Shaping East Devon’s future……Keith Owen’s inspirational legacy (thanks to the Sid Vale Association’s work!) is bringing much more than just spectacular swathes of Spring flowers. It’s hit the national headlines….and the tourism trigger!
And community spirit has been raised to a new high: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11514052/Millionaires-valley-of-a-million-bulbs-dying-dream-fulfilled.html
Category Archives: Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury
Sidmouth: meet your candidates
From the East Devon Alliance website:
eastdevonalliance.org.uk
(where – as soon as nominations have closed in 9 April – you will find details of all candidates standing under the East Devon Alliance umbrella)
This month the Vision Group for Sidmouth (VGS) is running three “Meet the Candidates” events in the run up to the elections on May 7th.
Dates for your diaries are:
EDDC – Wednesday 15th April
Town Council – Tuesday 21st April
East Devon Parliamentary – Tuesday 28th April.
For the EDDC and Parliamentary elections you will need to forward your questions to
info@visionforsidmouth.org
before the event. More details on the Vision Group for Sidmouth website.
Read more at: http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/news/20150402/vision-group-for-sidmouth-meet-the-candidates-events/
Job opportunity with the Jurassic Coast Trust.
Coincidentally, after EDWatch’s recent post ‘Marketing the Jurassic Coast’, this relevant job advertisement has today been circulated.
31 March 2015
Are you an experienced administrator who can make a big difference to the Jurassic Coast?
The Jurassic Coast Trust funds and inspires education and conservation projects along the 95 miles of World Heritage Coastline. We’re looking for someone to help us make sure we run our projects and activities more efficiently, to keep an eye on the details and to provide support to our growing numbers of volunteers.
From organising events to keeping tabs on the finances, we need a friendly and professional all-rounder with great communication skills who can work as part of our small team and help us do the very best job we can.
The position is part-time (15 hours per week), based in Dorchester, and paying circa £7.50/hour. A full job description can be downloaded from our website.
To apply, please submit a CV and a covering letter, explaining how your skills and experience match the role profile for this job, to Alexandra O’Dwyer at the Trust – a.odwyer@jurassiccoast.org.
The closing date for applications is Friday 10th April 2015.
Yours sincerely
Guy
Guy Kerr
Community Coordinator
Jurassic Coast Trust
g.kerr@jurassiccoast.org
077 6611 2724
From the archives – 2 – Sidford employment land
Here is where our CEO said in July 2013 that you can’t change the Local Plan – and then did just that by adding Knowle redevelopment and then in Februart 2015 allowing 5 new business parks to be listed in the most recent draft Local Plan:
“It would be straightforward to remove the Sidford allocation from the Local Plan: failure to do so would risk the rejection of the whole plan by the Inspector. He seconded Cllr Troman’s motion that it should be deleted.
Chief Executive Mark Williams then advised that this would not be possible legally as it was not a minor amendment.
This provoked an extraordinary attack on Mr Williams by Cllr Allen. His advice was a “biased” view which showed ignorance of the NPPF. He did not have a “grip” on the legal situation, and had not taken account of all the legal considerations.
Tory Whip, Phil Twiss, jumped up to defend the CEO who must be right “because he is a solicitor” and Cllr Allen wasn’t!
Allen, who, in his day job is the Officer Responsible for Regeneration at South Somerset District Council, calmly replied that he had a considerable legal authority on his side – the NPPF.
A rather shell-shocked Council then proceeded to vote on the motion to delete Sidford. It was rejected.”
The Tory majority – immune to argument- went on to approve all the “minor amendments” to the Local Plan which approves the Knowle and Sidford proposals.
Relocation approval rushed through “in indecent haste, at the fag end of an administration” that may soon disappear”
Richard Thurlow’s speech, at the Extra Ordinary Meeting of Full Council last week, explains : https://saveoursidmouth.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/a-huge-number-of-uncertainties-and-unresolved-problems-being-glossed-over-yet-council-has-approved-eddc-office-relocation/
Still questions about the now-defunct Sidford Business Park
Whose idea was it to put it in the Local Plan?
Why?
What, where and with whom is the correspondence that led to the decision?
No massive business park for Sid Valley after all!
District Councillors may be left wondering what happened to “cost neutral?”
Rush, rush, rush! Councillors will have barely had time to read through and fully digest the minutes of the Special Development Management Committee meeting (on Monday 23 March), which have just been sent to them, before they are required to make a ‘final decision’ on relocation at this evening’s 6.30pm meeting.
Will all have opened their e-mails straightaway? And how many will have been able to collect well in time, the paper copy of the minutes available from their pigeon holes from 4pm today?
In a whirlwind week of Extra Ordinary meetings, some Councillors might be hardpressed to sufficiently absorb the latest information on a whole raft of extremely important decisions with long-term consequences. They are being inexplicably and unreasonably squeezed into a decision on the sale of Knowle, AND proposed changes to the revised Local Plan, in the same short period of time.
The links received (hopefully) by Councillors are:
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1002849/260315-extra-ordinary-council-ag
> enda-local-plan.pdf
The previously circulated Special Development Management Committee
> agenda papers:
> Agenda –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990985/230315-special-combined-dmc-agend
> a.pdf
> Draft schedule of proposed changes –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990982/230315-sp-dmc-table-of-changes-to
> -local-plan-v3-march-15.pdf
Addendum report with proposed changes –
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1018372/230315-sp-dmc-addendum-report-it
> em-5.pdf
Revised Draft New East Devon Local Plan with tracked changes:
> http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/990979/230315-sp-dmc-local-plan-with-cha
> nges-for-post-hearing-consultation-ver-04-march-2015.pdf
Councillors have a lot on their shoulders. The public speaking this evening would clearly like to share the load.
