General Discussion
On Thursday 4th May Dawlish voters will have the opportunity to elect one councillor to represent Dawlish on Devon County Council.
There are many reasons why those who may wish to vote may not be able to do so in person (infirmity, on holiday, work commitments etc) in which case they can vote by post.
Details of how to do so can be found here https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/votebypost
And now the candidates have been announced. One councillor representing Dawlish to be elected.
Click on this link and then scroll down to see who the Dawlish candidates are. There are four. One each for: Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP
https://www.teignbridge.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=48535&p=0
Understand that Churches Together in Dawlish & District are hoping to arrange a hustings for the candidates on the evening of Friday 28th April at the Strand Church, Dawlish
Should be a very interesting get together, Lynne. That's if they can get all of the candidates in the same room at the same time...
Am I reading more into your post than I should?
Or is there a very real problem about getting them together?
And if the latter, do tell, and stop being a tease.
I cannot speak on the availability or willingness to attend on behalf of the UKIP or Labour candidates, but as far as the incumbent Conservative contender is concerned, I understand there has been such umbrage taken on campaign issues such as bus schedules and school funding (where Dawlish schools would lose £33 per pupil under Devon County Council proposals) it is reported he will not attend future town council meetings chaired by his main Liberal Democrat opponent.
There is a post on Eyes of Dawlish advertising the hustings so it looks as though it is going ahead.
Starts 7.00pm . The Strand Centre. Friday 28th April
For info: the County council is responsibile for: schools, education, libraries, trading standards, social services, social care (eg care homes, highways and some aspects of planning. Apologies if I have left anything out.
I've had leaflets from everyone now except UKIP who addressed the leaflet to my husband only. Speaks volumes.
Two comments posted on Eyes of Dawlish:
With all the usual election leaflets flowing through our letterboxes, isn't it time we in Dawlish confronted the candidates about their record of actual actions concerning the problems people in the town are still facing, like:
The fence across Carhaix Way
The lack of a link road from the new housing estate to the Exeter Road
The building of a cycle path through Lanhern at great expense which most cyclists totally ignore.
The rat run through Elm Grove where the school is. Do we have to have a child fatality before the boffins in Teignbridge and County Hall act responsibly?
The state of the sewage system the idiocy of the cycle track at the Warren the fact that the pedestrian refuges have been taken away in a busy holiday area (accident waiting to happen) Elm Grove area to come out of Gatehouse Rise you take your life in your hands on that bend, we have also witnessed motorists driving on the pavements at school time, That's all for now.
and some more from EoD
Also question how they've spent a total of £400,000 doing up the Manor (including £90,000 to re Tarmac the car park with locking gates) which according to the title deeds (which I have copy of) is in fact illegal to be locking the public out! How they get away with it is beyond me.
Exactly! On what, exactly, are they spending all this extra council tax from all the new houses which have been and are still being built?
and more again
"We need to have the promise of the candidates to fix Carhaix Way and the connection to the Saintsbury roundabout. The safety of our children is paramount."
"Carhaix way DOES NOT need fixing.
The link road to Sainsbury needs to be constructed instead."
"After reading that waste of paper the council put through our doors last week.I noticed there are 16 councillors in Dawlish. Can I ask what do they do, other than screw the council tax payers?"
"and all the charity shops.... the one Bank..... all the coffee shops..... estate agents..
I've lived here 28 years...... look at what Teignmouth is now like..... so much better"
"All great questions to ask current county councillor clatworthy who has spent all that money and is so 'in touch' with what the town needs he mixes up elm grove close and elm grove drive in his leaflets..."
John Clatworthy says that the Tories have made "no reduction in the Education Budget". Correct. They have not.
But this is mis-information. All children receive a set amount to attend their school and it is this which pays for their education. It has not increased. But costs have increased: eg NI costs, pension costs, energy, books and materials, salaries and so on. Thus the budget now buys considerably less than before. Thus schools have less money! Impacts on each school will vary but only look at the National press to see that huge numbers of schools face huge cuts, job losses and major questions about the quality of education that they can provide.
