Knowle relocation project: StreetScene moves to Manstone >>> "There is no mention of how much office construction would cost: it MUST be added in to relocation costs."

The District Council wants housing to be built on its Manstone Depot site:
Futures Forum: Manstone Depot: "The council has a growing appetite to build its own council housing."

Much of this was made clear in an FOI request - which showed that the District Council wanted to build its own housing on the site:
East Devon District Council bid to develop Manstone site - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow

It never happened.

And one reason was that an alternative to the District Council building housing was to have a developer do it for them - but this never happened:
Futures Forum: Plans for Manstone: the draft Local Plan and 20 new homes >>> but no buyers and no affordable housing

In fact it was understood that no one was interested in the Manstone site:

And no interest has been shown in the council’s Manstone depot so that cannot contribute to the moving bill.

East Devon District Council cites “commercial sensitivity” as reason to keep tight-lipped over move to Honiton and Exmouth | Exeter Express and Echo
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: "East Devon District Council has ditched its plan to move to Skypark near to Exeter airport from its current headquarters in Knowle in Sidmouth."

However, more has been revealed with the release of the Savills' report on the bidding process:
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: full Pegasus contract published

And here is the full set of appendices.

What they show is that PegasusLife became the 'preferred developer' - even though the other offer included housing at Manstone.

Furthermore, as this comment points out:

Page 33 [of the Appendices] - The weighting of factors: financial return 75%, likelihood of planning success 5% and imposition of conditions (e.g. S106 payments) 5%. 
This means the whole bidding process was skewed in favour of a bidder offering more money even if their bid was likely to fail planning and if it represented a poor deal for the wider community.

And the agents Savills had warned that the PegasusLife was very likely to fail planning.

So, the site has ended up with no housing as laid out in the Local Plan.

It seems, though, that this site is to be 'shared':
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: and mixed use development
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: and another departure from the Local Plan >>> Manstone Depot planning application 16/2526/FUL

With a successful planning application going through late last year:
16/2526/FUL | Construction of single storey office building. | The Council Yard Manstone Avenue Sidmouth EX10 9TN

A fortnight ago, in the "Budget: Relocation and General Fund" section of the Overview & Scrutiny Cttees' agenda, the intentions of the District Council became a little clearer:

"Knowle Depot to Manstone relocation & improvement. Complete the relocation of the gardener’s depot offices from Knowle (Streetscene operations East HQ) to Manstone depot.

Once the office is located there, plan works to ensure the waste segregation and treatment meets EA requirements. Undertake other improvements required to update the site, making it a fit for purpose depot base for operations east into the future. Implement the same principles used at Camperdown to make the whole environment flexible and accessible with touchdown spaces for collaborative working. Formalise the ability for services to use our touchdown space."

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/media/1976461/180117-joint-overview-scrutiny-agenda-combined.pdf

[page 46]

At the same time, a new FOI request asked for clarification of the situation - specifically asking for documentation relating to the decision to build an office block, but not housing:
Manstone - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow

Last week, the District Council's Planning Dept provided some further answers:

> Could you let me know why this application was not more widely advertised, especially now “the public consultation period for this application has ended”.

"We advertised the application widely via individual letters sent to 21 surrounding neighbours, via the erection of a site notice, and via press adverts in both the Midweek Herald and Sidmouth Herald."

> Could you let me know how planning application 16/2526/FUL will impact on the District Council’s allocation under the Local Plan to build 20 dwellings at the Manstone Depot site.

"There is no impact upon the allocation that remains in place. Residential development on the site can still come forward at any time and it is not projected (in our 5 year housing land supply) that the site start to will deliver housing until 2022-23."


However, the Planning Dept could not offer answers when it came to the bigger question of the relocation project:

> Could you let me know how planning application 16/2526/FUL will impact on the District Council’s allocation under the Local Plan to build 20 dwellings at the Manstone Depot site.The site is now clearly part of the District Council’s relocation project.
This application represents the relocation of one of the key departments from the Knowle site – and yet there has been no mention in the Moving and Improving site pages: Moving and Improving: all you need to know about the office relocation - East Devon
And I am unable to find any other information about this relocation of the Estates Department elsewhere.
> Could you provide me with any such references to this project (other than the planning application itself), either as documentation or weblinks.
> And could you provide me with the full and exact costings for this planning application: the building costs of the new offices and where the finance for this project will be coming from.

"With regard to your other questions regarding non-planning references to this project and costings, this is not within the knowledge of the planning department so I can only suggest that you contact our Streetscene department (who run the depot), or the relocation project lead."

As one commentator notes: 

There is no mention of how much office construction would cost ( though I suspect it may be just a Portakabin!).
However much, it MUST be added in to relocation costs.

The District Council insists, however, that this is part of its costing:

"The transfer of depot activities is an existing costed element of the relocation project and, as such, included within the independent and positive cost modelling of relocation."

‘Dismay’ at office plan on Sidmouth site allocated for affordable homes - News - Sidmouth Herald

A new FOI request has been submitted:
Costing the relocating of the Estates Dept to Manstone - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow

And here are a couple of - still outstanding - FOI requests dealing with similar issues:
Costs to date of Knowle, Honiton and Exmouth relocation exercise - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow
Business case for Knowle relocation project – 1st February 2017 - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow
Business case for Knowle relocation project - a Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council - WhatDoTheyKnow
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