Environment Secretary Owen Paterson visits Sidmouth seafront and beaches

The information-gathering exercise at the Sailing Club on Thursday went very well:
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Beach Management Plan Steering Group... "help by providing local knowledge and information" Community Engagement event at Sidmouth Sailing Club on 6th March
with a very positive response from the public who brought photographs, documents and evidence for the Steering Group to collate and make use of. 
The District Council staff were very helpful and engaging.

The following day saw a visit to the esplanade and exhibition by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Owen Patterson:

Minister sees Sidmouth beach issues for himself

Friday 07 March

Hard on the heels of public involvement in a Beach Management Project for Sidmouth this week came a visit from a top Government Minister, who wanted to see for himself the issues affecting Sidmouth’s coastline.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson spent an hour in Sidmouth today (Friday) at the invitation of East Devon MP Hugo Swire, who was escorting his Government colleague to a number of key sites in the district.

During the visit to Port Royal, the Minister met EDDC representatives working on the Sidmouth Beach Management Plan project, including Councillor Andrew Moulding, Chairman of the Project Steering Group.

Also on hand were Councillor Stuart Hughes, a member of Devon County Council, EDDC and Sidmouth Town Council. The Minister also met members of the Cliff Road Action Group (CRAG), who are assisting with the project, and heard about the concerns that residents have.

Display

After spending time in the fishermen’s area, inspecting erosion to the cliffs at Pennington Point near the mouth of the River Sid, the Minister retired indoors to the Sailing Club, where he inspected the display seen 24 hours earlier by members of the public who had responded to an invitation to a drop-in session.

Mr Paterson heard from Tony Burch, assistant project manager, how the project team is bringing together anecdotal evidence provided by the public with technical data to be collected by coastal management experts engaged by EDDC.

After the visit, Councillor Moulding commented: “We’d like to thank the Minister for taking the time to talk to us and local residents about the cliffs. He was able to see for himself what has been happening at Sidmouth in recent years”.

Caption:

• A stone’s throw from Sidmouth’s eroding cliffs. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Owen Paterson (left), who visited the town on Friday with East Devon MP Hugo Swire(second from left). Also pictured are Councillor Stuart Hughes and (far right) Councillor Andrew Moulding.

For further press information please contact the Council’s Press Office on:

01395 517 559, communications@eastdevon.gov.uk

East Devon District Council, Knowle, Sidmouth, Devon EX10 8HL

Page last updated on 07 March 2014

East Devon District Council - News


A couple of pieces on the Environment Secretary from the FF blog:
Futures Forum: Flooding in the West Country... and climate change
Futures Forum: If you have an expensive house near the sea, it’s time to sell

From the national press:
Owen Paterson, his sceptic brother-in-law, and how Defra went cold on climate change - UK Politics - UK - The Independent
Owen Paterson faces choice between ideology and evidence - 04 Sep 2012 - James' Blog: a blog from BusinessGreen.
Could someone please tell Owen Paterson the difference between faulty journalism and good climate science? – Telegraph Blogs

And today from the SIN blog:
What can someone who does not believe in climate change offer East Devon? | Sidmouth Independent News
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