He only hints at the further cuts to the budgets of every school that in order to meet DCC's obligations all students are losing £33 from the amounts paid to schools to support their education. Yes the money goes to support the most vulnerable young people in the County. But that is because DCC did not ensure they had a budget to meet those needs in the past.
If we return a Tory government to Westminster, it won't matter who replaces John Clatworthy. Their hands are tied because economic cuts will continue under the politics of austerity. The Lib Dems spent 5 years as the junior partner of an austerity coalition. That won't change. UKIP would not reverse austerity policies., Labour appears to be divided between austerity orientated Blairites and anti-austerity Corbynites.
In terms of County Council candidates for Dawlish and the General election, we think we have a choice, but we don't.
Politics is dictated by powerful trans-national interests. They call the shots.
Try looking up the 'Atlantic Bridge' and the role of Liam Fox, look into Bannon, etc.
Don't use google though.
Clatworthy's just a pawn, look at the bigger picture.
In any case the turnout in Dawlish for the last County Council election was 32% which is abismal.
Clearly most people in Dawlish like much of the UK do not believe that our political systems works for them.
Talking of the bigger picture and trans national interests
When Nigel Farage met Julian Assange
The Guardian - 1 day ago
On 9 March 2017, an ordinary Thursday morning, Ian Stubbings, a 35-year-old Londoner, was walking down the street near his office ...
·
Is Farage acting as a human courier for Julian Assange? ...
Daily Mail - 1 day ago
Nigel Farage could be acting as a human courier passing secret communications to Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy, an ...
and this
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/us-billionaire-mercer-helped-back-brexit
and this
Makes the row on battle bus expenditure seem like peanuts, Lynne.
The cost of building databases, money poured into third-party campaigns, offshore spending – these were either largely or totally unregulated. There is no longer any way, with current legislation, of guaranteeing a free and fair election.
“Whatevs,” says Banks when I bring up the Electoral Commission. “I don’t give a monkey’s what the Electoral Commission says.”
How the candidates fare here in the county election on May 4th will have little to do with the vast sums that were poured into the Leave campaign's strategic pot for last year's referendum. But for the General Election on June 8th? That's a different matter.
Turnout at elections is always abismal i believe it's pure laziness and thats why we need legislation to make it compulsory to vote, at the last election i had a conversation that went like this. I see the bloody tories are back in, i ask did you vote yesterday, his reply well by the time i got in from work had tea watched Emmerdale and Corrie i couldnt be bothered.
If there is compulsory voting then there has to be a "none of the above" option, but what if that receives the most votes?
It tells you that the system is not popular and is opposed by the majority and therefore a new fairer system is necessary. What a lot of people now think about the state of our current 'democracy'.
But I do agree that a compulsory vote must have a 'none of the above' option and that it should be counted.
Interesting information above from ER113.
The quote that there is "no reduction in the education budget" is taken directly from John Clatworthy's recent campaign leaflet. Meanwhile Martin Wrigley's leaflet tells us (as has been widely reported in the local press) that general classroom budgets are to be cut by £33 per child across schools in Devon, meaning a loss of £22044 in the case of Dawlish Community College.
Given that Devon schools are already £290 per child worse off against the national average, what would either candidate do to close the gap? How would the Labour or UKIP candidate address the problem if they were elected?
To hear first-hand responses to these and many other questions affecting Dawlish and the wider local community - tomorrow's hustings are not to be missed. Best get there early for a seat - or bring your own soapbox!
The Dawlish Post at the end of March/early April gave the figures below for how each local to Dawlish school will be impacted (ie how much each school will lose) by way of Devon County Council proposals. Remember that the amount quoted below is on top of how much each school may lose due to the new fairer (ahem!) schools' funding scheme.
Cockwood Primary School - set to lose £3,135
Dawlish Community College - set to lose £22,044
Exminster Primary - set to lose £12,210
Gatehouse Academy - set to lose £12,111
Kenn Primary - set to lose £3,069
Kenton Primary - set to lose £3,267
Starcross Primary - set to lose £6,171
Westcliff Primary - set to lose £11,055
DCC are making people redundant so there is an effect. I'm taking Clatworthy's education claims with a pinch of salt considering the appalling grammar on the back page.
