General Discussion
New Benches
Two new benches at the park adjacent to Marine Garage, three at the rear of the Rockstone funded by the Town Council.
Teignbridge Council are paying to install two benches at Coastguards during this financial year. The Town Council has requested Teignbridge to install at least one more next year.
@stephen15. you need to ask first great western.
@ZIGGY. where is this park adjacent to marine garage? do you mean the copse?
@Nelson, you enter the park via a wooden gate just past the garage, it connects you to the cliffpath. there always used to be one there, its a lovely area to just sit and relax.
@Lynne i've always wondered why they don't make more of the playing fields with picnic benches and trees.
Sandy Lane Playing Fields do you mean? For houses/supermarkets? No. This land is not identified in the TDC local plan as being land identified for development. It forms part of the Green Infrastructure of Dawlish. The only way it might have more buildings on it is if they have anything to do with sport or leisure. And all those people coming to live in all those new houses that are going to be built very near to it will need somewhere to play games etc won't they? So, as I see it, it is not a case that Sandy Lane Playing Fields might be built on because there is a lot of new development going on around them but rather the opposite ie they won't be built on because that green space will be needed even more than it is now once all the new houses are built.
(Though that wouldn't mean that the fields wouldn't possibly be looked at for being developed sometime in the more distant future when planning policies, both national and local, could be different than they are now. I also believe it would need a change in public opinion in the town for the fields to be built on - presently there would be outrage if that were to be suggested. Remember the Tesco fiasco of a few years back?)
@Lynne perhaps though the additional school and doctors surgery could be built on this land both will be needed when the proposed houses are built. also the projected number for dawlish is 2000 houses but we both know that developers will find ways to increase this number. having been employed by a major house builder i know what pressure they put on councils to get what they want.
or things such as a new primary school and doctors' surgery could be built on the land already identified for development? Doesn't only have to have new houses built on it, does it? In fact, does all this land have to be built on ? I'm all for some allotment provision being provided within all these new developments. And how about a community orchard?
On the issue of an extra doctors' surgery. This is what the local NHS Trust said with regard to the planning application to build some 300 odd houses behind Sainsbury's (Shutterton Park).
"NHS Devon Plymouth and Torbay have reviewed capacity in the Dawlish area and are of the opinion that the best solution to meet the future needs for primary medical services in Dawlish is by making more use of the existing branch of the Barton Surgery and to expand the main Barton Surgery as appropriate.
There is existing capacity for more outpatient activity at the hospital."
The last project I was involved with there were plans for a doctors surgery, what was built was a parade of shops. More money in the shops than a doctors surgery as I said before developers only look at what is profitable. As for what NHS say there is a big difference between 300 and 2000.Yes I would like to see orchards and allotments but greedy landowners are only interested in the profit they can make in putting the land up for development . So who are these greedy people?
New apple trees or new homes? It's a tough shout!! Though I can understand why anyone who lives in a house built over a former orchard might feel guilty...
I don't see why, if we are to have new houses, we shouldn't also have new apple trees/orchards/allotments. Do you?
Only if you feel guilty...
You're suggesting that people should be denied the opportunity to have a new roof over their head, unless that roof is offset by an apple tree or a veg plot. Not in the real world I'm afraid Lynne.
Sandy Lane playing field is quite fertile though...
Seen on TV today that there are 1,000,000 empty home in the uk , why do we need to build more? What are we going to do when all the good farmland has been built on.
Why should I feel guilty? Because my house is built where an orchard once stood? As it happens if my house was built on the site of an old factory I would still be arguing the same about the provision of allotments etc.
I am no more denying people having roofs over their heads then planners deny people having roofs over their heads by demanding that housing developments have green areas in them and playing facilities for kids. Doesn't the Sandpipers estate at the Warren have a reasonable amount of green open space within it and a small play area for kids? Do you object to that? After all, just think how many more houses could have been built there if it wasn't for all that onsite green space.
And yes, I imagine Sandy Lane Playing Fields is a fertile area. That is why I have suggested to the powers that be that if new trees get planted there (and any other publicly accessible areas) then perhaps it might be an idea if they were to be fruit bearing trees.