in Sidmouth very recently and food banks in all major towns. And just how many “owners of neglected property” will you be working with and how?
“Finally, it gives me enormous pleasure to say that the finalisation of our Local Plan is now within sight and we are anticipating being able to adopt it early next year. This detailed and robust document will help us deliver the aspirations and housing needs of local people, as well as land for employment. It will also help protect our beautiful countryside from unwanted and inappropriate development.
Ah, finally – the Local Plan. The plan that was orchestrated for years by ex-Councillor Graham Brown (he of the front page of the Daily Telegraph sting and where originally all meetings were held in secret and with no minutes until Claire Wright forced publication) and the East Devon Business Forum. Which then had to be started all over again from scratch, was thrown out by the planning inspector once, thrown out again a second time and which the said planning inspector has now decided to complete himself! The one that left the whole district open to a development free-for-all. Omnishambles Number One for the past 5-7 years. Best keep this one for last and hope no-one notices.
“Exciting times lie ahead for us and we are looking forward to working with you all to achieve the greater good for East Devon.
You bet exciting times lie ahead, but not perhaps, exciting happy times. More and more development, not a hint of where the money for the accompanying infrastructure will come from, a vastly increased Cranbrook, small villages being forced to take extra development as their built-up boundaries are being dismantled, developers continuing to build high cost homes in high cost areas
“May I now wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.”
Enjoy it while you can – it can only get worse but, don’t worry, I will be at the helm ….. with my trusty cabinet …. and officers …. and the Blackdown Hills will be just fine!
Councillor Paul Diviani
Summary: “Just give me 500 Christmassy words of milksop basic council jargon will you please, officers and then I will leave you alone till this time next year. And, whatever you do, DO NOT MENTION EXMOUTH SPLASH!
Pegasuslife: some interesting planning application comments
Wilmslow, on former council office land:
Too large, too high, no affordables:
http://www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/11500/decision-on-plan-for-retirement-apartments-put-back
Harpenden:
” … stumbling blocks for councillors included its height – a maximum 20.7m high in the six storey part of the complex – and the lack of privacy for neighbouring occupants.
Councillors were told that a planning policy required a separating distance of 27m between facing upper floor windows, but the nearest facing ones were 19.3m apart.
Also, the scheme’s footprint was 28 per cent greater than existing buildings.
Harpenden resident David Newton told the committee the six-storey high block would be ‘visually intrusive’ and set a dangerous precedent if approved.
Cllr Maxine Crawley said: “What’s there is obviously not nice and needs to be replaced, we all know that.”
She was concerned residents’ parking would spill onto neighbouring roads, as the scheme allowed for 25 parking spaces for 38 units.”
Bristol Civic Society:
The Society regrets that it cannot support the third proposed [Pegasuslife] scheme. The height and mass of three new linked replacement blocks would exceed the height and mass of the buildings proposed in both the earlier schemes. The replacement blocks would increase development, present a large building mass, and stand out strikingly to dominate the townscape. The planning question is the impact of the new buildings on designated heritage assets. The townscape and landscape of Brandon Hill is unique; planning policy recognises them to be heritage assets of high significance. The existing building makes a positive contribution to the landscape.
The Society would strongly support redevelopment within the main hospital building, which could provide a substantial number of mixed sized of apartments within a building of character. Such an attractive development in this highly desirable location would be highly marketable.
Update
In response to a pre-planning application enquiry, Council Officers have advised Pegasus Homes that they are unable to be support the current scheme due to its excessive bulk and massing. Officers do not consider that the scheme relates adequately to the site’s surrounding context. Officers would welcome a scheme that recognises their criticism.”
http://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/current-issues/142-nuffield-hospital.html
Pegasuslife smashes statue it promised to save in Hampstead
“A HALLOWED sculpture of a pregnant Virgin Mary is feared smashed to smithereens despite assurances it would be spared from demolition.
Developer PegasusLife said in a statement to the New Journal in June that the “Mary Mother of the Church” sculpture would be preserved at the former Catholic-run Bartrams hostel in Rowland Hill Street, near the Royal Free Hospital.
The South End Green Association (SEGA) had made a formal application to the company for it to be transported to a countryside home. But on Friday, the 20ft white statue could be seen lying face-down in a pile of bricks and mortar. …”
Plans for Pegasus retirement tower blocks fall through in Sutton Coldfield because PegasusLife is “too busy”
PLANS to build tower block retirement homes on a prime piece of Sutton Coldfield land have fallen through.
