Save Our Sidmouth


by Leave a comment

EDDC taken to High Court today over Cloakham Lawns Development at Axminster

On Radio Devon this morning, lawyer and planning consultant, Charlie Hopkins  said that EDDC had  “acted unlawfully” over the controversial Cloakham Lawns Development at Axminster.
He is representing the Save our Parkland group of Axminster residents who are appealing in the High Court today against the planning approval granted to Axminster Carpets  to build 400 houses and industrial units on the greenfield site they own on the edge of the town. The plan is widely opposed by Axminster councillors and residents.
The case against EDDC is that they wrongly used the draft Local Plan to approve the development, and that they “acted unlawfully” in suggesting to the applicants that they should bring forward their plans in advance of the draft Local Plan being fully consulted upon in the town. It could cost EDDC (i.e. us!) up to £100,000 to defend their decision.


by Leave a comment

SOS Public Meetings to be held on 19th December, and on 7th January.

Dates for the next Public Meetings, in Sidford and in Sidmouth, are as follows:

 Wed, 19th Dec 2012, 7.30pm at Sidford Social Hall

 Mon, 7th Jan 2013, 7.30pm at Knowle, Sidmouth

Agenda will include:

-updates on the SOS Campaign

-the implications of EDDC’s twice revised Outline Planning Application for Knowle

-the Local Plan (particularly the proposed employment site on Sidford Fields floodplain and EDDC’s plans for Port Royal)


by 2 Comments

Decision on Knowle postponed for SECOND time.

East Devon District Council, (EDDC),  have once again deferred the decision to be made by their Development Management Committee, on their own application to build on the Knowle Parkland in Sidmouth, Devon. It will therefore NOT be discussed, as had been expected, at next Tuesday’s DMC meeting(2pm, 4th December at Knowle). 

The original application  to  demolish the existing HQ for EDDC and build 50 houses and a 60 bed Care home was made in August 2012, with a date of 9th September for objections to the proposals to be submitted.

This Outline Planning Application was amended and re published on October 16th, with a date of 16th November for objections to the proposals. This was a very unusual event: Outline Planning Applications are amended only rarely. The cause was errors and deficiencies in the information supplied by the Applicant, (EDDC).. A new set of application documents was issued. 

The EDDC Officer’s Report recommended that the proposal be approved.

The Save Our Sidmouth Campaign, comprising the Sid Vale Association, the Sidmouth Chamber of Commerce  and the Futures Forum, examined these documents and again found numerous errors relating to the legal need for  additional environmental surveys and in the calculation of job losses. (As an example, EDDC stated that 33 jobs would be lost, but this used erroneous data and the figure is much higher). 

Because of these errors, once again the Application is to be re-advertised, a new Report is to be prepared and the Development Management Committee is to meet on the 8th January  2013 to review the Application.

From Tuesday 4th December, the revised report will be available at the Council’s website at www.eastdevon.gov.uk/publicaccess/ and at the Council Offices, Knowle, Sidmouth or Sidmouth Town Council Offices between 8.30am and 5.00pm. Comments on the revised report can be made through the website or in writing to the Council Offices (see address mentioned above). Deadline for comments:  Monday 17th December. Mention the reference: HN3/12/1847/MOUT.

SOS has always opposed the application and said that additionally the support documentation and evidence base is flawed.

The fact that the OPA has now been advertised three times reinforces our views.