Save Our Sidmouth

Category Archives: Knowle Watch


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‘Sidford Fields’ no longer….employment land allocation remains in Local Plan.

Please note that the adoption of the Local Plan will be considered at Full Council, on Thursday 28th January 2016. Public can attend.
Items b), h) and i) (highlighted, for your information) are of special interest to SOS, in this copy of Matthew Dickins’ letter sent out today:

‘Dear Sir or Madam

East Devon Local Plan and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule – Receipt of the Inspector’s Reports

I am pleased to advise of the receipt of the Inspectors reports into Examination of both the new East Devon Local Plan and the East Devon Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Charging Schedule. These reports may be viewed at the Council Offices in Sidmouth, at East Devon libraries and online at
http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/emerging-plans-and-policies/the-new-local-plan/local-plan-adoption
or follow hyperlink to Local Plan adoption – East Devon.

The Inspector concludes that the Local Plan is sound subject to ‘main modifications’, details of which can be viewed with copies of the report. Key matters highlighted in the Inspector’s report, that relates to the plan as submitted for examination and includes main modifications, include that:
a) the plan should cover the 2013 to 2031 period;
b) it is appropriate for the plan to provide for 17,100 new homes over this time period – this equates to 950 per year;
c) the strategy for distribution of development, with a focus on the West End, is appropriate;
d) the Council can show a five year housing land supply;
e) the plan makes appropriate provision for affordable housing;
f) the plan makes appropriate provision for jobs growth (noting links between job growth and housing provision);
g) the plan provides for protection of the natural environment and highlights that habitat mitigation is critical in respect of accommodating housing growth;
h) the Sidford employment land allocation should remain in the plan;
i) residential development at the Council offices site (at the Knowle) is appropriate as is the allocation boundary;
j) the plan should provide for gypsies and travellers at Cranbrook;
k) Chardstock and Dunkeswell should not feature in Strategy 27 of the plan; they should not be identified as villages to have a Built-up Area Boundary;
l) Land should not be safeguarded for a rail head at the Intermodal Interchange site.

On the Community Infrastructure Levy the Inspector approved the Draft Charging Schedule subject to the following modifications:
a) the retail CIL rate for Cranbrook should be reduced to £0 per square metre
b) the Cranbrook expansion areas charging zone map should be modified to include the New Community Partner’s proposed southern expansion area

Adoption of the Local Plan is due to be considered at a meeting of the Full Council on 28th January 2016. A separate report considering adoption of the CIL Charging Schedule will be considered in due course.

If you have any queries on the new Local Plan or the Community Infrastructure Levy please call the Planning Policy team on 01395 571533 or email localplan@eastdevon.gov.uk. If you no longer wish to receive communications from us or your details have changed pleases do advise us and we will update our database.

Yours faithfully

Matthew Dickins
Planning Policy Manager
East Devon District Council’


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Will Sidmouth, and East Devon, remain ‘an outstanding place’ , with EDDC’s Local Plan?

The statement below appeared today on the EDDC website. More announcements are expected after tomorrow’s verbal update (at DMC,Knowle,starting 10.a.m), with details of a Sidford business park and of the allocation of housing for Sidmouth.

’18 January 2016
Key milestone for East Devon’s Local Plan
Independent Planning Inspector confirms the plan is ‘sound’ subject to modifications
A key milestone has been reached with East Devon’s Local Plan following official confirmation from the independent Planning Inspector that the plan, subject to a number of modifications, is now ‘sound’.
This means that East Devon District Council can now move forward to formally adopt the Local Plan and the additional Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charging schedule. A meeting to adopt the plan is expected to take place at the end of January.
The Local Plan documents are the culmination of years of work as the Council has assessed many possible development sites and addressed thousands of consultation responses with communities and individuals across the district.
The document was comprehensively scrutinised by Planning Inspector Anthony Thickett who has made some modifications to the final plan which are essentially those that the Council consulted on last October and November with some amendments to these that he felt were necessary.
The Inspector’s main findings are:
• The target of 17,100 new homes between 2013 and 2031 is an appropriate housing need for the district and will meet the needs identified in the Council’s studies.
• The district will have a five- year housing land supply upon adoption of the plan and indeed already has such a supply. This means that settlement boundaries can be more rigorously defended from developers wishing to develop land that sits outside of the boundaries included in the plan.
• The identified need for 37 gypsy and traveller pitches is based on robust and reliable evidence.
• The proposed site allocations for homes and employment are appropriate including land at Winslade Park, Clyst St Mary and the allocation of East Devon District Council’s offices at the Knowle, Sidmouth.
The Inspector has also resolved to include the Sidford employment site that East Devon councillors asked to be removed from the Local Plan at a Council meeting in March 2015.
Explaining his decision in his report, he says: “It has been shown that there is neither a suitable site within Sidmouth nor a better one outside the town. I consider that any environmental impacts can be satisfactorily mitigated…..I consider the proposed allocation to be sound and I do not recommend its deletion.”
In relation to the identified need for 37 gypsy and traveller pitches, Mr Thickett says he understands concerns that up to 30 of these pitches are provided at Cranbrook. Mr Thickett adds: “There is nothing in the modified policy to require all 30 pitches to be in the same place and I have seen nor read anything to suggest that sites could not be developed in a way that would integrate satisfactorily with other development planned for Cranbrook.” The Council will continue to look at all options for the delivery of the gypsy and traveller sites and these will be allocated through a separate document to be consulted on later this year.
Cllr Paul Diviani, Leader of East Devon District Council, said he was pleased to see the Local Plan now moving forward.
He said: “The plan is a vital ‘blueprint’ for future growth and development in East Devon up to 2031, and will be used to decide planning applications, helping guide investment in infrastructure and give communities more certainty about how their part of the district will grow and develop during this period.
“I hope that our residents feel reassured that the local plan, when adopted, will give us full control over what development is permitted in the district and I am grateful to everyone who took the time to contribute to the many consultations that were held. They have helped to shape the future of the district.