Developers PegasusLife confirmed it has put a strip of land in Brassington Avenue and the railway line up for sale as it would not be able to start building work ‘for a number of years’.
Planning permission had been granted for five ‘rotated’ tower blocks with 240 retirement apartments in October last year and would have included a private cinema, indoor swimming pool, fully-equipped gym, a restaurant and café.
But no building works had taken place on the site and a for sale sign was erected this month.
Peter Askey, operations manager at Pegasus Life said: “Unfortunately due to the enormous demand that we have throughout the UK to develop over 37 sites we would not have been able to commence activities in Sutton Coldfield for a number of years and we therefore took the decision, through Savills, to put the site on the market to give other developers the opportunity to take this site forward.”
The Winchester-based firm had purchased 12 sites around the country and with asset manager Oaktree Capital Management had pledged to invest £500 million into the schemes.
But the proposed development has once again stalled just like the proposed £12 million scheme by City Lofts which in 2005 had planning permission for ‘Park Point’, with 295 apartments, a restaurant, three shops, two bars, a health and fitness club and multi-deck car park.
City Lofts went into administration in mid-2008 at the start of the ‘credit crunch’ and property insolvency specialist Allsop had been looking to sell the land to a supermarket chain, with outline planning permission granted by Birmingham City Council in 2012. However there were no takers and PegasusLife bought the land in 2013.
Sutton Trinity councillor David Pears said: “It sounds to me like they haven’t drummed up enough interest in it and people willing to put up the money.
“It’s good news potentially that we are not going to get five high rise apartment blocks on the site.
“But it’s bad news with further uncertainty on what is going to happen with that site. It gives us an opportunity to influence what goes on there and keep it in character with the town centre.
“Perhaps in the meantime the land could be used for parking before Christmas.”
Fellow Sutton Trinity councillor Ewan Mackey described the situation as ‘sad news’. He said: “I was pleased in one sense that something was being done with that land and would bring some money into the town and change that bit of an eyesore. It looks pretty bleak there now and nobody really uses that corner of Sutton.
“But it’s a good opportunity for someone to come in and put for some better plans that are aesthetically pleasing.”
Pegasus Sidmouth: Milton Keynes without the roundabouts
Pegasus Life, the company buying the Knowle from EDDC, has just held a glossy public exhibition in Sidmouth to unveil their plans to build 126 retirement apartments on the site of the council offices, car parks and part of the gardens (presumably the other large block to the right of the first picture is built on the current car park?):
The relocation of the council HQ is highly controversial as it will cost the town four hundred jobs which the Council proposes to compensate for by building a business park in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Sidford.
The gardens and parkland around the council offices are one of jewels in Sidmouth’s crown. Pegasus Life claim to have “looked at the local buildings, landscape and ecology when taking inspiration for our design”, but many visitors were unimpressed. One commented that “Milton Keynes is coming to Sidmouth!”
In the current design most of the planned apartments will be in five big brutalist blocks on the plateau which dominates the southern part of the public gardens. They encroach onto the upper lawns and, four stories high with flat roofs topped with lift machinery, they will loom over the gardens.
Some East Devon watchers will remember that that these lawns were surreptitiously removed from the public gardens in 2012 by officers and slipped into the area to be sold to developers. None of Sidmouth’s Tory councillors seemed to noticed this sleight of hand at the time which could help to explain why most of them are no longer there.
How to make a bad housing situation worse
According to today’s Sunday Times Homes supplement, East Devon is in the top five areas to have recovered after the last credit crunch, after South Norfolk, Tonbridge and Malling, Stroud and East Hampshire.
This is put down to East Devon being “an affluent rural location where buyers are a little older and have built up plenty of equity. They are probably not mortgage dependent so are not constrained by tighter lending rules – which means that they can move more easily”.
And what does EDDC do: it flogs the Knowle site to a luxury retirement home builder to make a bad situation worse and thinks it can solve this crisis by building five “affordable” homes on a town centre car park.
Pegasus and EDDC jumping the gun at Knowle? Or just a Hallow’een prank!
This headline is currently the banner headline of East Devon District Council:
“Please be aware that contractors will be carrying out ground investigation on the car parks and grounds of the Knowle on Friday 30/Saturday 31 October and Friday 6/Saturday 7 November. This will involve works including drilling and some resultant noise. Works time will be restricted to between the hours of 9am and 5pm. If you need to speak to someone about these works then please contact Emma Webster at Pegasus Life Ltd – ewebster@pegasuslife.co.uk or call 07776 444341. Thank you for your understanding and patience.”