@flo - Yes I know of someone who is being made redundant from DCC.
And I also noticed the appalling grammar in the leaflet.
(I wonder if whoever wrote it/proof read it went to a grammar school? 
)
Photoshopping tactics? So, humiliation born of desparation. Pathetic, this exemplifies how low some on the council will stoop. What has this got to do with politics?
@Gary Taylor your post at 08:47 reads well and you present a coherent enough argument. So you can act like an adult.
So why resort to childish tactics? This speaks volumes about any credibility the Lib Dems might have.
It's remarkable that a career politician wannabe like Martin Wrigley would allow his cheerleader to stoop so low. Fake news has no place in local politics.
Don't try and turn it in to humour now, an apology would have been more appropriate though a little too late. You are vindictive and display all the examples of the stench that is unfortunately often found in politics, never again will I vote libreral Democrats in this area and quite possibly any area come to that. 2 votes from this household to Mr Clatworthy
It would seem that at yesterday's 'end-of-term' meeting at Devon County Council, John Clatworthy was presented with a Jeremy Corbyn tee-shirt by a Labour member who had noticed his tendency to quote the Labour leader approvingly in some of his speeches.
That John chose to put on the tee-shirt shows him as a good sport - and I hope that whatever the outcome of the election he will take the result with better grace that has been expressed on his behalf by other senior members of his party during this campaign.
@Gary Taylor well surely if Cllr Clatworthy is a good sport as you wrote, then why wouldn't he take the outcome of the election with good grace?
You need to clarify which senior Conservative council members have lacked grace on Cllr Clatworthy's behalf.
How on earth can you lack grace on behalf of another person? Shouldn't we take responsibility for our own actions@Gary Taylor?
Such tenuous links make the Lib Dems' credibility seem dubious.
I have some catching up to do.
What has John Clatworthy done for Dawlish apart from being very, very instrumental into forcing Dawlish into having on-street parking meters. I also noticed he was voiciferous about putting down double Yellow lines somewhere in Priory Road, when all that needed to happen was the police to issue an obstruction notice (or better known to most as a fixed penalty) to the offending motorist/s and the problem would have been solved.
There is always something very sinister in placing DY lines everywhere. It forces more people to have to pay to park.
If people were to stop and think, or if people really knew the real reason for parking controls, they could see that there is no reason to have so many DY lines everywhere.
Forgive me Indy Scot, but you seem to be both misquoting what I have expressed and tying yourself up in knots all at the same time - but for the record, my quote above of 17th April, 12:17 refers.
Since then of course the evidence of what was "reported" has come to light elsewhere on this site, as you well know.
@Gary Taylor that post on 1th april at 12:17 is about school funding and bus schedules. like viaduct's post above about parking they are legitimate concerns.
What evidence? What has been reported? Please could you provide the link if it is on Dawlish.com. I have an idea what you mean... I could be wrong.
Are you stating that Cllr Clatworthy refuses to to attend DTC meetings because he has taken umbrage about the issues that Cllr Wrigley is campaigning on? So what he's a political opponent, it's hardly surprising.
Will you shed any light on 'falsehoods' that went to print? Is that really why the council is in disarray?
I refer to the link to a thread below posted by @Likeablerat, councillors emails have been leaked - Please see the second post on the thread.
https://www.dawlish.com/thread/details/45520
Where can the public view the document that contains the alleged 'falsehoods'? Is it still in the public domain.
What are your views on council emails being leaked? Isn't this a far more serious matter?
I'll be asking this question to DCC candidates tonight.
I asked why Cllrs Clatworthy and Wrigley have claimed they both resolved the Eastdon road flooding and as they're both campaigning for a Number 2 bus running every 20 minutes and ar opposed to the Elm Grove road 'rat run' prospeect - what sets them apart?
I asked who was telling the truth about Eastdon and who was making a false claim.
I only received a reply from Cllr Clatworthy.
Cllr Wrigley is the only one campaigning for the return of the number 2 bus. Cllr Clatworthy, rather belatedly, says he supports the return of the number 2 bus - but that's just being a passenger to events.
