Why doesn't someone do another wrap around View from Seaton?

Marilyn (see comment below) asks the sensible question: Why doesn't Stand Up 4 Seaton or some other group do a similar wrap around to the one Terry Dinham did on View from Seaton?

Well, Marilyn, we are doing our best but our limited funds mean that we have been able to afford only one half page black-and-white ad in this week's View (2 January) as that was all we could afford with our limited funds - Terry Dinham has literally millions of pounds to play with and a wrap around is a drop in the ocean for him and his backers.

We are having thousands of leaflets printed at the moment so that one goes to each home in Seaton and also to surrounding areas (hopefully: volunteer to deliver by contacting us at:axevalleyrocks@yahoo.co.uk) before our two days of information and advice at the Town Hall on 9 and 10 January 2007. These have only been possible thanks to various donations we have received - including Seaton Licensees Association and a number of people who wish to remain anonymous - including local business people.

However, the local tradespeople should surely be getting together and doing SOMETHING that's for sure. But here we come to the problem that within the last couple of years the local Chamber of Commerce was expelled from the national group and split into no less than three new groups (or possibly even more - I've lost count). Many traders were disenchanted and refused to join any of the new groups. None of the groups seems to have the membership or the "oomph" to do anything and Liatris is exploiting this weakness.

Many of these traders will lose business either when the holiday camp closes (and don't underestimate the value of these tourists to the town - they spend a lot of money in Seaton) or when the supermarket and DIY store open within a year or two of planning permission being granted and when new coffee shops, restaurants or cafes open on the new site.

Some I have spoken to are totally unconcerned and seem to be of the opinion that nothing much will change and they will be able to carry on as usual. They say "Well, there will be a new housing estate and that will bring us business" - no, it won't - it will have the supermarket and the DIY store on its doorstep and unless we can find upwards of 1,000 jobs in and around Seaton for these people they will be retired or second homers and will make little impact on the "old" town - and we will have lost the long-stay tourists.

Few seem to have understood just what a really hard time Seaton is in for if this plan is accepted when, for two or three years we will have NO holiday village, NO tramway (whilst it is rerouted), NO Visitors Centre, NO parking, a huge building site and 60-90 lorries coming through Seaton 10 hours per day six hours per week for 2-3 years with infill and 1-2 years with construction materials. And after that when we have only day trippers and "shopping as leisure" (as long as you stay less than 3 hours in the supermarket car park). Traders should be gearing up to fight back NOW.

And, by the way, who is buying the empty shops in Seaton and why are they not open? If this is a thriving town that won't suffer if a big supermarket and DIY store come here surely some of them should be selling something by now - unless the developer has bought them!