The following letter appears on the Opinion page in the current edition of the Sidmouth Herald (16th September 2016) :
“Sir
I have emailed the Chief Planning Officer at East Devon District Council urging him, for the following reasons, either to recommend refusal of the PegasusLife application to build a giant retirement complex at Knowle Park, Sidmouth or to call for the applicant to re-submit with major changes:
1.recently uploaded documents show that PegasusLife have ignored his and the public’s concerns about the close proximity to a listed building of two massive 60-foot high apartment blocks on the park lawns and also about the massing, scale and bulk of the development in relation to the public park and to nearby residential properties.
2.new photomontages from the applicant show that the Design Review Panel’s report (submitted earlier but upon which EDDC is minded to justify approval) is based on false artistic impressions. The attached photomontage, for instance, taken from page 26 of PegasusLife’s new Design Access Statement (document 2391416), shows the height of the proposed buildings on Knowle Drive to be roughly twice that suggested in the artist’s impression.
Michael Temple, Sidmouth’
SOS note: The author,Mike Temple,is a founder member of the East Devon Alliance, EDA, which since the May 2015 elections, has the lion’s share of the Independent Group at EDDC.
Save Our Sidmouth 
Pingback: Pegasus Life documents do not give true picture of buildings proposed at Knowle, EDDC told. | Deirdre Dee Coaching
September 19, 2016 at 12:07 pm
The images shown are the wrong ones. Please see doc 2391416 page 26 on EDDC planning website uploaded this August, which shows Pegasusife’s own photomontage.
September 19, 2016 at 3:39 pm
Apologies, Mike. Post now updated with correct photomontages.
September 26, 2016 at 10:30 pm
Oh that we are seduced by an ‘artists impression’ instead of an accurate view – as is possible with computerised systems! For the avoidance of doubt (as some feel it necessary to state) Holbein’s presentation to Henry VIII or his prospective Queen leaned heavily on the impression (through a mirror darkly?) as against the reality reported by the Regent, and for the more modern, the representation by Landseer of Culzean Castle – standing atop a massive cliff to dominate the seascape, is taking fictional license to the extreme. To be clear, an artist’s impression is solely in the MIND of the artist and not related to actuality. To think that the impression relates to reality is to believe that a political manifesto is what an elected government will actually do and deliver. But you, like me, have the absolute right to believe anything we like. A belief is not a statement of fact, nor yet a certainty of action. And it is so binding that it can be changed as often as underwear – as necessary.
If Pegasus are so confident, let them invest in a digital 3D mapping of the present development and the proposed one, and let us see what the actuality is. But spare us from impressions please!