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Thursday 21 July 2016

The Neighbourhood Plan connected to > The Port Royal scoping report connected to > The Beach Management Plan connected to > The Re-imagining Port Royal architecture competition >>> "We should look at everything that's currently on the table and try to do some joined up thinking!"

Everything is connected to everything else:
Futures Forum: Neighbourhood Plan >>> and the Port Royal scoping report
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: and the future of Alma Bridge
Futures Forum: Plans for Port Royal: anticipating a Regeneration Board >>> ‘Scoping Report for the eastern end of Sidmouth’ >>> commission work initiatied
Futures Forum: Sidmouth Beach Management Plan... Port Royal... Mill St... "The possibility of Mill Street car park becoming a location for social housing is a completely separate matter from the BMP."
Futures Forum: Plans for Port Royal and the Eastern Town >>> >>> architecture competition to re-imagine Port Royal >>> winning design chosen >>>further reports

This has been pointed out in an ongoing thread at the Streetlife social network:

Have your say?

Mary W-T  in Sidmouth
 
I was pleased to see that The Pier option won the Re-Imagining Port Royal competition, but shocked to read that 300 people had voted on the options.

Is this 300 people voted for this choice or 300 people voted overall? Either way it shows a huge lack of interest in how Sidmouth could develop.

I know some will say 'it is only a bit of fun' :-) but it is really more than that. It was an opportunity to tell our councillors what we would like to see if possible. Just as the consultations on the Beach Management Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan are.

If people don't get out and vote, on every opportunity, then they can't complain about the results.

Let's hope more people have been filling in the simple online form for the Neighbourhood Plan.
    Show previous comments
    Pauline H
    I also prefer the harbour option for lots of reasons and for the all the community of Sidmouth
    Claire R
    I agree, I had hoped it was the harbour design that had won. A harbour would offer mooring for boats, fishing, walking on the harbour, boats visiting from the sea ... So much. Also could a harbour offer sea defences to Pennington Point and the mouth of the Sid?
    Real Sidmouthian
    I agree Mary - 300 people out of 15,000 really isn't giving a very good impression of what anyone wants or as you say showing anyone's interest! I really hope the Neighbourhood Plan does better otherwise no one will support it when it comes to the referendum or very few will and it will be meaningless. We need people to get interested.
    hibou
    For goodness sake everyone - fill in the Neighbourhood plan questionnaire. If you don't fill it in then you deserve the EDDC we've got which doesn't care a jot for Sidmouth. Fill it in. And more than 300 of you, please.
    Deirdre H
    I'm very interested to read this thread being the Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan!

    We were at the Duck Derby today and many people said that they had not received their questionnaire through the letterbox. Perhaps they had, perhaps they hadn't.... the important thing is that you now complete it quickly!

    We will keep the online version open for the next week and keep the collection boxes in the various locations in situ until this coming Friday which is extending our original deadline for completion.
    There will be another opportunity to express your opinions in the Autumn and I hope that by then a sufficient number of people will know about and understand what the Neighbourhood Plan could do for the Sid Valley. http://www.sidmouth.gov.uk/index.php/neighbourhood-plan
    Amanda D
    We live in Sidford and we didn't get one, nor did our neighbours which we thought was odd.
    Another neighbour brought one for us and it's been completed.
    Deirdre H
    They were put through everyone's letterboxes  during the first week of June so you should have received one. We will probably get Royal Mail to deliver the next questionnaire.
    Amanda D
    I think we and our neighbours were missed out because we're in a small private road and perhaps didn't know we were there.
    Not to worry, all sorted now.
    Mary W-T
    Peter, what plans are you talking about?
    I am not aware of the Neighbourhood Plan having moved past the consultation stage, what am I missing?
    Peter S
    Your first comment on here was about which Port Royal plan had got the most votes, in the displays at Kennaway House, all I am asking for are the results from the 300 that voted.
    Deirdre H
    The NP and the Port Royal architectural competition are two completely different initiatives, but personally I believe that we should look at everything that's currently on the table and try to do some joined up thinking!
    Peter M
    Peter S, you need to ask the architects who organised the competition if they or their judges would be prepared to provide the figures you ask for - I would like to see them too.
    Mary W-T
    Ah, I see.
    I think Henry Beech Mole or perhaps Councillor Gardner could answer that for you.