Flood prevention cuts “a false economy” say MPs
Coastal Community Teams
Get an initial £10,000 and ability to bid for a share of a further £3 million. None of our coastal towns are amongst the first 12 to be announced.
Teamworking amongst towns does not seem to be popular in East Devon, perhaps because they are often at loggerheads due to devisive political shenanigans at town and district council level.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coastal-community-teams-bidding-prospectus
Councillors “like puppets on a string” over Knowle sale
Mike Temple’s letter in today’s Sidmouth Herald blasts the “cracking good deal” myth put about by Honiton Cllr and Tory Whip,Phil Twiss.
Here’s the letter:
‘Popping up like puppets on cue, Cllr Diviani’s obedient cabinet, aided and abetted by Sidmouth’s own Tory District councillors, nodded through the sale of Knowle last night (March 11) in the latest stage of the long-running farce that is the office-relocation.
According to the puppets, Sidmouth will never have had it so good. It’s getting “a cracking good deal,” piped Cllr Twiss (he who’d rather stick “hot pins in his eyes” than engage in a public debate with an Independent candidate – a serious case of “frit” perhaps). After all, Sidmouth is gaining a retirement community and we all know we need more of them, especially the expensive second-homes we so desperately lack.
No matter about the loss of community assets like the fine chambers used for concerts, religious services, talks and wedding receptions. No matter about the loss of 150 parking places for weekend visitors to a tourist town. No matter about the loss of the best of its unique woodland park, namely its magnificent prospect, the loss of which will trash the rest of the gardens – which no doubt can be built on later.
What’s more, it was all the fault of a vocal Sidmouth minority (like the 4,000 on the march) who , according to Cllr Diviani, prevented the Council from getting £10 million for the Knowle when its own plan to build all over the park was refused.
Yes, it’s all Sidmouth’s fault and all Sidmouth’s “gain”. And what goodies are we next promised? Well, look forward to Sidford Business and Industrial Park and then a superstore at the Alexandria Road estate and even more empty shops in town to let…’
Sidmouth’s flood risk “plan” gets “council approval”
Except it isn’t a plan – it is a currently preferred option. And it hardly merits approval as there is as yet no money to fund it.
[Sidmouth DCC Councillor Stuart Hughes] said: “Future plans depend on what, if any, scheme can be promoted with a robust business case and justified cost benefit for national funding.
“Additional partnership funding will also need to be sourced.”
Can unfunded, aspirational ideas really be plans – or are they election “promises”?
http://www.devon24.co.uk/news/sidmouth_s_flood_risk_plan_gets_council_approval_1_3990483
Another Green Wedge for East Devon? Don’t miss DMC next Monday, 23 March.
Some points DMC may keep in mind are pictured here:
:
and here (Sidford-Sidbury road):
and more (as recently referred to on EDW) here: http://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/03/16/what-eddcs-revised-local-plan-specifies-for-the-sid-valley/
Can EDDC be serious, with revised Local Plan?
Additional hustings date – Sidmouth – 28 April 2015
The Hustings for the General Election will be on Apr 28th at St Francis Hall, Sidmouth
The event will be styled on the BBC Radio 4 programme “Any Questions”.
The PPCs will make up the panel to take questions from representative groups and members of the public.
The evening will commence at 7.30pm with refreshments.
The panel will gather at 7.50pm; the session will consist of pre-prepared questions being fielded through the chair to the PPCs from the audience – namely from those organisations and individuals who have sent in questions.
The panellists will not be aware of the exact wording of the questions beforehand; they will not be subject to follow-up questions from the audience, although the chair might chose to ask for clarification.
The question-and-answer session will end at 8.50pm with further refreshments.
The evening should finish at about 9.15pm.
The event will be moderated by the Chair. Microphones will be available for both panellists and members of the audience fielding questions. Refreshments will be provided by the VGS.
Save our Sidmouth protests against relocation rush
East Devon Alliance announces its first district council contenders
A full house of 7 Independents for Sidmouth including 4 EDA members standing as EDA candidates:
http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/news/20150227/electoral-registration-first-set-of-candidates/
Independents day, not just for Sid Valley. Watch this movement spread!!
Full text of the Sidmouth Herald report is here: http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/in-the-press/20150227/sidmouth-herald-independents-day-for-valley/ and here: http://www.eastdevonalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sidmouth_herald_20150227_page_5_charter.jpg?56fb72
And/ or/ click on the pics below to zoom in:
“Anyone who has a ruler” can check mistakes made by EDDC’s relocation team, Full Council told.
The question from the public at last night’s Full Council meeting, was from Richard Eley, of Save Our Sidmouth. He called for an apology from EDDC to Sidmouth resident Robin Fuller, whose study of the modern buildings at Knowle had shown that the size had been seriously understated by the Office Relocation team led by Richard Cohen. Mr Fuller was right, and EDDC should therefore apologise for not taking his findings into account. The buildings were “40% larger than you were told”, claimed Mr Eley. This was not a small error, he continued, and warned, “Imagine what a judge at a Judicial Review would make of that”.
More on the Full Council meeting to follow.
Call for archive pictures of Pennington Point – AGAIN 13 months after the last call for them
January 2014:
https://sidmouthindependentnews.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/change-of-tack-at-eddc/
And here we are – 13 months later – reinventing the same wheel. Nothing has moved on except a bit of shingle has been shifted around at a cost of £100,000.
Why bring it up again when in January 2014 there was a similar call for similar photographs after an exhibition about the beach management issue?
Well, it’s getting close to district elections and Sidmouth’s majority party (Tory) council is hoping people don’t have memories as sharp as this owl and think they are being taken care of.
East Devon Watch 
