Exmouth regeneration: approving a planning application before concluding the public consultation

The District Council is trying to make up for Natural England's rejection of its plans to redevelop the Exmouth Seafront:
Futures Forum: Regenerating Exmouth removed from draft Local Plan

It could be a chance to move things forward:
Futures Forum: Exmouth jiggery-pokery: "The situation that EDDC have got themselves in is a great chance to assert ourselves in the Neighbourhood Plan."

It could also be a chance for redevelopment to happen anyway - through the backdoor of a series of planning applications instead:
Futures Forum: Redeveloping Exmouth >>> "All it needs is a light touch refurbishment."

The front page of today's Express & Echo reported on how the Exmouth Town Council has approved the first planning application:
Exeter Express and Echo Online | ExeterExpressandEcho.co.uk

However, as the chair of the campaign group Save Exmouth Seafront [SES], the 'consultation' on what to do and where to go has not yet finished.

This is the comment from yesterday's Exmouth Splash pages:

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page

Community

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page shared a post.

16 November at 12:31 · 

‎Louise MacAllister‎ to Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page

16 November at 12:30 · 

SES attended the Exmouth Town Council meeting this evening where the planning applications for road realignment and infill of the swan boat ‘ponds’ were being discussed.
The Town Council do not make the decision on these applications but they make recommendations to EDDC, who do make the final decision.
Despite much public objection to the road realignment, and a number of councillors similarly raising points of objection, the council voted for ‘no objection’ to the road realignment.
The infilling of the swan boat ponds was similarly criticised by the public and a number of councillors. The council voted to defer a decision on this application due to both the ongoing legal case in relation to the site, and due to a recognition that public consultation should take place (several councillors recognised that consultation had been limited and detail on plans from EDDC is limited).

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Dawn Hirst, Norma Southwood, Lorna Dyson and 8 others like this.

Comments

Sue Harriott Well done on your speaking on the results on the survey you have carried out. Some very good objections from members of the public so the response of some of the councillors was disappointing And at times rather confusing - saying one thing and then voting another way.

3 · 16 November at 13:13 · Edited

Ian Kirvan Unfortunately , this is a regular occurence , they raise individual concerns but continue to follow party lines ...

1 · 17 November at 08:40

Louise MacAllister Thanks.
Agree the Cllr's response was a disappointment, especially as a number of them also made some very good points

4 · 16 November at 13:08

Louise MacAllister ...and others some less good points eg 'it is a watersports centre so it won't matter if the road floods'!!! (insanity!).

2 · 16 November at 13:12 · Edited

Chris Greenway You are joking. Surely not. That is a ridiculous comment. If he or she was trying to be amusing then they made a serious error of judgement. If being serious, then Lord help us.

3 · 16 November at 13:40

Louise MacAllister It was a serious comment! Absolutely unbelievable! We can't expect people like that to have the ability to make the correct decision!

5 · 16 November at 13:43

Charmain Hall ffs excuse my French. As Judge Rinder says "STOOPID!

16 November at 15:27

Tim Todd From whom?

17 November at 03:35

Tim Cope Councillor Maddie Chapman(Mayor)!

1 · 17 November at 04:55

Ian Kirvan Quite frankly if this comment was meant as a bit ' Tongue in Cheek ' then fair enough . If not , have a good look around our team & remember that this is Our Mayor !! .

17 November at 08:55

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page It was not said tongue in cheek, she really was being completely serious, it was part of her ill informed little pro-development rant that for anyone in the room with a brain, was utterly horrifying.

3 · 17 November at 08:57

Ian Kirvan In which case that about sums it up , this is one of our District Councillors who seems to get a bit confused about which hat to wear ...

17 November at 09:00

Tim Todd Well it seems our Mayor is not alone in appearing to be not worried too much by the likelyhood of flooding. A senior EDDC councillor, in an email to me, says "There will be no houses and no ground floor residential, not least because of the location and challenge required to make the level of flood mitigation measure that would be required" Is there any other interpretation to be put on such a statement other than we know it will flood but so long as it ain't houses getting flooded we ain't worried?

1 · Yesterday at 06:59

Laura SJ F Well done!

16 November at 13:42

Tricia Cassel-Gerard Well done guys.

16 November at 14:07

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill I cant seem to remember the road ever flooding along that part of the seafront lots of sand blown but no flooding from the sea

1 · 16 November at 14:41

Chloe Elizabeth Fox are you planning to buy one of the flats? You're so strongly Pro this daft idea, I suspect your motives. You're not objective when you say things like that, we all know the area floods, even the Environment Agency has marked it as a Flood Zone 3 "Do Not Build" - look it up -

16 November at 22:28

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill Its more likley to flood as it is than with the road realignment and the groundworks and modern drainage that will come with it . The large puddle in the carpark is due to it being lower level and very poor to nonexistant drainage for surface runoff , ...See More

1 · 17 November at 01:45 · Edited

Sean Williams Yep

3 · 16 November at 14:46

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill Thats surface run off water , rain water and has always happend not from the sea .

