Plans for Port Royal: questions to be raised at full District Council meeting > Wednesday 25th July

The District Council is keen on 'regeneration' - even if the rest of us are not:
Futures Forum: Plans for Port Royal: anticipating a Regeneration Board >> "What were all these plans, meetings and consultations actually FOR? What we are ending up with is nothing like what was initially planned, or discussed or consulted on."

Their web pages enthuse:
Regeneration projects - East Devon

With considerable 'achievements' boasted of in Exmouth:
Exmouth - Achievements - East Devon
Regeneration projects in Exmouth - East Devon

And loads of jobs brought to Seaton:
Seaton regeneration - East Devon
Regeneration projects in Seaton - East Devon

And it's coming to Sidmouth - although considerably scaled down from earlier ambition, which might be a good thing... 

It became clear during the scoping study that to deliver all the mix of uses including new homes and retaining the active existing facilities of a lifeboat station and sailing club, a building of five storeys would be needed on the site. The scale of such a development has been ruled out.

However, that has meant saying goodbye to the promises of the Local Plan and the potential of the historic site: 

The scoping study, which was carried out by consultants on behalf of the councils, identified that while there could be significant development in the area, there were major challenges too, including providing affordable homes, historical covenant restrictions and flood risk in the area.

Which means that all that is going to happen is the selling off of the Drill Hall - with no contextual overview of the larger Port Royal site: 

The district council will commission a marketing exercise to invite investor interest in redeveloping the Drill Hall site. The council bought the site which enabled the proceeds to be reinvested in a new drill hall for Sidmouth and the council wants to see a return on the investment. East Devon will work closely with the town council on the marketing of the site in a similar way to the successful partnership that has operated so far.

The Drill Hall site will be marketed for six months to allow both commercial and non-commercial bids to come forward. It is expected that the site will be marketed from the Spring.

Port Royal - East Devon
Regeneration projects in Sidmouth - East Devon

It is understood that serious questions are to be asked about development at Port Royal - by both Councillors and members of the public - at the next full District Council meeting up on Wednesday:
Agenda for Counci - lWednesday, 25 July 2018
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