Oh dear I went to a EDDC meeting (YAWN)

Yes true I went along to speak to the council about the probable loss of footfall in Sidmouth with the subsequential loss of trade in nthe town if EDDC relocate to Sky Park. i was one of many who spoke against the move but I hold little hope that we will be even considered as anything but a neusance by the Councillors The meeting was a very long drawn out affair that was rminiscent of the Dibley Parish council but run by Dad's army with Cpl Jones in the chair Even the Councillors failed at times to keep up with the meeting indeed when a recorded vote on the budget for the coming year was taking place one of the members was so fast asleep that he had to be prodded to briong him back in order to vote for the motion whatever it was he obviously had no idea of what had been said and so must have voted the way that he had been  programmed pre meeting.
Oh my what a way to run a Council, the ability to sleep though a debate and still vote the right way must bring some browny points at leas for representing the elctors asnd defending their interests so wellt!
I was so bored that I left long before the end after 2 1/2 hours I needed to get away ito some sort of fresh air and to redeem my sanity. i shant be going there again in a hurry but next monday at the Town hall Exmouth the regen and gp committee will be considering the motion that was removed from the council agenda last week to adopt thye structure on nthe Strand I have already had som econversations with Councillors about this and there is another cahnge of their stance It is no longer to keep people dry rather the structure is to protect the electrics and eencillors say that the 80 grqnd is earmarked for exmouth and it must be spent here or it goes to Honiton or somewhere like that Wy is this so important after all we are in recession and money spent in one place provided it is not frittered away is not detrimental to another where the project for which it would have been spent is not wanted by the public! Far better use for any money would be to us it as apothole filler here in Exmouth or to refill the youth fundacross East Devon, which is being slashed by DCC.

sorry I have been missing

With all of the toing and froing to the Hospital this blog has been neglected of late Now that it looks as if I am stabilized no doubt I can find a little more time and energy to get more posting done One of my big problems has been that medication makes me feel like death warmed up, I couldn't stay awake and completely out of touch with reality Now that the tablet dose is being reduced with a bit of luck it will all reset itself quickly I HOPE.
In the meantime there is to be an information fair on the Strand on Easter saturday from 10 to 5,30 local organisations are invited to set up a stall to pass on infgo or raise funds for their own organisations There will be a ban on any sales of food or drink that are to be consumed as soon as sold to safeguard local businesses.So far I can tell you that there are the following organisations in attendance Force cancer Charity, friends of Yarty (ELF) Exmouth and Lympstone Hospice care, National transplant register (Organ donors) Some of the Farmers market stall holders are expected to come as well as the scouts guides etc All day kink music will be provided by Bay fm.

Elizabeth hall to Premier Inn WHAT INN?

A request for information made by a local resident under the Freedom of information act through www. whrt do they know .com has come back with a funny reply which you can see via the link provided https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/elizabeth_hall_site_exmouth#incoming-331496

It is surprising to find that after all the agro EDDC have allowed Whitbread PLC. (Owners of Premier Inns) to take control of the Hall site and demolish the building without having been paid for it. strikes me as another instance of poor management and like the old swimming pool quite likely to still be hanging about for years to come. So much for the iconic development that we need on the Sea front!
What if Whitbread decide that it is too costly to build on the site because of the sand on which they will have to put their building Will EDDc build or have built a replacement hall or will the site be re advertised and sold to the highest bidder who may well or probably will be a residential developer with whom they are friends?

next Town Council meeting to consider the budget and set the precept for thew next Year.

 aper to the councillors setting out three options Option1 is the only acceptable one as it propses a standstill precept although because of the increase in property numbers and values there will be rise in the amount of local (precept) tax raised.
option2 is a slightly greater precept proposal but again is not acceptable in the financial climate which exists in the town and country in general Option 3 is an outlandish proposal to lift the precept by a very large amount in order to bring the purchasing power back to where it was some time ago.
There is no supporting paperwork which shows any justification for the budget headings in the proposals which indicates a view that money is being raised for the sake of it and with a view to satisfy the idea that many councillors have ("If we raise the precept we can do more")
But what more? Surely the people must be asked what they want rather than to be told what they are going to have(get)
I made  a freedom of information request to get a breakdown of the budget proposals but it was refused because the clerk said that the document doesn't exist!Apparently this is not true as is explained in the minutes of the last Council meeting because at the time that the information was requested the paper was still in draft form and having approved the budget it is now a definative document which is so I am told is available to be seen by the public!

