Save Our Sidmouth

Category Archives: SOS in the Media


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Private Eye mourns Piloti, as does Save Our Sidmouth

As we await the Inspector’s imminent decision on the Knowle, SOS supporters may remember that Private Eye championed Sidmouth in its Nooks and Corners column in the early days of our campaign. https://saveoursidmouth.com/2012/09/24/save-our-sidmouth-campaign-hits-private-eye/

Some of you may already have heard that the much-respected Professor Gavin Stamp, well-known as the Eye’s ‘Piloti’,  has recently died.  https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-professor-gavin-stamp-private-eye-s-piloti-and-a-tireless-campaigner-for-preserving-historic-buildings-1-4656884

 

 


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Who do you want to represent us? Quiz Devon County Council candidates at hustings TONIGHT, 7pm, Sidford Social Hall

All six candidates have been invited to answer the public’s questions at tonight’s hustings, organised by the Sidford-Sidbury Residents’ Group. Don’t miss this chance to assess who will be your best choice.

Jeannie Alderdice (Green)

Ray Davison (Labour)

Stuart Hughes (Conservative)

Lewis Ragbourn (Liberal Democrats)

Marianne Rixson (Independent East Devon Alliance)

Richard Wright (UKIP)

Whatever happens at national level, your vote at the local Devon County (DCC) elections on 4th May will affect your daily life.  Sid Valley has experience of this, having being let down by a flawed County Highways report, which initially supported a proposed Business Park site at Sidford. The report was only re-assessed, and the proposal rejected, after massive public pressure inspired by meticulous research from our newly elected District Councillors and the Sid Vale Association (a founder-member of the Save Our Sidmouth, SOS, campaign).

As reported in the Sidmouth Herald (14 April 2017), the date limit for an appeal on the Business Park refusal expired on 27th March 2017. Richard Thurlow, Chair of the Sid Vale Association (SVA) Conservation and Planning Committee , is quoted as saying, “We were all delighted when the application was refused in September last year, but there was always the  chance that the decision might be appealed. We can now feel relieved that this ‘Sword of Damocles’ has been lifted. However, the site still exists in the Local Plan as an ’employment site’ and we must still be aware that other proposals might come forward–and we must be prepared to fight them if they do.”

Meanwhile, South West Water began drilling boreholes on the ’employment site’ in January this year. Results of their testing for water quality, apparently relating to a possible new supply for a rapidly expanding Sidmouth, are awaited.


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Turning our backs on 2016. Raising a glass to the New Year!

As the New Year approaches, some seasonal left-overs require some imagination. For SOS they include the turkey of EDDC’s relocation project, and the mincemeat that was made of the relocation budget, for its uncertainty and overspends, by Opposition Councillors and members of the public*, at the final Full Council meeting of 2016. That meeting (21 Dec, at Knowle) is pictured below, viewed  from near the microphone stand used for public question time. (See link  below**, for comments on this seating / speaking/ arrangement.)

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With seasonal irony, Sidmouth Town Ward  Member, Cathy Gardner (Leader of East Devon Alliance), spoke of a revelation by Deputy EDDC Leader, Andrew Moulding as “a miracle”.  She was drawing attention to  Cllr  Moulding’s surprise statement a few days earlier, (rather oddly included in a press release on Sidmouth’s beach management plan), that the District Council’s relocation project is “cost-neutral”.  Cllr Moulding, looking serious and possibly flustered, did not respond, and disappointingly was not asked to do so by the Chair, Stuart Hughes. But councillors and the public alike will presumably want to know what change has brought about this new “cost-neutral” stance.

No doubt all will become clear as 2017 unfolds..

Happy New Year to all who have contributed to the Save Our Sidmouth campaign (There’s a reminder of actions and progress timetabled on the OUR CAMPAIGN page). 2016 has seen curtailed two major developments planned for the Sid Valley : a large Sidford Business Park on a floodplain, with highways problems; and at Knowle, a change from major employment land to restricted (over 60’s) residential use.  The outcome may result in a more appropriate type and scale of development to secure Sidmouth’s  future as a unique, balanced community and tourist town. But SOS is very aware that the Port Royal and seafront ‘regeneration’, in EDDC’s hands, will be key.

So let’s raise a New Year glass to continued active public support for our new EDDC local representatives; to the Neighbourhood Plan Team born of the refreshed Town Council http://www.sidmouth.gov.uk/index.php/neighbourhood-plan ; and to all other Voluntary Groups, notably the  Sid Vale Association http://sidvaleassociation.org.uk and Vision Group for Sidmouth http://futuresforumvgs.blogspot.co.uk  , and the recently established Sid Valley Residents’  group https://www.facebook.com/sayNOtoSidfordBusinessPark/.  All contribute to ensuring that those responsible for re-shaping the Sid Valley, led by Cllr Andrew Moulding, and Deputy CEO Richard Cohen, will get things right.

*https://saveoursidmouth.com/2016/12/22/eddc-relocation-has-hallmarks-of-a-dodgy-project-full-council-is-advised/

**https://saveoursidmouth.com/2016/12/22/eddc-majority-turn-their-backs-on-the-public-yet-again/