General Discussion
The Hustings - a question about the regeneration of Dawlish town centre
Below is a question that was posed to the candidates by Dawlish Chamber of Trade and below that the answers given by the candidates (and my apologies to all 6 if I have in any way misrepresented what you said - my note taking could not always keep up with every word that you uttered).
“Plans have already been drawn up for the Lawn and Brook area of Dawlish town centre to be upgraded. This should have been Phase 2 of the town centre enhancement work after The Strand Regeneration. We are told there is no money, yet there must be £100,000’s of Section 106 money from the many hundreds of houses being built on the edge of town. Can you give us an assurance that you will strive to make some of this money available to continue the much needed work? Dawlish is still very much the poor relation after Teignmouth and the traders are desperate for further enhancement work to be carried out so that we continue to attract visitors to the town.”
Green Party Candidate: I cannot give an assurance on that. I don’t really understand the question. There is money to invest however and it needs to be found for such projects.
UKIP Candidate: Central government has restricted funding to local government such that local government can only get funding via new house building. Money is available it is just being spent in the wrong places and on the wrong things. UKIP would scrap HS2 for example. Money should be spent regionally like securing the Dawlish railway line.
Lib Dem Candidate: This is really a question for the Teignbridge district council candidates to answer as it is a district council matter. There are district council candidates in the room right now, I can see them. They should have this question addressed to them. S106 agreements are forms of bribery. The New Homes Bonus is absolute bribery. Housing should be built where it is needed not as a way of funding local councils.
Labour Candidate: Dawlish needs this development. It is a decision for the district council. There is a need to get more money into the constituency and into Dawlish. It is district councillors who make local choices not MPs.
Conservative Candidate: Has been working with various groups to get money for the area. Local councils in Devon don’t get fair funding from central government any more than the schools in Devon get fair funding from central government. But, there are other ways of getting money such as lottery funding.
Trade Union and Socialist Coalition Candidate: I live in Teignmouth and we have waited 25 years for a new theatre. We are told there is no money but we know that it is the rich who fund the Conservative party. Money can also be found for Trident, HS2 and bailing out the banks. In London there is lots of property speculation. Property is bought up and then remains empty.