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Tourism

Most people will have read about the offer made by Daryl Nicholas to front up an investigation on how a new Tourist information service can be implemented in the town Town councillors were at the council meeting keen to stress that they were not looking top pick up the costs of this new service although they have agreed to accept the offer to investigate and report back in April, with full costings.

Council spin or Bull Sh1t!

the Town council were given the first draft of next years budget for consideration at this weeks TC finance meeting The debate was mainly to decide how they viewed the historical records rather than to ,look at the projections for the next year, although it was said that to keep services at the current level an increase in the precept of 4 pence per annum would be needed. This despite a loss of the central funding that has been withdrawn. A motion put by one of the opposition members that an investigation by sub committee was not well supported by the ruling party although it was resolved to refer it to the next council meeting for a full debate despite the mayor making the point that the agenda for that meeting is already very long and the meeting may have to be extended to 11pm to complete.
Ity strikes us that the council is being run to suit the councillors rather than to conduct its business in a businesslike manner. If meetings every six weeks are not enough then they should beheld monthly After all the majority of the councillors are not actively circulating amongst the electorate and holding surgeries so an extra meeting or two will not unduly inconvenience them and if they don't like that then they should stand down, there are certainly a number of alternative independent candidates who would stand up and actually work for the Town.
Stepping back to the budget it has not been publicised very well but a historic record of the precept from the first days of the TCc reformed in 1997 to date is posted on the new TC website. Ity shows just how much the increases have been over the years.
the first year a precept of £12 raised a little over £14k and the same precept in the following year raised an extra £2k  Successive years when the TC was growing and a Town Manager was employed caused an increase in precept over the next 8 yeas to fund that and the music and arts festival until the 2007 precept which grew to £21.88 allowing for functions that EDDC told the clerk they would no longer be able to fund could be taken on by the TC even though just before the elections in May of that year the dc suddenly found the cash to carry on Many think that to have been a very deliberate move to deceive the electors into believing that the LD members of the TC had put up the precept for no reason.
History has a habit of repeating itself and it is clear that the present leadership want to raise the precept again despite the fact that since they came to power the increases have been very considerable 9.92% in 2008 and  25.63% in 2010 are just two years The average over the 6 years they have been in control is a mighty 6.04% which is far above the annual cost of living increases that are published by the bank of England

How a blog can get through to a council

It has been brought to our attention that Exmouth Town clerk who is supposedly so overworked has time to read on line public blogs to read about the things which are of a concern to the people. What a pity however that he and his immediate superiors do not appear to take any notice, but then he cannot be that overworked if he has the time to go web searching. It may be that he is extra sensitive about what the public think about his periods of holiday that would look like as if he spends most of his time away from his desk. Rather that investigating the possibility of appointing a deputy would it not be more efficient if the clerk were on the job for more hours and spend less relaxing on leave? I recall that his predecessor took very little time way from the job but all of the work was completed but then he although allowed a deputy declined and so an appointment of an office manger was made.

Selling or not selling that is the question

Once again confusion reigns because of EDDC refusal to come clean on their ambitions. The Splash or as it is now called the Queens Drive leisure area will be handed over to a partner who will be responsible for developing the attractions there. EDDC's Lisa Timberlake said in a briefing to the COLP meeting on Thursday,that the council will be seeking their partner soon and that the land will be transferred to them as either  leasehold or freehold with outline planning permission, but that the partner is expected to work alongside the existing tenants to see if they can come forward with the cash and schemes to match the councils ambitions. This will certainly increase the costs that the businesses have to cover, and although the partner will be paying EDDC rent, ( but only if it is leasehold!) freehold it is lost forever. The tenant will of course have to pay extra to cover the partners profits so pushing up costs considerably.
All the time before this EDDC were saying that they would redevelop the area not letting on that as usual the land is to be sold, Who wants to guess which of the favorite developers will get the land. could it be a spin off benefit for the Rolle playing fields for the Sea front with permission to go ahead?  OR else swapping to the Released  Imperial ground for the EDDC backed supermarket and housing, when the Rugby club moves out?
And even more worrying will that open the flood gates for even more development along the seafront? the Maer will not be safe because EDDC will be opening up the can of worms which will eventually allow a spread of built up units and costly holiday attractions from Carlton Hill to Orcombe point An why would EDDC be concerned about that/ Simply they won't because the ruling group is based at Honiton, not Sidmouth where many think and are relatively fire proof because the tribal election system protects them from being thrown out at the next election, or does it? watch out for the next installment to follow fairly soon.

