Dear Friends,
Mainly a list of links about
the Port Royal Scoping Exercise to allow you to read for yourselves.
EDDC press release
EDDC consultation update
EDDC Consultants' survey results
The survey results should
really be read in conjunction with the survey as their indication of the actual
question answered is sketchy. The survey is no longer available on the EDDC
website ...... fortunately it is available here ;-)
When you do read both together you
can see why the results seem so jumbled and in some cases contradictory.
Comments against something turn up where people have allegedly voted
for the thing, and visa versa. The survey is not fit for purpose as it
doesn't permit people to make their views clear.
A really clear example
of how badly the survey was worded is shown in question 6, which reads 'How much do you agree or disagree with the new and
improved facilities for Sidmouth Lifeboat happening on the Port Royal allocated
site?' The underlying assumption seems to be that the current facilities
will be removed, but that is not explicitly stated so some people will guess one
thing and some another.
Unless you know what is in their mind the meaning of
their answer will not be clear to you.
On top of that they ask two questions
in one, using the same answer for both 'new' and 'improved' facilities as if
they meant the same thing.
So ...... if you think the current provision is
about right do you 'disagree'? Could that be seen to suggest you don't want a
lifeboat or that you don't want it there? They also say THE new and improved
facilities, but don't detail what THE facilities will be. These are basic errors
when formulating a survey and similar errors appear in almost every
question.
So many additional consultants have been brought in to assist
Jillings-Heynes that I find it difficult to understand why they did not use an
expert to draw up the survey.
They have also not reported the number of
people who said that the survey did not allow clear views to be expressed, and I
know several who did say that. We need to press our Councillors to release the
raw data and we also need an explanation of how they chose to make sense of
it.
Last thought: why, when Sidmouth Town Council is the leader in this
Exercise, do we have to go to the East Devon District Council website to search
for information? Why aren't there at least links on STC as soon as on EDDC?
Perhaps they think we are not really interested?
Kind regards,
Mary |
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