    I'm sure Deidre is very helpful about things she is involved with but it is above and beyond to expect her to know about things which she isn't :-)
    Peter S
    Mary W-T
    Thank you, I will see if they are available to the public.
    Polarising Plebeian
    Neighbourhood Plan, Local Plan, Beach Management Plan, plus an unrelated architectural competition. This is such a confusing mess, no wonder many many people mix things up or very quickly get bored. Don't forget, those who do vote or voice their opinion are still in a laughable small minority.  I do value the commitment and hard work of all the volunteers, but by the very principle they will only ever be able to scratch on the surface. All these consultations are a far cry away from reasonably widespread involvement of the people. 
    Peter M
    PP
    How would you suggest these consultations are improved to be less of a 'confusing mess'? And I do agree that often only a minority may voice an opinion. Those that do not, though, can not say that they have not been consulted and asked for their views!
    Deirdre H
    I agree that there are too many consultations happening currently. My aim at a forthcoming meeting this Monday between EDDC,STC and other stakeholders will be to suggest that the Neighbourhood Plan attempts to unite all these projects so that we might get some cohesion. After all they are all inter-related. Both councils are spending tax payers' money on them and as such we owe it to the residents of the Sid Valley to deliver some kind of 'joined-up' thinking.
    Rozzy G
    Good luck with that one. Sometimes it seems as if they think up ideas just to spend money from a certain budget.
    Real Sidmouthian
    Well we can't have a referendum on every little thing. That's why 'we' elect Councillors! If you don't vote or have a say then you've not got yourself involved. Personally I think its fine for all this to be going on. If you are interested enough you find out. We can't be spoon fed everything. The Neighbourhood Plan isn't the answer to everything and cannot stop development. Individual planning permissions will still come along until it's adopted so I just repeat my call for everyone that's interested to get involved and take part in all the consultations going. Maybe then they will get a good idea of what we are all thinking. But a paltry 300 responses on the Neighbourhood Plan is not good enough.
    Peter M
    Rozzy, I dont see it that way in the case of what's happening around us at the moment. Beach Management plan is very specialised with hydrographic consultants using detailed measurements and advanced data analysis drawing on tides, weather etc. Their objective is to draw up options to protect our town and coastline. We did though all have an opportunity to comments on some of the design options arising from the study.

    The Neighbourhood Plan is a bit different, seeking the views of Sid Vale Residents on a wide range of issues. The consultative document (still available to fill in online until this Friday) gives each of us the chance to voice our views on a range of issues which affect us now, might affect us in future, and to put forward our ideas for preservation on the one hand and growth and progress on the other, if I might put it that way.

    The Port Royal Development program though is a rather special kind of issue all on its own, with so many parties involved. At least thanks to the efforts of those who care the Drill hall hasnt been demolished to make way for the kind of developments we may not want, so we still have a chance to influence what may happen with our public voice. The Architects competition was an example, to my mind, of people of vision coming together to create ideas and put them forward for discussion. I am with Deidre H fully when she suggests that now might be a good time to pull all these threads together for the sake of clarity and cohesion.
    Deirdre H
    We now have a lot more than 300 responses and besides, questionnaires are still available at the Post offices, Waitrose, Co-op, Leisure Centres, Spar and Blue Ball at Sidford and Drews in Sidbury, This first consultation will close this coming Monday, so please hurry if you want to get your views included in this first questionnaire for the Sid Valley Neighbourhood Plan alley Neighbourhood Plan.
    Real Sidmouthian
    That's excellent to hear Deidre. I'm hoping you have over 1500 now then to make it a meaningful 10% ?? Would be great to get that.
    Polarising Plebeian
    It is very admirable that volunteers do all this work on this plan. It really is important. At the same time it is a sad joke that our government basically pulls out from the responsibility to do what we pay them to do. Which is to develop sensible plans for the people they represent, with a clear vision.

    Consequently planning falls into the hands of people at the council who want to be money men, constantly talking about market value and maximum profit. That is so wrong on so many levels.

    How many years have we been waiting for the BMP? How many years have they let Alma Bridge fall into the current very sad state? How many years is the talking going on about the Drill Hall now? 
    Deirdre H
    Okay so let the whole community get behind the Neighbourhood Plan which if written correctly and legally will be able to influence planning decisions. Easy to sit back in judgement, harder to get out there in the street and talk to people to make them understand that their voice can be heard! Why not join us Polarising Plebeian?