What is quality when it has lapsed?

Anyone who has noticed that the Town council is still using the quality council logo on its paper might be confused because the QC scheme has been suspended The council has however been allowed to continue to use the logo until the new scheme is rolled out and their application (if they make one) is approved and they are again to be a Quality council. there are a lot of ex Councillors who worked their socks off to attain the standard needed to get QC status and it sorely grieves us to see that this mob have let it go so easily

East Devon caught out -AGAIN

East Devon has again shot itself in the foot. Each council has to have a variety of strategies in place in order to gain pull down funding for the provision of all sorts of things. included in these are the provision of sports and recreational facilities.
East Devon has for many years ignored the need to put better facilities in place to allow us the residents a fair chance to enjoy physical and leisure activities to keep up our health and fitness.they would much rather spend their time and our money setting up supermarkets and conducting false surveys about housing need that getting better leisure facilities of the blocks.
A golden opportunity has been lost to build on the Olympics no athletic facilities have either been set up or even improvements made to any existing sites. the same is happening with the Football World cup and will if not corrected swiftly similarly not happen with the rugby world cup that is now only 12 months away. East Devon has a big shortfall in pitches for all sports and still thay are pushing f0r the supermarket on the existing rugby ground in Exmouth This is a classic example of the folly that is EDDC There is no reason why there should not be more pitch provision all over the district after all the funds to provide them would be drawn down from Sport England although running costs would come home to EDDC or the hirers!
One clear and necessary need is for EDDC to consult with local sports governing bodies to set out a plan to deliver what is needed for the next 15/20 years.
I can say that EDDC are to investigate but so far have not broken the sound barrier in respect of the speed at which they will go about this

Read more about it with the usual council spin at this link
http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/playingpitchstrategy

So what about open and democratic councils ?" Is the council fit for purpose or are the councilors negligent?"

Having asked a question under the freedom of information act I have had a reply to say firstly that the clerk is away until 30th October which I already knew but that is followed by a statement that he will be sending me a "bill" for the costs of getting the information together i have asked for information about how the budgets are set out not as ball park numbers but to give an accurate indication of what the council intends to spend our taxes on. this bill will be based on £25 an hour plus any postage photocopies etc. How on earth in these times can this be justified/ it should be evident that when preparing the draft budgets all of the figures are recorded so that a true cost can be forecast or has this been done on the back of the proverbial fag packet?
What this has proved to me is that again there is evidence that the Town council is falling down on its duties which begs the question" Is the council fit for purpose or are  the councilors negligent?"

Full time Town clerk?

Exmouth employs a full time town Clerk, or do they? he is away from his post again and not back until 30 October. it looks as if this person has more holidays than you can shake a stick at.
 If he is not needed for so much of the time then exactly why do we need to employ him as a full timer anyhow? There is a requirement for a clerk but he or she is not required to be full time. Many Parish councils manage with a clerk who is part time, and many of whom are shared between nearby councils to save money. I wonder what a question at the next full council meeting will flush out?

Town council open meetings?

have any of you out there noticed the trend for the Town council to hold special meetings to discuss things which become important? the latest was the special meeting that was convened to debate the impending closure of the TIC located in Travel world. Why this is happening is a great concern to anyone who treasures freedom of speech and democracy. All council meetings are supposed by law to be held in the evening after 6  pm if it is a parish council (which Exmouth is) so that there ks an open and democratic process that can bee seen to work by the public who are able to attend.
Simply put the town council is stopping the public from seeing democracy at work and is creating a sense of distrust in their workings,

How to NOT run the local finances

Our Town Council has at its last meeting been investigating just how the local taxpayers can be ripped off even more than they now are. Rather than taking a hard look at what they do and see if savings can be made the debate was centred almost entirely upon how much the precept could be raised next year, not with improvements to services in mind but because the Exmouth precept is the lowest in East Devon. something that when I served the people on the Town Council we were very proud of because it showed just how much we cared about the people and just how carefull we were with the public purse. Not that there was any shortage of costly functions which we undertook.  Some I must include and liost here.
Grant funding local organisations
grant funding the Visitor centre
grant funding the TIC
Grant funding the CIB
Grant funding the Community bus service.
Grant funding evening bus services in the town
Grant funding for the new shelters on the railway station
Grant funding new bus shelters on the Parade In Exeter Road and Salterton Road.
Grant funding repairs and refurbishments to all the other council owned bus shelters in Exmouth including relocating those no longer used
Grant funding the water sports centre
starting the Exmouth festival as a MUSIC AND ARTS festival
Employing a festival organiser.
Starting Town management partnership and employing a Town Manager who was also the part time deputy Town clerk
Budgeting for an extended Town management partnership with a full time manger and an assistant manager
Budgeting to take over some of the functions that EDDC said they could no longer afford ( toilets and flowers with some extra street cleaning.
Take over the administration of the Gorfin Hall and pay for it to be updated with new windows kitchen units etc.
Take over the reception area in the town hall when EDDC resolved to close it after relocating local services to Street Scene office at Camperdown depot