Martin Wrigley has worked hard to deliver on many issues important to the town as a Dawlish Town Councillor. The results speak for themselves - and while he may have ruffled the feathers of some political opponents along the way, he has the drive and enthusiasm to carry on getting results for our communities in the more senior role he now also seeks.
As for the evidence you require, I do not wish to appear obtuse, but it is in plain sight on this website and you have been a regular recent poster to the thread concerned.
The idea you may have is therefore probably the right one. Alternatively, others may wish to point the way.
What issues and what results has Cllr Wrigley achieved?
I'd like facts and examples.
Are you therefore claiming that the 'falsehoods', that prevents a Devon County Councillor attending Dawlish Town Council meetings, are in fact in print on this very website?
If you are so certain then please divulge the evidence. Share the link.
Is there a document in the public domain or not?
You have substantiated nothing, you can see why some believe fake news is being peddled.
@Gary Taylor, why evade my question about councillors emails being leaked?
Is this not a serious matter?
Should we turn a blind eye?
Have DTC and TDC done anything about this?
What if sensitive and private information becomes leaked in the future?
Shouldn't the authorities be contacted?
Cllr Wrigley is the only one campaigning for the return of the number 2 bus. Cllr Clatworthy, rather belatedly, says he supports the return of the number 2 bus - but that's just being a passenger to events.
Martin Wrigley has worked hard to deliver on many issues important to the town as a Dawlish Town Councillor. The results speak for themselves - and while he may have ruffled the feathers of some political opponents along the way, he has the drive and enthusiasm to carry on getting results for our communities in the more senior role he now also seeks.
As for the evidence you require, I do not wish to appear obtuse, but it is in plain site on this website and you have been a regular recent poster to the thread concerned.
The idea you may have is therefore probably the right one. Alternatively, others may wish to point the way.
PS: Further to your more recent remarks on your last posting, I see you are now quoting from the thread concerned and have raised the matter of 'falsehoods'. Before I respond again to you is there any chance you will apologise for those falsehoods you have levelled against me above?
I'm just seeking transparency regarding the 'falsehoods'. That is the thread concerned then.
You're on the defensive why? Which falsehoods levelled against you?
No idea, a pick from what?
I've just asked questions. Someone leaked councillors emails didn't they? Nobody knows who.
Nobody really knows what anyone is referring to when 'falsehoods' are mentioned. It is natural that questions are asked, or aren't the plebs privy to the machinations of government?
As a councillor will you look into the email leaks? How did @Likeablerat come into posession of them.? This questions must be answered. Isn't that your duty as a Councillor? I only ask you here and now as I know of no other councillor on Dawlish.com.
But I have written to DCC, TDC and DTC about these leaks.
@Lynne. 'unfortunately' i'm pig racing tonight at the manor but look forward to hearing all about it!
As I saw it Lynne, honours were even on the point Cllr Clatworty seems to have got most aerated about recently (as it turns out, the question as to who was involved in the fix of the flooding in Cockwood) - but on public transport, the early delivery of the link road and the cuts to teaching school funding, Cllr Wrigley made all the running - including a pledge that a Lib Dem Devon County Council would reverse the planned £2 million cut to mainstream school funding.
Also warmly received was not only Cllr Wrigley's record on helping save Warren Farm from Compulsory Purchase - but also his support for the use of such powers to bring forward the land for the Gatehouse-to-Sainsbury's link road, should the landowner(s) not comply with the terms of the improved link road delivery agreement, which campaigning from Cllr Wrigley has helped bring about.
The Labour candidate spoke well and aside from the main topics majored on Neighbourhood Planning and education - however the biggest cheer of the night (unfortunately) went to the UKIP contender. Not for his pretty weak stance on issues affecting Dawlish, but his position on the number of refugees from war-torn countries the Council should be taking. Nuff said.
Until it was mentioned last evening I had completely forgotten about the closure of Daw Vale.
How long ago was that?
Last time I had any correspondence with any cllrs about its future use I was told that it had been sold and that the plot would be redeveloped for housing. Don't know what type of housing was being planned (houses/flats, open market/affordable/social).