Will they be drilling the public parkland? And on Saturdays. No planning permission needed one presumes.
Transparency my ….
Interesting exchange of emails regarding the contract for Knowle between EDDC and Pegasus:
You can see why the Conservatives want to water down the Freedom of Information Act.
Developer reveals Knowle luxury retirement homes plan
Despite assuring people that this would not be a gated community, the statements made were somewhat vague (except, of course, there will be no affordable housing):
Number of homes: undecided
“Most” people expected to be local
Facilities “could be” open to the public
Hmmm …
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/developer_reveals_hopes_for_knowle_1_4273815
Pegasus homes recently developed in Cornwall start at around £300,000 for a one bed flat and £600,000 for two beds plus service charge.
Remaining Knowle parkland to be sold to Sidmouth Town Council for £1
All well and good talking about restrictive covenants but they were not much use in Exmouth when East Devon District Council bought out restrictive covenants which were owned by Clinton Devon Estates which would have held up developments.
And if some parkland is used for parking as mentioned in the article, what is to stop Pegasus using it as an overflow car park for their luxury retirement complex?
Many questions still to be answered.
http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/covenant_to_protect_future_of_knowle_park_1_4238238
ICO tells Olympic legacy body to disclose details of deal with West Ham
Yet another decision that strengthens the public’s right to see information about deals that are kept secret due to “commercial confidentiality”. This decision makes it clear that, in just about all circumstances, this excuse will not wash. ALL details must be disclosed that do not reveal a particular business model.
Oh, oh Pegasus … looks like your deal might be one of those that has to be published in the public domain …
“The Commissioner noted that the arguments underpinning both the LLDC’s and the football club’s position were that disclosure would reveal elements of a business strategy which could be exploited by competitors.
The Commissioner said he acknowledged that the agreement included specific details of the terms on which West Ham used the Olympic Stadium and the obligations placed on the club based on its performance. He also accepted that at the time of the request contracts relating to some of the services provided by the stadium had still to be negotiated.
However, the Commissioner said the LLDC and West Ham had failed to demonstrate the specific way that the information at issue could be exploited by a competitor and, or how disclosure would place either party at a commercial disadvantage.
“In coming to this view, the Commissioner does not dispute that WHUFC operates in a highly competitive field. Yet, the Commissioner also considers that the terms of the Agreement that have been requested do not drill down to the specific business model adopted by WHUFC,” he said.
Bid to raise Knowle legal challenge letter raising funds
As of this morning, 50% of the £660 needed to begin the process of a possible legal challenge to EDDC’s appropriation of parkland to extend the private grounds of the planned Pegasus Life luxury retirement complex has been raised:
https://www.crowdjustice.co.uk/case/save-knowle-parkland/
This is not only a Sidmouth issue: this same land grab could happen anywhere in East Devon where a greedy developer fancies a slice of public land owned by EDDC.
Pegasus senior officer has colourful (and expensive) local authority past
A perfect fit for East Devon! Perhaps they could also recruit him to build Diviani Towers as the new HQ in Honiton!
Cart before horse and jumping the gun at Knowle with Pegasus Life ?
Mention is made in today’s Midweek Herald that contracts have been exchanged with Pegasus Life for a residential and assisted living complex at Knowle, with a spa and restaurant which will be open to the public.
Isn’t there just the little problem of putting in a planning application and getting it approved first?
Or is this not the way things are done in East Devon?
Their 16 storey high-rise development in Sutton Coldfield wasn’t popular:
http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/business-news/sutton-coldfield-care-village-plans-7872196
Network Rail is VERY unhappy with them in Dawlish and said they could be committing an “act of nuisance”:
http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2015/01/09-dawlish-plan-could-be-act.html
and their demolition of part of a Grade 2 listed mansion in Sevenoaks to provide a car park and kitchens wasn’t well received either:
Knowle sold to Pegasus today
http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/07/15/knowle-sold-today-to-pegasus-life/
Interesting that they would take it on without planning permission (or maybe it is an option to purchase dependent on planning permission ) …. but presumably they assume it will be a straightforward formality which will be rubber-stamped when the time comes.
http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/07/15/knowle-sold-today-to-pegasus-life/
East Devon Watch 