Drop ‘Regency Town’ tag urges Sidmouth campaigner
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Sidmouth’s ‘regency town’ tag is holding it back and should
be dropped, according to the former chair of a group trying to create a vision
for its future.
Robert Crick said constant references to the
Regency Period in documents from East Devon District Council (EDDC) were giving
a misleading impression of Sidmouth.
Mr Crick, a former chairman and member of Vision Group for
Sidmouth, said in a talk at Wednesday’s monthly Chamber of Commerce breakfast
there were a lot of other things to be proud of in the town.
He asked “What’s so marvellous about the regency era anyway?”
The former university professor said the only literary
reference to the town during the period is in Percy Shelley’s poem ‘The Masque
of Anarchy’, where Home Secretary during the Peterloo Massacre Viscount
Sidmouth is in the guise of ‘hypocrisy’.
He said there were 188 listed buildings within a kilometre of
the seafront, and very few of them were built in the Regency Period.
Mr Crick said: “It’s a town full of 1930’s bungalows, and
what’s wrong with that? We should celebrate the fact Sidmouth is a good place
for old people to live.”
After breaking out into several verses of an ancient peasant
song, he said the draft EDDC ‘Local Plan’, which sets out housing and
industrial figures for the next 15 years, focuses far too much on the ‘regency
town’ tag.
He said it was evocative of large seafront developments, and
could be used to justify high-rise building in Sidmouth in the future,
something the town doesn’t need.
The Vision Group for Sidmouth member, which was set up in
2005 to create and champion a ‘vision for the future’, said the town needs to
make more use of the Jurassic Coast on its doorstep.
He ended the talk by asking the assembled business men and
women of the town if they had any ideas for a new tagline for Sidmouth, which
accurately portrayed its features and what it wanted from the future.
SIDMOUTH: Is there a future for Sidmouth?
By Huw Hennessy
28th January 2011
Sidmouth needs to stand up to defend its future but
rediscover its grassroots, according to the chairman of the Vision Group for
Sidmouth, a voluntary forum for the town's development.
Robert Crick made his call to action in his talk “Is there a future for a
town with a past?” held at the Manor Pavilion last week - the first in this
year’s series of Sid Vale Association lectures.
Professor Crick, former vice-chancellor of the University of Middlesex,
pointed out that he was speaking in his personal capacity, and that his views
should not be taken as those of the Vision Group itself.
Starting with global warming, Professor Crick gave examples of places
around the world that have been devastated by the forces of nature.
Could the same fate await the little town of Sidmouth? “Look at the fate of
Timbuktu, lost in the desert, or of Hallsands, inexorably eroded away by the
sea,” he said.
Regarding Sidmouth’s own risk of going the same way, Professor Crick
pinpointed threats to the town: from flooding to excessive new housing, to
cars, all of which needed to be challenged, he said.
“Sidmouth has no town plan, no community flood plan, no planning brief for
the Eastern Town, no Local Development Framework, and no Shoreline Management
Plan from East Devon District Council.”
On the risk of the town flooding, he said that the Sid Vale Association
played a “significant role” in having the Shoreline Management Plan adopted by
the Environment Agency, only to see it thwarted by East Devon District
Council.
On parking, he countered the recent, successful challenge to the proposed
parking meters on Sidmouth High Street, saying “Parking meters? Yes please”,
adding: “When people insist on parking overnight in the pedestrian precinct,
and deliberately over-stay on time-limited parking places preventing people
from stopping in town it may be time for a campaign.”
The much-used tag of “Regency Sidmouth” also came under scrutiny.
“As we embrace our past, let us also get hold of all its rich diversity and
complexity.
“Sidmouth’s image should not be reduced to ‘a Regency town’ and its current
role should be recognised as more than ‘a tourist industry’. The human scale of
Regency architecture, the terraces, gardens and esplanade are a wonderful
heritage but do we really want to shackle Sidmouth forever to a fake and
partial version of the Regency period?” he asked.
On the long-awaited development of the Port Royal area at the mouth of the
River Sid, he said: “Last year, a group of local volunteers with relevant
expertise prepared a brief for this area; this was submitted after one year of
work, but never put before our elected representatives, who had commissioned
it.
“Whoever controls the EDDC agenda made it clear that they do not want a
comprehensive plan nor any public consultation over alternative concepts, but
seek only an opportunity to flog off the eastern esplanade for a developer to
build as high and as deep as possible, without considering any reconfiguration
of the surrounding area or the impact on local businesses and
infrastructure.
“This is land that was originally given to the people of Sidmouth by
Victorian Unitarian philanthropists but which has now been repossessed by the
governors at the Knowle for short term gain.”
Turning to shops, Professor Crick was equally damning about the advance of
major retail chains. To counter the chain stores, he called on the townspeople
to join in the growing number of grassroots activities, including the monthly
farmer's market, as well as a new woodland co-operative, which held its first
local working day on Salcombe Hill last weekend.
On combating climate change, the audience was urged to see the positive
side: “How delightful our town will be when the oil runs out and extremes
of weather force us to rediscover old skills and old relationships and enjoy
conversations on car-free street corners and we won’t have to airbrush out the
cars on pictures of Fortfield Terrace.”
Mr Crick continued: “Sidmouth needs to return to its roots: it needs
a local food security plan, allotments and a community garden; Sidmouth’s young people need “green” jobs; Sidmouth needs a task force to
retrofit old buildings with insulation; Sidmouth needs renewable energy
facilities; Sidmouth needs a local currency; community interest fund; an energy
descent plan, traffic survey, and more.”
Concluding with a twist on a familiar refrain, Professor Crick sounded a
positive note.
“Can the people of this valley meet the serious challenges facing us? In
the words of Bob, not the Banker, but the Builder: Can we fix it? Bob the
Builder! Yes, we can.”
After the lecture, questions from the audience covered parking, primary
schools, affordable housing, and the felling of trees.
One member of the audience said that he had “never heard such a devastating
criticism of East Devon District Council”, but Professor Crick insisted that he
also acknowledged the “good things” they do for the town.
Alan Darrant, Secretary of the Sid Vale Association, thanked Prof Crick for
his lecture, adding his summary.
“With respect to the way the future development of the town is going,” he
said, “we're at fault.
“We need to be constantly vocal. We've got to think. Robert has got under
our skins this afternoon – good. Sidmouth has always changed, but it needs to be
in response to what the townspeople agree with.
“We must raise our voices again and again and again.”
39 Comments