But whatever was/is being planned nothing seems to have happened to date.
What has happened at this West Cliff Road site recently is the removal of a large number of mature trees. Whether or not the site has been sold by Devon County Council I am not sure, but it is saddening to see such wholesale destruction, without any planning application having been put before Dawlish Town Council. Perhaps DCC are clearing the site to make it easier for the purchaser to develop?
Great if a £2 million cut to education funding is prevented, but How?
Even if the Lib Dems won a majority at County Hall, they'd need to win the General election and suddenly become an anti-austerity party. and somehow service the national debt and deficit.
They'd need radical national policies, they don't have any.
They were part of a austerity coalition government from 2010 until 2015, I don't see the austerity label being dropped for 2017.
Cllr Wrigley just delivered some decent rhetoric, but how will it be implemented? because of his drive and motivation? Is there a plan?
Didn't he campaign for an independent parish council for Cockwood (where he resides) and to lower the council tax of Cockwood residents?
Was that a pledge? what happened there? We hear nothing about it, it dropped off the radar as soon as he got a new gig on the town council.
The Cockwood flood defences are the wrong option, we should allow the marsh behind the harbour to flood as the sod historically used to do before it became a defensive wall. Building yet another costly defensive wall only benefits those given lucrative construction contracts and is a waste of energy and resources.. But letting the water flow into the marsh by removing a defensive wall and replacing it with a bridge would mean that landowning family the Jeffries would lose some land.
Cockwood bridge is currently a defensive wall with an outlet pipe. It is effectively a hydrological pressure point. It's not fit for purpose.
And of course liberalism represents the rights of the individual and their property rights. Ergo the landowners take priority.
Liberalism does not represent the collective, those without property or environmental welfare.
Plus it'll change the character of the harbour for good, Cockwood won't look so picture-postcard when this is finished.
This is what happens when organisations and individuals who do not understand the natural environment get involved in decision making.
Great if the bus service becomes more frequent, but what about Stagecoach's high fares? That doesn't matter if you're a pensioner with a free bus pass.
On housing development all town councillors can do is lobby for a link road, nationally developers are changing the character of our towns detrimentally, Dawlish does not have the jobs or the infraestructure to support this population growth, the train line is a weak link, Starcross is a bottle-neck for road trafiic. We don't need more houses.
Plus the standard of these homes is very poor (Bovis are facing legal action nationally) and environmentally damaging.
These are real issues. A link road will help, but it's peanuts really.
The Warren Farm campaign would've succeeded as it had popular support, the Secmaton Sewage campaign had a motivated campaign group.
Good that some councillors got involved but I think to much credit is afforded to them.
Most councillors campaign on issues affecting them and the class or clique to which they belong, there's hardly ever any mention of reduced social benefits, cuts to welfare, the disabled, food banks, zero-contract hours, the lack of employment, the cost of care, etc.
I'll vote Labour for DCC.
More a central government (therefore general election matter) than a county council one is the issue of bus passes for those of state pension age.
Someone at the meeting last night suggested that instead of these passes enabling the holder to travel free of charge (to themselves that is) that those of an age entitled to a free bus pass should instead pay a nominal fare of £1 per journey.
Another member of the audience raised the issue of there needing to be more jobs in Dawlish.
She pointed out that it was all very well for Exeter to be expanding in terms of job provision but that necessarily involved commuting from Dawlish and back everyday. She pointed out the cost of this both in literal financial terms and also the impact on the environment.
Costs of our local bus travel, frequency of buses and trains were also raised.
As was the increase in the number of people living in Dawlish but with no corresponding highways improvements. (the pinchpoint at Starcross being an example).
The pensioner £1 per journey 'donation' is an interesting proposition Lynne, but given the changes just brought in by our Conservative government (below) I suspect much of the cash generated would only serve to fatten the bottom line of the private bus companies.
https://weownit.org.uk/blog/government-just-got-away-banning-new-public-bus-companies
So.....subsidised (ie paid for by taxpayers) bus fare monies help create the profits of private sector bus companies? What happens to the profits?
