5 February 2019 - East Devon District Council taking up residence at its new Honiton HQ - East Devon
Which might be better than where it was originally planned for:
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."
The problem with Honiton is that it is actually not at all 'central' to the District:
It has been pointed out more than once, that it's about what serves the population of the District best:
“Centrality” was one of the original reasons for relocating to Honiton, even though Honiton is further from the average East Devon resident than Sidmouth.
R J Thurlow, Chair, Save our Sidmouth
Knowle relocation “far too risky in the current economic climate” . | Save Our Sidmouth
"SIR – When promoting the move from Sidmouth to Honiton, East Devon District Council (EDDC) argues that Sidmouth is inconvenient for many people in East Devon while Honiton is much more central. Let me explode that myth...
The District’s populations are clustered around the coast. I looked at the numbers of people living in each East Devon ward and calculated the distance and travel time from each ward to Sidmouth or Honiton (using a TomTom SatNav to give shortest route and time for that route).
On average, an East Devon resident might travel 9 miles to Sidmouth or 11.1 miles to Honiton. So an EDDC move to Honiton would add 19% to the typical journey. The time taken for travel averages 26.5 minutes to Sidmouth or 29.6 minutes to Honiton – a 10% increase if EDDC moves."
Robin Fuller, Sidmouth
Home - Sidmouth Herald
Exploding some myths re. Knowle relocation. | Save Our Sidmouth
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: comparing the Sidmouth and Honiton/Exmouth options
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: and the politics of maps ..... "What I have found most difficult to understand is why EDDC ever decided to base itself in Sidmouth where over 50 per cent of the area covered by a 20 mile diameter is in the English Channel."
Moving as far away as possible from the hoi poloi is possibly the point:
One has to wonder why the leadership at East Devon seems so desperate to leave Sidmouth.
Is it because of the constant thorn in their side - represented by the 'serial critics' of the Sid Vale?
The Leader of the District Council certainly seems irked by the volume coming from objectors:
Futures Forum: Knowle relocation project: the letters of objection
Futures Forum: "Who will rid me of this turbulent Sidmouth?!" ... or ... moving your capital and " running away from the issues"
And so it is, as reported today in the East Devon Watch blog:
TREK TO NEW EDDC HQ IN THE EVENING IF YOU WANT TO BE A COUNCILLOR …
28 FEB 2019
Just one small point. If you don’t have a car and no buses are running in the early or late evening (as happens now) how do you get to Blackout House (sic) for this meeting (or any other meeting for that matter) from Exmouth, Axminster, Seaton, Colyton or any outlying villages? Only Cranbrook and Sidmouth are served by late (after 5 pm) direct buses, and a train journey would be horrendously expensive.
Trek to new EDDC HQ in the evening if you want to be a councillor … | East Devon Watch
.
.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment