Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Of Cranbrook and inappropriate development

There is some very positive news out there on the emerging new town of Cranbrook:
Cranbrook pharmacy opens for business | Western Morning News
Cranbrook: how to create a new town with an old sense of community | Exeter Express and Echo

 In a posting on this blog, a story was highlighted of the opportunities there are at Cranbrook for shared-ownership through housing associations:
Futures Forum: Shared ownership: rally in Westminster Tues March 17th >>> calling on politicians “to commit to end the housing crisis within a generation”

 However, it does seem that the proposed growth in housing might be considered a little too much of a good thing:
Proposal to build 1,000 new homes every year in East Devon | Exeter Express and Echo
Number of new houses in Clyst St Mary set to triple as “greater restraint” afforded to towns across East Devon | Exeter Express and Echo
Greater Exeter ..Cranbrook … Ottery … Honiton? | East Devon Watch

 There is further 'bad news' as reported in today's Express and Echo:
Cranbrook Station faces even more delays | Exeter Express and Echo

Much of this can be contextualised in the service given by Cllr Derek Button, who died recently - and who campaigned against the building of Cranbrook - and who asked questions about the processes behind 'inappropriate development':


TRIBUTE TO BROADCLYST COUNCILLOR WHO FOUGHT FOR YEARS AGAINST INAPPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT

27th February 2015

The Full Council meeting at Knowle this week, opened with a warm tribute to District and County Councillor Derek Button, who died last month. Representing the people of Broadclyst, he was strongly opposed to the massive development nearby at Cranbrook. And many Councillors listening to the acknowledgements of Derek Button’s dedication to his electors’ concerns, will have recalled his courage in standing up against what he saw as irregular planning matters. He was one of the three Liberal Democrat members of the Development Management Committee (DMC) who temporarily resigned in protest over alleged procedural irregularities in the Waldron’s Farm case. The Ombudsman found no evidence of anything untoward, however, and the controversy lingers on. More info here: 

And those following the Task and Finish Forum set up to do an “in-depth report” into EDDC’s relationship with the group then known as the East Devon Business Forum, would also remember Cllr Button’s part in trying to progress this so-called Business TAFF, which never pursued its original aim. See the voting recorded here:

As Council Leader Paul Diviani put it, in a tribute in the Midweek Herald (27 Jan 2015), Derek Button’s colleagues “will mourn the loss of a good man”. 

“We worked together in many areas, but it was in the field of planning that we enjoyed a closer relationship – especially on our then local plan and the development of Cranbrook. He vehemently opposed the new town, but then subsequently devised the name for it."He was a founder member of Devon Opposed to New Towns, which campaigned against new communities east of Exeter and Plymouth.

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