Three miscellaneous bits
1. The Sidmouth lifeboat dummies (complaint received that they are available for fundraising all year but others don't have that opportunity). EDDC Corporate Overview Committee voted unanimously for them last night to stay and will recommend this to the Licensing Committee and a final decision will be made at a FULL COUNCIL MEETING OF EDDC. Just remember that the decision about the Liatris development can be made by the 14 or 16 EDDC Councillors on the Development Control Committee (on the advice of unelected EDDC officers) who do not (as far as I am aware) have to refer it to a full council meeting. That's democracy.
2. A correspondent has suggested that people might want to write to Prince Charles about what is happening in Seaton, given how interested he is in town design. Well, you all know his address: HRH Prince Charles, c/o Buckingham Palace, London SW1A 1AA.
3. Some of you might also want to remind our local MP - Hugo Swire - just how many of us are against this development - we have spoken to him but he may have forgotten us as he doesn't get to Seaton these days, Sidmouth being as far as he will go. His address is similar: House of Commons, London SW1A 1AA (pity the poor postman who has this postcode's delivery run). However, as we are now not officially in his constituency (only until the next election but not during it) we should be writing to Angela Browning (same address) whose constituency we will be in - but who is retiring at the next election. Take your pick - perhaps send letters to them both.
posted by Fighting for East Devon's future @ 1:44 pm
4 Comments:
Great idea Sandra:
1) Prince Charles. Funnily enough I was going to write to him this year to tell him what a complete mess Poundbury is and he should be ashamed. Maybe I'll write about Seaton first, leave it a couple of months, then tell him about Poundbury.
2) What a mess! I shall write to both. Maybe this time, Hugo might reply......
I thought I would clarify what is wrong with Poundbury: My parents live in Dorchester, so I know quite a lot about it.
1) Despite the fact that it was built on greenfield sites which I am appauled at, the housing designs and street designs are not too bad.
2) They have (as usual for any housing development) packed in houses. Many have 3 floors. It's very claustrophobic.
3) They have office/commercial buildings mixed in and these are difficult to destinguish from the houses. They are too minced up together, with no clear definintion of either.
4) There is precious little affordable housing. They have tagged on a tiny amount near the end. The locals are furious. The whole point of Poundbury was to allow for affordable housing, which is desperatley needed.
5) They have no supermarket (stick with me on this one). They have effecively built a new small town, but have not allowed for the provision that the people living in the houses need to buy food. Ok, there is a small Spar type shop, and a very expensive delicatessen, but nothing else. The main Tesco in Dorchester is busy all the time (luckily its 24 hours) but I've been there on a Monday morning when most supermarkets are dead, and it almost as busy as a Saturday. The Tesco have applied many times to expand, but they have been denied.
6) According to the locals a lot of the houses are second homes, bought by Londoners wanting "a bit of country" at the weekend.
So, overall, its not great. There are a lot of very very unhappy people in Dorchester.....
I have to say I hate Poundbury - but that's just me. I think it is trying to imitate the past and not pulling it off. I happen to think that Seaton deserves FAR BETTER than Poundbury which was just a plaything for Prince Charles (I know I'm going to get a lot of flack about that!).
We had a Town Design consultation which showed exactly what people in Seaton like - some modern design, a lot of eco-design (the living roof house was extremely popular) and a bit of more traditional housing.
The people have spoken! Well, tough because EDDC doesn't listen to people in Seaton, that's obvious.
If you wish to write to HRH The Prince of Wales I suggest you use the following address as it may be more direct than c/o Buckingham Palace
HRH The Prince of Wales
Clarence House
London
SW1A 1BA
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