Category Archives: Tourism

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27 Feb 2015

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EDDC, Tourism

Oh dear, Mrs Kerridge – as EDDC “Tourism Champion” you haven’t done your homework!

In today’s Sidmouth Herald (see post below) Sheia Kerridge, who has been as silent about tourism as Hugo Swire has been about the Local Plan, promises that, now she has retired after 42 years, she can devote more time to her work as a councillor, particularly “a waterborne transport link along the Jurassic Coast”.

But see here – its already been discounted as too expensive and unfundable by your own town council’s tourism chief, Simon Pollentine as late as December 2014!

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/jurassic_ferry_dream_too_costly_1_3882884

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22 Feb 2015

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EDDC, Tourism

Cornwall v Devon tourism

Anyone else noticing that recent “10 best …” or “20 best …” things such as hotels, beaches, restaurants etc which appear in newspapers or on sites such as Tripadvisor often now include Cornwall (sometimes several times) but rarely Devon and even much more rarely East Devon?

Could it have something to do with the fact that Devon’s tourism budget is £45,000 per year and Cornwall’s is £300,000 per year (and Yorkshire’ £3,000,000 per year)?

Travel journalists are lured to tourist attractions, etc by positive publicity and free trips and which lead to word-of-mouth recommendations.

Alas, not in Devon and certainly not East Devon.

But, fear not, just before the district council elections our Tourism Champion is scheduled to speak at a meeting! No, we will not tell you who our so far silent Tourism Champion is – if you ars in the tourism trade in East Devon and don’t know who it is, you should be asking yourself why and also why that person has the designation.

And what a difference just a little of the minimum £750,000 spent on relocation (since we must include the cost of Information Commissioner v EDDC in Exeter Magistrates Court has cost so far as we know) could have made to our ranking in the tourism world.

See also:
https://eastdevonwatch.org/2015/01/13/tourism-on-the-cheap-in-devon/

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10 Feb 2015

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East Devon Alliance, Environment (local), Tourism

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Boosting ‘South East Devon’ Tourism

Some suggestions here, from the new lively publication, Devonshire Magazine:

From Devonshire magazine, on local tourism

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5 Feb 2015

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Tourism

Tourism in the South West – lamentable budget

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/South-West-tourism-poor-relation-rival-areas-cash/story-25966846-detail/story.html

and there is now massive support for a cut in tourism VAT – something that independent Parliamentary candidate Claire Wright urged East Devon District Council support – only to be savaged by the Cinservative majority councillors who turned the suggestion down in no uncertain terms:

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Ministers-act-level-tourism-playing-field/story-25978506-detail/story.html

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28 Jan 2015

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EDDC, Local Plan, Tourism

Task and Finish Forum Budget Scrutiny – suspicion about inadequate resources and Local Plan

Highlights:

(4) that there should be greater transparency in the Council financial information (including the Budget and Outturn report) in detailing the use and costs in obtaining external legal services and external consultancy services;

(5) that consideration be given to increasing the resources, possibly in conjunction with neighbouring authorities, for the further development of a coherent strategy and plan for the maintenance and improvement of the economic well-being of the district. (There was a suspicion that inadequate resources devoted to this activity had, amongst other things actually contributed to extra costs and delay in the production of a convincing local plan)

(7) That an annual audit review of the cost and effectiveness of external consultants is undertaken.

…As regards the wider matters of economic development, the budget has clearly been reduced considerably over the years, particularly on tourism promotion, which is now confined purely to the premises costs of some tourist information centres.

Click to access bstafff-scnd-rpt-jan-2015.pdf

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25 Jan 2015

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EDDC, Tourism

West Country tourism needs help

Well we know one district where it isn’t getting it – East Devon, which Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw recently named and shamed as doing nothing. A bit of the £700,000 plus already spent on just talking about relocation of EDDC’s HQ could have had great impact here.

Name that Tourism Champion at EDDC and find anything he or she has said about tourism. But we don’t count the next 3 months when usually silent councillors and MPs suddenly find their voices and manage to get their photos in all sorts of odd places!

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Plea-West-tourism-level-playing-field/story-25917907-detail/story.html

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12 Jan 2015

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EDDC, Exeter City Council, Tourism

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Tourism: MP says “East Devon does nothing”

“Cutting VAT for tourism and investing in transport infrastructure were among the demands MPs heard from businesses in Devon when they came to Exeter to hear views on how to boost the sector.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee held a panel discussion at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum on Monday, January 12, to hear views on tourism in the South West.

[Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw said] … “Exeter City Council does what it can, but East Devon does nothing. There’s nobody coordinating it.”

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Businesses-demand-help-South-West-tourism-MPs/story-25843181-detail/story.html

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10 Jan 2015

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AONB, EDDC, Environment (local), Exmouth, Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton, Tourism

Devon and Cornwall set for bumper tourist seasons

Unfortunately, “economic growth” in East Devon means more industrial sheds and executive housing on our countryside, not investing in our tourism base. Tourism barely gets a mention our local plans.