    FYI we are at the Young People's Event this Saturday at Manstone, come an join us! 1.00pm - 4.00pm
    Polarising Plebeian
    Deirdre, whilst I do support your view and enthusiasm, my own personal situation has certain elements to it which keep me away from a too deep involvement.
    Firstly, I'm just a migrant. I say this now, after well over 10 years of being here and having enjoyed, if I may say so, a rather excellent relationship with people. But I have been asked twice when I would need to leave since this dreadful referendum. The questions were dead serious. Makes you think, doesn't it?
    Secondly, ignoring the technicality that I have no voting rights, I have a job to do, and four bambinos to look after. I even spotted Signora Eleganza surfing up what a shed with enough cells for the bambinos might cost somewhere on the continent. In summary, these things are a little more pressing on my mind. So, Neighbourhood Planning is for me more like offering my parking space for visiting friends of my right neighbour, and firing up my BBQ only after my left neighbour has collected his washing from the line.
    This is a reality, not so much things that after many years of public consultation, when finally put into practice require another few years of applications, discussion and false facts presented from all sides, are eventually totally drowned in red tape. Not my sort of fun.
    Mary W-T
    PP Surely if you pay rates (which I think entitles you to vote on local matters), you work locally and your children go to school here you would want to have a say in what happens?

    The Neighbourhood Plan survey takes about 5 mins max, if you add comments. Not much of an investment of time is it?

    As for people who ask when you will have to leave because of the referendum, I'm afraid it just shows what happens when people don't get involved enough to know what will really happen. No-one will be forced to leave, further immigration will be restricted. If they had given their full attention they would know that.

    If people give their full attention to the NP we will have a better chance of determining that things happen in Sidmouth in a way we want. If we can't be bothered ( and I must admit my sister is one who finds it 'too difficult') then we get what other people impose on us.

    On the question of how long the Drill Hall campaign has been going on, it is three years since they tried to demolish it. It looks like this year will be when we either succeed or fail in keeping it. After three years I would hope that people had learned a lot more about the building, but I suspect most haven't been bothered enough to visit either website about it. Once things are gone you can never get them back.
    Polarising Plebeian
    I have of course filled in the questionaire (and most certainly I pay my taxes here).

    On the leaving or not topic, it's clear to anybody who thinks it through. Yet, just imagine yourself for one minute being asked such questions. (I do actually believe that immigration will not only not be restricted, but rather increased. The country needs it badly, a separate discussion really). We're leaving the EU because somebody betted his career on in/out and lost this bet.

    Back to more local issues, it is frustrating or is it not that these processes take years on years on years for very little progress if any. Just the right damper for people to get involved, many see this as entirely pointless. It is about the people who never voice their opinion online, never come to meetings. Call it voice of doom, but do we have now the 1500 answers RS suggested?
    Deirdre H
    Thank you Mary for your wise and encouraging words, sometimes it's hard to stick your head above the parapet but for those brave souls who do, many others will benefit.
    Real Sidmouthian
    I've learned enough about that drill hall since coming into the world here to know it's really not worth keeping. There's an opportunity there for something really special in the town rather than a derelict building which looks far worse than the old SES ever looked. The neighbourhood plan could help achieve something really great there.
    hibou
    RS I have to disagree - it already is something that could become really special and the centre of a new Port Royal for the people of Sidmouth rather than part of a faceless money earning soul-less development which will benefit EDDC but not the people of Sidmouth. Where on earth will the Sailing Club and Lifeboat go if Port Royal is given (ie sold for a fortune) to developers? Port Royal is the residents bit of the Espalnade and needs to be developed for them. Sailing Club, Lifeboat, Town Square and Drill Hall Community building.
    Claire R
    I completely agree with hibou. Port Royal needs to be developed with vision. The Sailing click and lifeboat must be a priority. The development of Port Royal should reflect the sea heritage of Sidmouth and not benefit shareholders of an international company. Also the development must include sea defences for the mouth of the river, Pennington Point and Eastern Town. Could a harbour offer this? I think it could. EDDC will not have this vision I fear which is why the community must be heard.
    Rozzy G
    Agree with you Claire R , look at Axmouth & the small harbour there. Surely the sea defences for that area & the regeneration of that area are linked. One won't be of benefit without the other, & on a positive note Wow what an opportunity, we must get it right!!

    Streetlife | Have your say?

    See also:
    Futures Forum: "Regeneration and economic development" in East Devon >>> looking beyond the conventional, the ideological and the heavyhanded
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