SU4S latest...

Stand Up for Seaton founders Sandra Semple and Mel Greenyer - in their new roles as councillors and, in Sandra's case as town Chairman - will be meeting Kate Little Head of Planning, East Devon District Council (EDDC) and other council officers early next week to be briefed about the "secret" technical meeting that was called last month to discuss the infill problem (up to 90 lorries a day, 6 days a week, 10 hours a day for up to four years).

Readers may recall from the local press that members of the Seaton community were banned from the meeting (called by EDDC as developer/landowner) because it would be "too technical" for them. The resulting summary of the meeting (eventually received thanks to a Freedom of Information request from Seaton Development Trust) proved to be very non-technical indeed and gave much credence to the community's alternative, the "Seaton Eye" (see right) as a viable option.

A few days after this meeting four members of Seaton Town Council (including Sandra Semple and Mel Greenyer) will meet with developer's agent, Terry Dinham, to try to find out exactly what has been going on over the last six months and why there has been a deafening silence from developers and no community consultation in spite of EDDC having received more than 900 objections and only 8 letters of support for the planning application. The meeting was called by the community and not by the developer.

In the meantime, Sandra and Sophie O'Connell (Stand Up for Seaton's youngest councillor at 20) have featured in two widely distributed press articles. Sandra appears as an "elderly first-time protestor" (not sure she will like that one!) in Age Concern's new magazine "Heyday" and Sandra and Sophie feature in an article in "New Start" magazine here which is about the use of blogs and My Space as the way forward for campaigners.

Well done Sandra, Mel, Sophie and the other Stand Up For Seaton councillors: Graham Jones (head of Seaton Town Council Finance and General Purposes Committee), Pepita Collins (its Vice-Chair), Claire Wise, Julia Roebuck and Bob Palacio - all making their mark on environmental issues, youth facilities and the town's asset management.

Keep up the good work!