| Flood resilience support given approval |
| Measures designed to help home and business owners protect their properties from future flood events have been approved by the council. Last week, members agreed to give delegated authority to the chief executive to administer the East Devon elements of a scheme that forms part of a nationwide Government initiative prompted by the devastating storms and floods experienced during the past winter.The Government has launched a number of initiatives to assist householders and businesses recover from flooding and make their premises more resilient to future bad weather. Councils have been invited to administer several schemes to: The offers are available to owners of properties actually flooded between 1December 2013 and 31 March 2014 and for work designed to prevent future flooding as opposed to work that should be covered by insurance. Guidance issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government working with Defra means councils can administer the scheme on behalf of the Coalition. EDDC’s local scheme is based on guidance issued in March and is mostly concerned with administration of the Repair and Renew Grant, which councils can award and then claim back from Westminster.
Measures designed to help home and business owners protect their properties from future flood events have been approved by the council. The Government has launched a number of initiatives to assist householders and businesses recover from flooding and make their premises more resilient to future bad weather. Councils have been invited to administer several schemes to: The offers are available to owners of properties actually flooded between 1December 2013 and 31 March 2014 and for work designed to prevent future flooding as opposed to work that should be covered by insurance. Guidance issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government working with Defra means councils can administer the scheme on behalf of the Coalition. EDDC’s local scheme is based on guidance issued in March and is mostly concerned with administration of the Repair and Renew Grant, which councils can award and then claim back from Westminster. |
Category Archives: Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton
One person’s “small” – up too 400 houses for Uplyme
Today there was a reference to a “small” development anticipated at the eastern boundary of East Devon.
Hallam Estate has put in a proposal to build up to 400 properties on green fields in AONB area in Uplyme, adjoining the A3052, near the Park & Ride parking area. This is in East Devon, but it is to allow expansion of Lyme Regis which is in Dorset.
Small? Wonder if Uplyme would agree? We shall see.
Selective amnesia
DMC chair Helen predictably supported the motion to restrict public speaking at planning meetings, at last night’s council meeting.
The public don’t need to say a lot because their interests are stoutly defended by councillors and officers, she argued.
Has she forgotten that the destruction of the Seaton/ Colyford green wedge was supported by officers, and was only prevented by a massive turn-out of residents who argued persuasively – and at length- against concreting it over?
She failed to mention, too, that she herself had not voted against the green wedge proposal, on the grounds that her husband had already objected. See https://eastdevonwatch.org/2014/02/04/green-wedge-success-was-not-down-to-district-council/
Full Council refers debate on public speaking to Overview and Scrutiny Committee
The concerns of demonstrators outside Knowle Council Chamber tonight were also voiced by some Councillors at this evening’s meeting. In a recorded vote (details to follow), the Full Council voted by 26 votes to 22, with one curious abstention, in favour of postponing a decision on a proposed 12-month trial period of what some regard as “restrictive and prescriptive” new rules for public speaking. A proposal by Councillor Claire Wright set in motion a lengthy debate, which led to a majority vote for the matter to be referred for examination to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the first time. (It had so far only been before the Standards Committee).
Some of the issues, which apply to the whole of East Devon, are described in this letter from a Colyford correspondent :right to speak april 14 .
‘Green Wedge success was not down to District Council’
A letter published today in Pullman’s View from Seaton,explains why:
‘It’s often said that journalism is the first draft of history.I’m hoping that your letters page will act as the second draft because I nearly choked on my porridge reading Councillor Helen Parr proclaiming her latest success in a planning matter… “to protect the landscape of East Devon against the wrong kind of development” (Pulman’s View From Colyton, January 28th).
The fact is that, in the months leading up to her planning committee’s decision on the green wedge development application between Colyford and Seaton, both Councillor Parr and her colleague Councillor Godbeer were making worrying noises about how “economic” arguments
might trump the green wedge preservation policy.
The View’s own correspondent wrote an accurate report of a meeting in Colyford, when a hall full of locals realised that they could not rely on their elected representatives to protect this site, and that they would need to go down with placards to the planning meeting. The attention generated by this put the application in the full media spotlight, as it deserved. I spoke at that meeting, and had dug out Councillor Parr and Councillor Godbeer’s manifesto for the last election, in which their number one promise was to protect the green wedge. I copied that promise to all members of the planning committee the weekend before and, together with 10 other technically-excellent speeches from the public, that left the committee no option in front of 100 or so people than to vote against. Councillor Parr, to
everyone’s mystification, and at our hour of need, abstained.
Howard and Anne West, and Robin and Bonte Pocock, then led a brilliant, selfless campaign to ensure our community was independently represented at the developer’s appeal, where it emerged that East Devon planning officers had not commissioned the requisite bat surveys prior to determination. This nearly fatally weakened one of East Devon’s strongest suits, but fortunately the inspector judged that the green wedge factor the campaigners had stressed would win the day.
The question for Councillor Parr is why, when Exeter had its Local Plan discussed four years ago and published two years ago, East Devon failed to do this. This failure of her allies on her watch left East Devon vulnerable to just such proposals for over-development as long as no plan is in place. This threat remains.
The credit for saving one of the most beautiful parts of the Axe Valley does not lie with her or her council, but with a model campaign by local people which, for the record, cost a number of locals rather a lot of money which she will, presumably, not be rebating from our
council tax. And her council’s actual reaction? A campaign to restrict public speaking rights in future!’
PAUL ARNOTT,
Colyton
Developer’s plans for Seaton Heights have stalled.
A second piece of positive news for Seaton, after yesterday’s decision on the Green Wedge, is that plans for a luxury complex have been rejected. Story here:
Inspector dismisses developer’s appeal. Good news for Colyford/Seaton.
The Inspector’s decision, just announced, will be especially well-received by Seaton and Colyford Green Wedge Community Action Group.
Click here for details: GREEN WEDGE…DECISION
The Inquiry had not begun well for East Devon District Council, as noted on this link to the SIN blog: http://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/the-seatoncolyford-green-wedge-appeal-not-a-good-start-for-eddc/
SIN has several archived posts on the background to the appeal.
EDA Area Report – Seaton – October/November 2013
TESCO AFFORDABLES?
Sandra and Paul attended and spoke at the DMC meeting which rubber stamped Tesco’s demand that the amount of affordable housing to be provided on the massive site next to the new superstore would not be 25% (down on the 40% normal at the time of first permission) but a mighty 0%.
The DMC covered their shame with a resolution to demand overage from Tesco, and their councillors spread word of this Pyrrhic victory far and wide. Yet the Decision Notice issued by Ed Freeman to Tesco makes no mention of overage at all. At the time of writing a number of people, including town and parish councillors, have written to him to ask him to clarify. He has not replied.
Meanwhile, some spinning is going on in the local press trying to claim that the less expensive market housing in the plan for the site announced by Tesco/Bovis a fortnight ago will be “affordable”.
FYI – the published proposal which could not afford even 1% Affordable Homes is for 222 new homes (54 x 4 beds, 111 x 3 beds, 18 x 2 flats, 35 x 2 bed houses.) And a Hotel!
GREEN WEDGE
The Harepath Road Green Wedge scheme refusal by EDDC (following a mass attendance by campaigners at the DMC) is being appealed, and an inspector will be holding a hearing in the coming month.
But the developers have muddied the waters by submitting a slightly amended application on the same site which comes before the DMC next Tuesday. And again the Planning Officer has recommended Approval!
Campaigners will be there in force again – still reeling from the fact that last time the only councillor to abstain rather than vote against was their own Helen Parr.
Seaton 2
Sample content
Seaton 1
Sample content
East Devon Watch 