I have been very poorly of late but am back now feeling far better and will be able to get on with spilling the news as soon as it breaks.

Does Exmouth want or need another Supermarket?

There is a long standing plan by East Devon District council (EDDC) to build another supermarket on the Estuary side. This time the project would be to use the current rugby ground after relocating Exmouth Rugby Club to another site out of the town centre. Not wishing to prevent the club from moving I will not comment on that but do feel it will not be a great benefit to them in the long run. The whole question of another supermarket in the town would look to be based on a flawed assumption that the buyers would use the opportunity to make linked trips to other shops so increasing trade generally. I and many others very much doubt this and feel that the main reason for promoting the scheme is purely a financial one. EDDC will get a lot of cash for releasing the ground for development which they can use (squander) on other poorly thought out schemes which the public do not have an appetite for.

If there is a need to have another supermarket should it not be built on the edge of town or at least nearer to the centre of population? This would mean having a store either on the western end of the existing Dinan way or on the employment land in pound lane. Either of those would put a store near to where people live and also cut the over use of the Satlerton Road Tesco store although why we should worry too much about the business success of that company I just cannot see .The advantage of a Dinan way store would be to cut the lorry traffic into the town centre and would stop the need for lorries to go through residential streets to get to Pound Lane, but either would allow a better shopping experience for the locals than having to drive into the Town with the cost of fuel and parking to be added to the shopping bill

It is not too late for everyone to register their interest and opinion.
If we all pull together then it is very possible that any proposals can be overturned before they start remember the ASDA fight a few years ago public opinion stopped that store so we can do it again if we stand together.

Please comment so that we can see how much  the people either do or simply do not want this to happen

Christmas cracker and the road closure details

Christmas Cracker 2013 – Road Closure

Great news!  We are delighted to announce that the Christmas Cracker, this year will be on Saturday 7th December, 2.00pm to 10.00pm with an illuminated night market and vintage Christmas theme.

Full details will be released through the local press but this year’s event has been significantly increased on last year.  Feedback from traders and the Town Team about what could have been done better has been factored into the overall event and part of this is to provide an improved link between the Strand, Rolle Street and the Magnolia Centre.

The section of Rolle Street between the Parade/Rolle Street round-about to the junction with Rolle Street/Church Street will be closed.  The road will be closed from mid-day until mid-night on Saturday 7th December.  

This will have an effect on the movement of deliveries and staff traffic during this time which we hope, given advance notice can be factored into your plans.  The London Inn car park via Church Street will remain open and a full diversion in place.  Please take this into account when planning any deliveries.  We ask that no large deliveries should be planned after 10.30am to ensure vehicles can unload and clear the site without problem.  When the road is closed it will be impossible for vehicles to move about in the designated area.  

To discuss this further or for more information please contact me at the Town Hall on 276167 or e-mail tmassistant@exmouth.gov.uk

We hope that the plans for this year will provide a significant boost to the late night shopping here in Exmouth by bringing many more people into their Town Centre and we ask that you make the most of this opportunity by opening late and embracing the event.

Regards

Suzanne Birkett

Town Management Project Officer

maybe East Devon councils are not so bad after all?