EDDC will no doubt point to the “Exmouth Seafront” project as their contribution. But what has Exmouth and Seaton regeneration brought us so far: a massive Tesco in Seaton (maybe now under the Tesco CEO’s beady eye?) and executive and retirement housing and a very small visitor centre sandwiched between Tesco and the main road, pushing the tramway into the background; Exmouth: a Premier Inn that promised 50 jobs and delivered (maybe) max 25 (the top 2 of which were filled by Premier Inns in advance)and a seafront “attraction” that will be a highly-expensive to use clone of many other seaside areas, destroying the unique charm of the current seafront.

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Devon-Cornwall-set-bumper-tourist-season/story-25835250-detail/story.html

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4 Jan 2015

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Affordable and Social Housing, AONB, EDDC, Tourism

Tourism growth outstrips other sectors

So why does East Devon District Council airbrush it out of their targets?

Soon, with our concreted countryside we will have nothing for tourists to visit us for.

But we will have plenty of industrial sheds and (non-affordable) houses made of ticky-tacky.

And can anyone track down anything meaningful (or indeed anything meaningful at all on any subject) by our “tourism champion” Mrs Kerridge?

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Tourism-growth-outstrips-rival-sectors/story-25803431-detail/story.html

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14 Dec 2014

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Environment (local), Local Plan, Tourism

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Celebration of East Devon’s Literature and Landscape, at launch of new book created for EDA

Launch poster Nov 2014 low
Many thanks to the large audience who supported the genial and entertaining preview of this unique publication at Friday’s book launch and performance evening (12th Dec 2014 in Sidmouth). EDA is especially grateful to the author,Peter Nasmyth, and to his co-researcher on East Devon Literature, Mike Temple, who also organised the performance. Peter’s landscape photographs were a stunning backdrop to renditions by such notables as John Betjeman,Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Jane Austen, Ron Delderfield, and Sir Walter Raleigh…all much admired!

If you missed the performance, here’s some more about the book:

A correspondent writes, “I think this book would make a good Christmas present, better still keep it as it has lots of literary walks and a map included.” . Copies (£15.99) available from bookshops in Ottery St Mary and in Sidmouth, or from the publisher (see below).

As a first, full literary companion to the East Devon area, A4 in size and full colour, this beautiful book combines large photographs with serious research, quotations, observations on literature and landscape. Included also is a map, information on the writers, an index and bibliography, plus directions as to where the authors walked in the area so readers can follow in their footsteps. The aim is both to celebrate and draw attention to this unique and threatened part of rural England. Birthplace of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Sir Walter Raleigh, a setting for stories and poems by Jane Austen, H.G Wells, John Fowles, C. Day Lewis, John Betjeman, Beatrix Potter, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and others, East Devon remains as attractive to writers today as ever. The publication of this book aims to help keep it this way.

For SEE INSIDE page (Green and pleasant land) go to http://www.mtapublications.co.uk

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5 Dec 2014

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AONB, Environment (local), Tourism

Southwest England ranked third top tourist destination in Europe

A correspondent writes: ‘There was a letter in the Western Morning News (03/12/2014) about Cornwall and the South West, mentioning Lonely Planet.
Looking further into this, here’s what I found:

Source Extract from WMN article dated 29th Oct 2014, and information from ‘Lonely Planet’, at the links indicated below:

29th October 2014
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/WMN-OPINION-Devon-Cornwall-proud-tourist-industry/story-24895756-detail/story.html

Lonely Planet included the region in its latest list of the top ten must-see locations and its travel experts rated the region’s rich moorland, rugged coastline and miles of sandy beaches as being on a par with heavyweight holiday spots Greece and Italy. We all know Devon and Cornwall are fabulous, it seems everyone else might be beginning to get the message too.
http://www.dreamsofcornwall.co.uk/blog/top-holiday-destinations-europe/

Coming third in their list of the best places to visit in Europe, the South West’s dramatic rural landscapes and breathtaking coastal scenery are among the reasons why the area is ranked higher than other European destinations such as Italy, Spain and France, placing Cornwall firmly on the map in the eyes of millions of travellers worldwide.

The Lonely Planet top 10 destinations in Europe for 2014 are

1. Greece

2. Ljubljana, Slovenia

3. Southwest England, UK

4. Italy

5. Viking Denmark

6. Seville, Spain

7. Outer Hebrides, Scotland

8. Plzeň, Czech Republic

9. Stavanger, Norway

10. Toulouse, France

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16 Nov 2014

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Affordable and Social Housing, Environment (local), NPPF, Tourism

“The arrogant and philistine are ruining our countryside”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2835353/Outgoing-chairman-National-Trust-accuses-arrogant-philistine-political-class-ruining-loveliest-countryside.html

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12 Nov 2014

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AONB, Environment (local), Misc, NPPF, Tourism

Countryside under siege

Thought-provoking article on Western Morning News website:

