What next? The alternatives

A number of people have asked: what next? after the demo tomorrow at 11 am outside the holiday village. This is the situation as I understand it. Please be aware I am not a professional (far from it) so if I am wrong, please point it out.

We now have to turn our attention to East Devon District Councillors, and particularly those on the development control committee - the small committee that will make the decision about whether to accept or reject the planning application. There are no members from Seaton on this committee.

East Devon District Council officers (Mr Hassan, Ms Little and their employees at the Planning Department) make a recommendation to the councillors which they can accept or reject. Of course, officers are supposed to be professional, wise and sensible - that's why they are employed, so very often councillors "rubber stamp" their suggestions.

We do not know, of course, what the recommendation will be from the EDDC officers!!!!!!!!!!

The Development Control Committee will decide whether this is such a big application they need to make a site visit. If they do, we are not allowed to speak to them when they visit, but we can make our feelings known in other ways i.e. placards, etc. After that, there is a meeting at which each interested party (Stand up for Seaton should be one) has 2 minutes to address the committee - a bit like Call my Bluff, as you are not supposed to repeat anything anyone has said before you even though you don't know what the people ahead of you will be saying! You go in a particular order - big shots first, little shots last (I think it should be the other way round!).

After that they meet to make their decision - the public is allowed to be there but is not allowed to speak. And that's that. They can say YES, or YES WITH CONDITIONS or NO. If they say no the developer is allowed to appeal - we are NOT allowed to appeal (I know, it isn't fair, but this is the law, not justice or fairness - they are different).

But just remember our plan of action is to persuade them that our course is the most sensible and we are not out to "get them" and alienate them - just to show them that there is only one reasonable decision in this case. It isn't their fault they are in this position and they just have to be given the correct information by us so that they can do the right thing - what they have been elected to do - serve the best interests of the people of East Devon.

We can make a request to have the application "called in" by the Government Office for the South West. They can also say yes or no - if no EDDC's decision stands, if they say yes, they can look at it and they also have the power to say yes or no.

There could be a public inquiry - lots of people called as witnesses and an inspector making a decision. Very expensive - say around £10,000 - £20,000 if we want to employ a barrister to put our case. We can put our own but someone I know likens it to self-dentistry - can work but is bloody and better done by a professional!

Even if the planning inspector says yes, we have a further route - judicial review (of which there are 2 kinds but it isn't important here to have details). Sometimes this can be done by someone on legal aid, sometimes by an organisation. Legal aid is hard to get and you still have to make some contribution - say £1,000 - £2,000. If you have to field the judicial review yourselves and if you lose the other side can be awarded costs so you need about £50,000 in the pot to go down that route. Not impossible - tiny councils or local organisations have raised much more than that for things they found important. And the nearer you get to judicial review, the more likely you are to win.

So, here for information, are the contact details of the EDDC development control committee:

Cllr Mrs M J Boote (Chairman) (Dunkeswell) mboote@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr A W J Reed (Vice Chairman) (Sidmouth Rural)areed@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Miss V Ash (Honiton St Pauls) vash@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr D G Button (Broadclyst) dbutton@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr G P Chamberlain(Exmouth) gchamberlain@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr A E J Dinnis (Whimple) adinnis@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Lt Col A J M Drake (Newbridges) adrake@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr R G Franklin (Budleigh) rfranklin@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr K W George Trinity (Exmouth) kgeorge@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr D R A Key (Otterhead) dkey@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Mrs A E Liverton (Raleigh)aliverton@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Ms S M Merritt (Newton Poppleford) smerritt@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr R Mudge (Exmouth) rmudge@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr Mrs H E Parr (Coly Valley) hparr@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr C H Wale (Sidford) cwale@members.eastdevon.gov.uk
Cllr S C Wragg (Exmouth) swragg@members.eastdevon.gov.uk