One North Devon Parish Council has realy upped the anti with regard to being stupid/ arrogant/ unelectable?
They have produced a Neighbourhood plan that would even have East Devon District Council hiding inshame. Read about it at the following link.

http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/news/council_admits_it_made_a_mistake_over_village_boundary_plans_1_2208791

Volunteers needed

The council are looking to recruit a number of volunteer co-coordinators in Exmouth so that in the event of an emergency there are people who have local knowledge which the emergency services can link into. This is intended as an extension of the work already done by the flood-watch and snow teams, so if there are any of you who may be interested then first contact the Exmouth Town Clerk . Contact details can be found by visiting the website, or call into the Town hall and speak to him directly.
exmouth.gov.uk

devious Town councillors

there has been some considerable conflict in the Town hall over the eviction of the public from the Town councill meeting on 23rd September in order that wto items could be debated in in camera (part B) gthe fisrt was on the agenda as item14 and was to recieve the report from the arts Offgcer, but the second item was to debate and comment upon the laterst option that te County council are offering as the bus shelter on the strand. i have made a complaint about the proceedure over these matters to EDDC monitoring officer as i believe that the actions of the Council and the clerk have brought the Council into disrepute. several e-mails ahave been excvhanged with the clerrk over this but he has simply brushed all comments and complaints aside quoting irrelevant regulations ans some sections of the various laws regarding the actions and responsibilities of the council. I have pasted the content of my complaint below so that all can read what exactly I have said. asd things unravel i will keep this page updated so please follow the thread.

Complaint to EDDC Monotoring officer made 3/10/2013

That by the actions of the Town Clerk and the chairman (Mayor) Exmouth Town Council at its meeting on September 23rd brought the Council into disrepute Clerk inserted an item into the published agenda the be taken in part b which was a request for a matter to be consulted upon prior to an application to place a bus shelter on the Strand Exmouth. this has been a hotly debated matter for months getting on for years and the residents by a big majority in a survey conducted by the Town Council resolved that they only wished for a bus shelter to be built there, the ruling group at the Council however have made it quite clear that they wish for more, a covered  area that couild be used as a performance stage 
I believe tht by the actions of the two whom I haver inmdicated Exmouth town Council has brought itself into disrepute and that although the other councillors could have rescued the situation they in ngeneral by their inaction have subscribed to the chrge of disrepute being made against the council as a whole.seating area with removable seats to allow for a temporary performing stage to be used. the debate being held in part B effectively removed the opportunity for the public to see and hear the democratic debate and they have been denied the transparency that they deserve in all matters appertaining to their home town
At the same meeting also taken in part b a report was received and a debate followed on the arrangements for the Town Council managed, public funded Exmouth festival 2014. Again no member of the public has been allowed to see and hear rhe debate nor has in either case a minute of the item been made availble to the public although the local press have been able to make  a front page statement and another report on page 7 (Exmouth Journal 3/10/13)
i have had an e-mail exchange with the Town Clerk on this matter but he has effectivly brushed me off and I am not in antcipation of any more action by him

TC meetings

The Special TC meeting started late because of an overrun of the scheduled planning meeting and when it did start at 7.30 the Mayor welcomed very one and called for the registered speakers in turn. each made very valid comments on the proposed development varying from simple information given by one of the current lease holders who indicated that his business if closed would mean job losses in the region of four full time and eight part time trough out the year. Another questioned the (EDDC) councils methods by asking if assessment had been made about the viability, environmental impact etc had been made, another said that the Harbour view cafe should be refurbished and not demolished for rebuilding.The EDDC officer responsible for regeneration projects stated that all studies would be carried out but admitted that they had not yet been done. All councilors than commented All of the Lib Dems spoke strongly against the plans buity as was expected the tories were in favour although two said that they wished that EDDC would talk to the people more before coming up with schemes like this.The Mayor spoke extremely strongly for the proposals but he was forced into taking a recorded vote which he lost by 11 votes to 8 with one abstention.

This meeting ended at 8.30 and the delayed full council meeting then convened and I asked why the council was not doing what the government has told them to do in June 2010 This is to publicise its data clearly with special regard to the information on contracts and tenders which the mayor passed onto the clerk who said that as soon as the new website was up and running then they would be able to do what they should, a completer white again by a council that is out of touch and is surely guilty of maladministration the councilors agreed to extend the time until 9.30 to try and complete its agenda.some housework to adjust working parties and committees to enable the replacement of the late Jean Mitchell on several of the committee that she was a member then took place.The plans for a new school on Goodmores farm was the debated at length and as a result it was resolved that ETC would object to the plans on the grounds that the proposal was too small, in the wrong place and that the estimated growth in primary school children was excessive as already measures have taken place to provide space in the existing schools although the Community College would need to be extended to allow for all of the extra pupils staying on post 16

At 9.40 the press and public were asked to leave so that private debate about the festival 2014 and the strand bus shelter could take place.

I felt aggrieved that they had the nerve to chuck us out so that a debate on the festival and the publicly criticised bus shelter proposal could be had in private.