“…If you love something and know it should be protected from harm, you will fight for it – preferably with others, but alone if needs be. But standing up for the countryside can be a lonely furrow to plough in a modern world where our leaders seem to have turned their backs on the nation’s once beloved green acres. …

..But if we have warned, cajoled and focused on the idea that the countryside is under attack from a government which puts short-term profit and gain above the concept of long-term sustainability, then what has puzzled me is why national newspapers and celebrity media commentators aren’t leaping on the same bandwagon. …

….Mr Jenkins [ outgoing Chairman if the National Trust] believes developers have been successful in their bid to build on the countryside, thanks to the fact that they have a “friend” in the Chancellor. If you think the former NT chairman might be deluded, then look at how many towns around the Westcountry are being encircled by new housing developments, despite the fact that communities are protesting they don’t have the infrastructure – or jobs – to support such large numbers of incomers. …

… The countryside isn’t just a pretty place – although there’s evidence to prove that being a pretty place has financial worth both in terms of tourism and wellbeing. It is a provider rather than a taker. It gives far more in the way of economic benefit than it costs. It grows the food we eat, provides the water we drink, helps clean the air we breathe and sequester the muck we shove into the atmosphere. Its worth is far more than anything politicians could hope to accrue by allowing get-rich -quick developers to convert green acres into temporary money spinning fields.”

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/saying-politicians-ignore-countryside/story-24517311-detail/story.html

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20 Oct 2014

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EDDC, Tourism

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More than 80 MPs (including south-west Tories) back cut in tourism VAT

Which puts them at odds with our (Tory) council which savaged Independent councillor Claire Wright when she suggested they too should support this. Many EU countries have low or no VAT for their tourism industries.

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/MPs-tourism-VAT-cuts/story-23271046-detail/story.html

However, our two MPs side with EDDC.

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10 Sep 2014

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EDDC, Graham Brown, Local Plan, Tourism

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If not agriculture: what?

“A disgraced former councillor is seeking a ‘certificate of lawfulness’ for his Ottery St Mary farm house – after breaching a planning condition for more than a decade.

Graham Brown, who is also a past chairman of the controversial East Devon Business Forum, is applying on the basis he has not been using the house to conduct agriculture from – a condition of the original planning permission.

In March last year, former Feniton and Buckerell councillor Mr Brown resigned his seat after he was caught on camera boasting that he could secure planning permission as part of his professional work as a planning consultant.”

Which begs the question, given that his planning consultancy Grey Green Planning Ltd (incorporated coincidentally 10 years ago in 2004) isn’t big enough to merit full public accounts – what exactly hAS he been doing all these years?

If he wasn’t engaged ” in agriculture” why was he the National Farmers Union representative on the East Devon Business Forum?

This source implies that he may have had a holiday cottage business or businesses:

http://companycheck.co.uk/director/901546332

If so, why did he not declare these interests, particularly when he chaired the EDDC Local Development Framework (aka Local Plan) panel – especially as it visited many tourism venues such as Crealy and Sandy Bay ( in secret) to discuss their inclusion in the Local Plan – both for employment land and housing development?

Initial source: http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Disgraced-councillor-seeks-make-Ottery-St-Mary/story-22898229-detail/story.html

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26 Aug 2014

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Tourism

East Devon venues host Rugby World Cup teams

http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Rugby-World-Cup-coming-Exeter-Devon-venues-host/story-22820123-detail/story.html

Aren’t we lucky they are coming now before areas around these venues are surrounded by housing estates.

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22 Aug 2014

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EDDC, Tourism

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Southwest sees largest growth in foregn tourists – well ahead of London

Foreign tourism up 49% in the southwest compared to 29% in London. Our biggest industry. EDDC tourism initiatives – nil. Unless you count the majority party refusing to consider supporting a decrease in VAT to stimulate it even more, even though many MPs from all parties support the move.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28886583

European VAT rates:

Click to access Europe-and-Tourism-VAT-rates.pdf

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20 Aug 2014

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EDDC, Exmouth, Local Plan, Skypark, Tourism

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Most new jobs are consultancy or self- employment

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that 1.1 million jobs have been created since the start of 2008.

But of those, 732,000 are accounted for by the self-employed, a category of worker that tends to earn roughly half the wages of those in staff jobs.

Construction remains the single biggest sector for self employment.

Source:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28866302

The mystery is that, if most are in construction (outdoors and not needing much office space)and many self-employed people work from home or at small business hubs (like the East Devon Business Centre that is being demolished to pay for Skypark relocation) why are we building smaller houses and more and more big industrial sheds in East Devon?

Tourism is our biggest industry and our biggest earner – where is the stimulus for it from our district council (apart from flogging the family silver in Exmouth).

EDDC “Tourism Champion” – hello, anyone out there?

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11 Aug 2014

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Environment (local), Local Plan, NPPF, Tourism

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Green field housing estates in the South West – CPRE notes dismay

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Minister-want-fields-houses/story-22300866-detail/story.html