Bit like subsidised (ie paid for by taxpayers) housing benefit monies going straight to private sector landlords?
The question of where jobs are best provided is an interesting one, Lynne. While many people in the digital economy have been freed up to work at home, there is also a growing number of people who are coming to Dawlish who are prepared to commute to work. Many see the trade-off between (say) an hour's travel and a lovely place to live as an acceptable one, however the quicker they come, the quicker houses get built - and the longer the journey times by car. Whatever you do to the A379 to fix a bottleneck will only push the bottleneck elsewhere - and while we should do all we can to make our roads safer, I believe we would do much better to improve our public transport services and links - and to encourage people to cycle more. Meanwhile some 80% of commuters travel each day by car.
The alternative would be to encourage businesses to come here. But this is like trying to push on string. Businesses will want to go where good infrastructure and a ready pool of labour are closest to hand.
But look on the bright side, the more countryside we retain and the better our local environment, the more likely it will be that we can retain and increase tourist numbers, thus keeping one of our biggest local sources of employment in good stead.
More commuters to Exeter by car will be of no benefit to environmental protectionism. Increasing traffic capacity such as adding lanes to existing roads does not reduce the problems, numerous town planning studies have demonstrated this.
Exeter has 6 points where the Exe can be crossed. Countess Wear, the Two Exe Bridges, near St Davids Station and on the Crediton road at Cowley. The Motorway is another, but one accident earlier this month coupled with the Countess Weir works placed the city in gridlock. More traffic from Dawlish will not help matters
The estuary and topography should limit urban expansion. Developers are not concerned with long-term impacts on the community. It's about making a buck.
Cycle network provision in a radial sense from the City Centre of Exeter is abismal, it's okay once people get to Exeter but crossing town is a nightmare. Culturally we seem addicted to the car. I can't see that changing without a real commitment to giving up the car from the top down as well as changing our own behaviour.
That will cost votes, merely mentioning cycling is tokenism.
Exeter has no industry, what jobs are being created on the scale to meet the new developments?
All the developments bring is more competition for jobs between locals and newcomers.
The digital economy does not require a vast workforce that would have been employed in agriculture in this county in the past or factories in the midlands and the north.
Most people are not computer literate in the true sense, even young people today know less about computer programming than young people in the 1980/90s. Look at Eben Upton's work with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and why he set that up.
In terms of well-being working alone and behind a screen for 40 hours a week deprives us of vital intersocial contact, will have a knock-on effect in terms of physical activity and mental health. We have not evolved to live this way.
What businesses will come to Dawlish? We do not have good infraestructure here for them. It is possible the train line will be effected as in 2014. Storm events are becoming more frequent.
The town consists of a seasonal tourist trade, a plethora of charity shops and numerous estate agents. Property seems the only growth area, but who are the clients? Local people hoping for a first step on the property ladder? Or are they people who have made their money elsewhere and looking to relocate?
Economic growth is not the answer, yet all the main parties are in the pockets of the corporations. Equitable wealth rediistribution should be a true democtrat's priority.
We're not retaining our local countryside, it is being urbanized. The green belt is meaningless now. We are losing biodiversity and much productive arable land around the town. South Devon is just becoming a coastal urban sprawl.
If I were a tourist I'd head to the South Hams, Dartmoor or North Devon.
Dawlish is just a retirment home, ironically Dawlish looks pretty much past it too.
In this week's Dawlish Post / Mid-Devon Advertiser, the newspaper asks the question in its County Council Election 2017 pull-out 'Will two visits to the polls in just over a month help or hinder the turnout'?
The paper also describes the current position of the Devon County Council Conservatives as being 'cocks of the yard'. Whether they will still be ruling the roost after May 4th, may well come down to the answer to the question posed above.
Is it not the done thing on this site to question or criticize the Lib Dem DCC candidates' campaign?
Should I not mention the state of the town, austerity and the environment on here?
Do people not like to hear about food banks or the homeless? Are we in denial?
Is this thread really just about who wins? Power and control?
Refrerring to the public as 'the roost' to be 'ruled over' speaks volumes about political egotism.
