Thursday, 11 September 2014

Transition Town Exmouth: working with the council

In September's newsletter, Transition Town Exmouth detailed how it is positively engaging with the authorities - with an interesting take on 'development' in the town:

Sustainable Exmouth

Our focus is still on the Splash Zone and EDDC have still not announced what is to happen there and who they have signed up to do it! Potential Developers are clearly proving hard to convince and we think applicants would do better to have local input. Opinions in the town are divided and in the 2012/13 EDDC survey a significant minority didn't want the area significantly changed at all!

Most people I've spoken to are fearful of over-sized development, in fact fearful of the original outline presented by EDDC in 2012. Andy believes that the original outline is unimaginative, badly conceived, and will do nothing to raise the profile of Exmouth. He and his advisers have some really good ideas to promote on this key site and so TTE aim to be ready when the doors of secrecy are opened.

On the Premier Inn site, where we were clearly too late to influence anything, David Ireson and Rob Masding have a brief to document the construction process and will thereafter make a presentation on the subject.


COLP

Continuing on the good work done in the past by Gill Wyatt and Derek and others, Noel and I attend the Community Organisation Liaison Panel meetings with Councillors. This can often be frustrating, largely because the three-tier LA structure, makes decision making so laborious.

Nothing illustrates this better than the perennial plans for a Transport Hub. The difference this year is that DCC have money to spend, indeed must spend it this financial year. Great you say, lets agree where they should spend it in furtherance of the Master Plan for the Hub. Sorry but there is no master plan! All these years talking about it and no plan yet agreed by the LAs and other stakeholders! The Exmouth Transport Partnership have such a plan, largely put together by our member John Petty but this has not been agreed by those with the money, in fact it's been ignored by them.

What the TC have been told is that the DCC money available has to be spent now or lost and has to be spent only on improving the rail station approach. DCC seem to have made their 'Stage 1' design without consideration or acknowledgement of any subsequent stages that suggest themselves. This saga has been well covered in the Journal.

Given that ERATA have recently become defunct leaving only ECA, ECS, and ourselves as the community groups on COLP, your reps have suggested that other community groups might be invited to join. We have suggested Magnolia W.I. and Churches Together in Exmouth; others have then suggested additional candidates.

The criteria that must be satisfied are that the organisation must have a representative structure and must be active throughout the town. It would be a great help if you, our members and supporters, could suggest ASAP any groups that they know of, or may even be members of, that would fulfil those requirements.

Transition Town Exmouth | Dealing With Climate Change and Peak Oil

COLP was set up five years ago:

Exmouth Town Council 

Community Organisations Liaison Panel 

Terms of reference 

1. To act as a forum for the main community organisations in Exmouth to inform the Council of their priorities, concerns and activities and to inform the Community Organisations in respect of Council priorities and proposals which are in the public domain. 

2. To support the work of the community organisations represented through the provision of information and discussion as a two way process. 

3. To take back to the Council ideas and concerns which would contribute positively to the Council’s work for the regeneration of Exmouth. 

www.exmouth.gov.uk/pdf/1381837554-COLP Terms of reference_2009-08-01.pdf

Here is the latest - and not so latest - on the Splash in Exmouth:
October | 2012 | exmouthvision
exmouthvision | The vision for the future of Exmouth

Check out the Town Council:
Councillors | Exmouth Council

There have been several FOI requests made about developments at Exmouth:
East Devon District Council - view and make Freedom of Information requests - WhatDoTheyKnow
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