Sidmouth resident Peter Whitfield is concerned by the reply from EDDC’s Information and Complaints Officer,Kate Symington, to his recent Request for information (ref 369093).

He asked EDDC
1. How many rooms in the old hotel/apartments building are currently in use as offices:
a. On the ground floor?
b. On the first floor?
c. On the second floor?

2. How many staff currently work in these rooms?

In her reply on behalf of EDDC, on July 1st 2015, Kate Symington wrote:
” I can confirm that, as at the last count (Jan 15), there were 375 officers listed as being based at the Knowle,” but said in a following e-mail to Mr Whitfield, on the 7th July,
“I am sorry but we do not hold information on how many officers are based within each room. Most of the numbered rooms on the floor plans provided are used as office space.”

SOS finds this state of affairs extraordinary. As Mr Whitfield says,”So we don’t really know where our staff actually work! What happens when checking after a building emergency evacuation?
There are about 115 numbered rooms on the three floors but I don’t believe that number are used as working offices. As “office space” maybe, but we still don’t know haw many staff are actually affected by the “not fit for purpose” old building.”

Summary from SOS Chair, Richard Thurlow:

The Public Examination was held last week. As the Inspector had said, he did not allocate any further time to discussion of Housing or Employment land at Sidmouth. At last Wednesday’s session, there was a general discussion of the EDDC housing numbers in the District. Developers argued that the 17,100 houses allocated in the plan period was insufficient. Others, notably the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), advocated a lower number. Developers also asked for a higher allocation in the seven East Devon towns. The Inspector will make his decision in due course.