Will you offer the public an apology? @Gary Taylor.
Why are austerity measures being implemented?
Is it because Merkel demanded it in the EU?
Is it because there is no money left in the UK Treasury to pay for everything we want?
Serious question as I have no idea.
If you're interested here's a good link expalining why Brexit happened and the events since the 1970s which have led to it and austerity.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/jeremy-gilbert/forty-years-of-failure-how-to-challenge-narrative-of-hard-brexit
If I didn't know better Indy Scot, I would say we are on the same page - at least as far as highway infrastructure and public transport is concerned. The more roads you build the more people will come - but where would that leave us in our ever-decreasing patch of green?
Better public transport and cycle paths are one of the keys to an improved and integrated transport system - and yet our current Conservative DCC Councillor just wrings his hands over bus cuts, while appearing to have no joined up strategy (given the front page of this week's Gazette) concerning the area's cycle paths.
But I would disagree with you that Exeter has no 'industry' (except in the heavy sense) or jobs. And in some ways (and on this I might agree with Cllr Clatworthy) the area is overheating.
Especially high is local housing construction, having been fuelled by a combination of 'lifestyle' preference and the Conservative's 'New Homes Bonus' handout - designed to provide infrastructure, but instead more often used by our Councils to prop up revenue budgets through above-trend housing targets.
Such is this housing growth that a new regional construct, the 'Greater Exeter Strategic Plan' (covering Exeter, Teignbridge and East Devon) has just come through a first consultation exercise, which - surprise - included a callout to landowners to nominate their land for housing. So are we to expect new housing (over and above those numbers already contained our local plans - e.g. 'Plan Teignbridge') to be delivered in Devon in a strategic manner? Will lessons from past mistakes - building where infrastructure is weakest - be heeded? Will previously passed-over green field sites in Dawlish (Meadow Park, for instance) come under the spotlight once more? Who would you trust on such matters - those who have delivered the above-trend housing growth, or those who fought against it and who are still on the case?
As this thread is about Devon issues, I do not want to get into macro-economic issues - but consider this: What is happening elsewhere in the country? Has the NHB not created, on the one hand, the concreting over of green fields in the southwest and a growing economic wasteland in the north? What about George Osborne's 'northern powerhouse' - or Theresa May's 'growth and stability'?
And what will happen once the tap gets turned off?
All food for thought...
We're not on the same page.
The more roads, the more cars, it's a vicious circle. I'd have to dig out the papers and stats from my planning stuff.
What jobs exist in Exeter. I refuse to acknowledge any stats that include zero-contract hours, something which was introduced by the Tory/Lib Dem coalition.
Even Exeter's central Library is staffed by volunteers. What jobs?
If you refer to jobs in the construction sector, then they are not long-term and the homes built require vast resources and high levels of embodied and operational energy, plus they're built to poor standards. All this and the loss of biodiversity, productive land, etc is not worth any numbert of jobs over a relatively short period. It's not sustained.
The 'Greater Startegic Plan' is just a bonanza to landowners to make a one-off profit.
In Dawlish the countryside park north of the town is farcical. That land is green belt land, as it is outside the town boundary, yet millions were spent to give it 'parkland' status, the landowners must be laughing all the way to the bank.
The taxpayer was conned.
You'd be a fool to ignore macro-economics, macro-politics and wider social problems.
I don't disagree with you about concreted fields in the SW and a northern wasteland. Nor the northern powerhouse concept, etc.
When more people move down to this area I expect that 'countryside park' will be sold off and a new park to be established further north for a generation or less. And so on until dawlish becomes urban sprawl.
Green land designated by the Greater Strategic Plan looks like tokenism, appeasing locals and green activists.. but just for a while.
Will lessons from past mistakes - building where infrastructure is weakest - be heeded?
Not a chance, you ask me who do I trust and it's not the Lib Dems and it certainly isn't Cllr Wrigley. Your brand of politics is not sufficiently different from that of the Tories. The Lib Dems have no transformative policies to regnerate northern cities or the rural South West, either economically or socially and I hear nothing credible about environmental policies to meet the global challenges highlighted in the numerous IPCC reports the Lib Dems.