“The plan has taken time to develop and we have had some demanding policy challenges along the way. However, it is crucial that we have the right plan in place to ensure that our outstanding environment is conserved and enhanced, and that new development can provide homes that people need, places for them to work and social and community facilities to support them in leading healthy, active and fulfilling lives.”

Mark Williams, East Devon District Council’s Chief Executive, said: “It is a pleasure to read a rational, proportionate and common sense assessment of the planning issues that the East Devon Local Plan addresses. We are grateful to Mr Thickett for the excellent work he has undertaken and now look forward to finally adopting the Local Plan.”
The Local Plan Inspector’s report is available on East Devon District Council’s website at http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/emerging-plans-and-policies/the-new-local-plan/local-plan-adoption/
The Inspector’s report into the Community Infrastructure Levy is available to read at http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/community-infrastructure-levy-cil/cil-adoption/’


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Councillors still waiting for release of Knowle relocation papers

A question at this week’s Full Council (16/12/2015) revealed that some Knowle sale documents have still not been made available to Councillors,despite the Tribunal ruling earlier this year.

Here is the question put to EDDC Leader, Paul Diviani, by Councillor Marianne Rixson (East Devon Alliance Independent, Sidmouth-Sidford Ward), with the answer received.

“Since 26th May 2015, more than 35 emails have been exchanged regarding release of all documents relating to the sale of the Knowle.
The last release of documents on the Members’ secure site was up to and including July 2015. An undertaking was made on 27th November to release documents to the end of October. We are still waiting. When will all documents finally be made available to all Members?”
Answer:
“The Council has committed to the public availability of documents wherever possible and that includes relocation papers. We receive many requests externally and from councillors for information and make best use of officer time to manage those requests.
In the case of relocation papers these have collectively and individually required detailed scrutiny by a number of officers to check confidentiality and completeness.
We have published many documents relating to our relocation plans going back as far as 2008. The first set of documents was published in early September 2015 and the remainder bringing us up to date will be published before Christmas. In other words, in the space of only 4 months officers have been able to collate, review and publish nearly eight years worth of documents on top of their other responsibilities.”

Cllr Rixson’s supplementary question to the Leader
“Your response that the Council receives ‘many requests externally and from councillors for information’ is disingenuous. Members are entitled to see these documents and, if they were routinely uploaded after each meeting, they would be immediately available. This should take no time at all as redaction is not necessary for Members. Your claims that these documents have ‘collectively and individually required detailed scrutiny by a number of officers to check confidentiality and completeness’ before publication are spurious.
Mr Cohen’s response dated 8th September to me stated, ‘Following the creation of this record of past documents, I am looking to publish key relocation documents on a more ‘real time’ basis .’ Why, despite this promise, is this still not happening? Will you fulfil this undertaking in future?
Finally, what does the Council Leader think that these continued long delays in releasing information that should be in the public domain do for his claims to be ‘open and transparent’?”

The gist of the Leader’s reply to the supplementary question, was that Cllr Rixson was criticising officers. This doesn’t seem to be the case.

Some background, from EDDC website:

Council prepares to release documents that sparked tribunal

6 May 2015

Council prepares to release documents that sparked tribunal

‘Lessons will be learned from conduct of appeal after chairman’s criticism

East Devon District Council has started making preparations to release documents containing background information about the proposed move of the council’s offices away from Knowle.

This follows a ruling by an appeal tribunal, calling on the council to divulge the information, but recognising the council’s case that some sensitive words or passages should be blocked out – or ‘redacted’.

Whilst welcoming the tribunal’s recognition that there was some justification for withholding certain types of information, the council will, as instructed, now move to make public all six documents – with those redactions.

A council spokesman said:

> We respect the tribunal’s decision and will of course abide by their verdict. We are sorry that the tribunal chairman found our conduct of the appeal to be unhelpful.

> It’s quite clear that lessons need to be taken away from this experience. These lessons can and will be learned and steps will be taken at the very earliest opportunity to look at the conduct of our appeal.

> In any form of partnership working, each partner has to respect the commercial sensitivity of certain information. This can be a difficult balancing act and we have to reflect on the fact that in this case we may not have got that balance right. We will therefore be reviewing our approach to protecting confidential information and we will be introducing new steps to improve transparency.

EDDC is currently reviewing all relevant documents with a view to publishing those that the tribunal has called for, plus any others that are no longer commercially sensitive.’

Finally, a further reminder of the Tribunal findings here: https://saveoursidmouth.com/2015/05/05/tribunal-qc-makes-special-mention-of-discourteous-and-unhelpful-conduct-of-the-appellant-eddc/