16 November at 15:45

Chloe Elizabeth Fox it's still water Christopher and it happens every year. The name Splash was a joke from the beginning, the flats will be islands grin emoticon

16 November at 22:25

Neil Rainbird Yep, road there never floods!!!!

2 · 16 November at 15:05

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill More of a puddle really.

16 November at 15:38

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill So is that flooding from the sea or rainwater i know the carpark floods but isnt that from surface , rain water

16 November at 15:26

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page What washed the sand dunes away sea or rain?

16 November at 15:31

Christopher Edward Robert Battershill The sea but there on the other side of the sea wall and were washed away from the front so dont see how thats relevant .

16 November at 15:36

Charmain Hall Dont need a splash area as there is a natural one in storms and high water. Thats why idiots in cars drive along there when its flooded. They think its the splash zone

1 · 16 November at 15:31

Tricia Cassel-Gerard The other factor in water works is grey water and sewage. All the flats and businesses will generate grey water and sewerage. The CSO on the Maer gets overwhelmed regularly, that's what it is for, but it will be a massive feat of engineering to get rid of all that excess water. Rain falling on roofs and paved areas will be concentrated in gutters and add to the problem massively. At present rain is absorbed by the golf course and the grassy areas and the unpaved play park. I haven't heard any suggestion that there will be underground water storage tanks. 'Modern' drainage isn't so different to any other and it will still get clogged up with sand.

5 · 17 November at 00:44

Neil Rainbird Figures from the environment agency.

2 · 17 November at 13:56 · Edited

Neil Rainbird

2 · 17 November at 13:55

Chloe Elizabeth Fox well done Neil, Natural England are right to be concerned, I would not build there if I was a responsible developer or Statutory Authority. The Watersports Complex will be closer to the action than planned grin emoticon

17 November at 23:18

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page But according to Exmouth's mayor that is fine, it doesn't matter if a watersport's centre floods! *facepalm*

2 · 17 November at 23:19

Chloe Elizabeth Fox so a metre of seawater and massive waves will just add to the fun! they can launch off the roof! grin emoticon this gets sillier and sillier grin emoticon

1 · 17 November at 23:20

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page grin emoticon @ launch off the roof! Well if democracy gets ignored and this goes ahead perhaps the one consolation will be the crowds of us that will be drawn to the seafront to watch Maddie Chapman launch off the roof into a flooded red flag area!

2 · 17 November at 23:23

Chloe Elizabeth Fox A yearly event with an obstacle slalom course provided by the various shops and flats half-underwater; Class 1 Windsurfers; Class 2 Dinghies; and Class 3 the Swan Boats, don't chuck them away; the public will need them to navigate our new Water Park grin emoticon

3 · Yesterday at 04:01

Alec Huett We have lived with the weather problems for years when we have periods when driving or walking the sea front has been put out of bounds as possibility being dangerous. Our council knowing this have never put forward a motion that Queens Drive could be...See More

2 · 13 hrs

Chloe Elizabeth Fox They plan on having those flats for the £££ no matter what, I think we can all safely assume that now, it will open the door to seafront and rearward development. The Maer will be the next in line, having actual property on the front is the thin end of a wedge which will make them £££££££ x

11 hrs

Neil Rainbird Map taken from the flood report attached to the original planning application.

2 · Yesterday at 13:05

Chloe Elizabeth Fox Thanks Neil x if this passes, I'm going to repeat my claim that EDDC Planning is corrupt beyond redemption. The Chief Executive can't silence Facebook! Anyone building in that Zone, is either a first-class idiot or compensated to keep quiet....

Exmouth Splash - Public Opinion & Discussion Page

As pointed out earlier today at the East Devon Watch blog:

BREAKING NEWS: EXMOUTH TOWN COUNCIL SUPPORTS SEAFRONT DEVELOPMENT

19 NOV 2015

The front page headline of today’s East Devon Express and Echo says “Town Council backs seafront first phase – no objection to road changes paving way for redevelopment”.

The story goes on to say this means they support road realignment, parking areas, demolition of beach huts and DJs Diner, though reservations of some councillors led to deferral of plans for infilling of ponds at the Fun Park.

Campaigners for the Facebook Group “Save Exmouth Seafront” are incredulous that public opinion has not swayed the town councillors. They also point out that no planning application has received permission yet EDDC is committing at least £1.5m for the programme when no developer contribution has been offered towards the work.

Objections to the plans must be made by midday on 27 November 2015.

Breaking News: Exmouth Town Council supports seafront development | East Devon Watch
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