The Libs Dems have failed in convincing me that they're no longer the same party that sat side by side with the Tories a little over two years ago.
I don't see the transformation.
I know I represent a wider disillusionment with politics, but whose fault is that?
Our opposition to the Tories is our only common ground; that alone is not sufficient for me. Transformative (radical) change is needed, not 'business as usual'. Local politicians' hands are tied in a macro-economic system where 'democracy' from national level down is just a sub-plot.
I've questioned how Cllr Wrigley led one campaign in 2015 to remove Cockwood from Dawlish Town Council jurisdiction and how he is now the Deputy Mayor for Dawlish.
It's a peculiar about-turn. He hasn't always championed Dawlish. Only for the past 2 years you could argue.
Is he still in favour of forming a break away parish and lower council taxes for Cockwood? What about the rest of his ward? Those who live in NE Dawlish.
If that happened could a Dawlish Town Councillor continue to represent Dawlish if they live in a different area? How could you have a Devon County Councillor for Dawlish that doesn't live in Dawlish?
As you intimate, Martin Wrigley has indeed championed Dawlish matters since becoming elected in 2015 as Town Councillor for NE Dawlish (which includes Cockwood). On the matter of the consideration of a separate parish for Cockwood prior to this appointment, it is my understanding that while the concept was well received by residents, the conclusion following the consultation exercise carried out was that a potential lack of resource could render such a project unviable and the matter was shelved.
Thanks @Gary Taylor, Prior? Not also post the 2015 election? Not sure about that. That Cockwood vanity project failure was kept pretty schtum wasn't it? it was far from popular you see.
It was not well received. Nothing to do with lack of resource. That's just rubbish. He needed more signatories, but failed despite a strange notion that a Cockwood parish would extend to Hensford farm and quite some way along Port Road. What do people up there have to do with Cockwood? Bizarre! Desparate.
Better to consult and campaign for what a community actually wants, rather than getting a community to agree to what a minority wanted.
On that occasion Martin tried but failed. Since then his record on delivering and campaigning on community needs - not just for the larger community that he now represents in NE Dawlish, but for the wider parish also - has been impressive.
@Indy Ref
"....Better to consult and campaign for what a community actually wants, rather than getting a community to agree to what a minority wanted...".
Like in Scotland and N. Ireland ?
ROFL!!
@HuwMatthews2 Yes like in Scotland and NI.
If the Scots people had been consulted more often by the Westminster elite there wouldn't be a referendum organized by the SNP. In fact the SNP would be a much less powerful party.
The SNP were elected with a manifesto to hold an independence referendum in 2014, what's your point? Nobody elected Wrigley or the Cockwood Resident's Association with a mandate to form a break-away parish. In fact the CRA are not elected at all.
Do you think the people of Northern Ireland were consulted before being occupied by the British?
The Scots and the Northern Irish want to remain in the EU by a clear majority, that has been completely ignored by Westminster. May disallows any consultation on the distinct needs of the Scots and Irish.
Have I offended your Britishness or something?
Do you assume I'm Scottish? Should I be ROFLing?
Your post doesn't make any sense.
The 'wider Parish' is part of the NE Dawlish ward. Why make a distinction? They're not separate entities or are they? Freudian slip?
He tried and failed because it was a not community project, it represented the minority wishes of the Cockwood Residents Association which he chaired.
What record? The Lib Dems like to use online petitions/campaigns which is odd and casts doubt on their ability to effectively use their position in local government.
Petitions are a means for the public to lobby government. If politicians use them to lobby their counterparts at a senior level, then there is a breakdown in communication.
The locally organized campaign by Secmaton residents over the sewage was in full swing before any Lib Dem councillor turned up on the scene.
I only give credit where it is due.
Cllrs Wrigley and Bloomfield have both claimed they have got results for the same two issues now.
It's ridiculous.
It makes me question who to believe and who not to trust.
Gary Taylor wrote:-
"It makes me question who to believe and who not to trust".
Does that not apply to ALL politicians whether they are upper class or lower class. My experience has shown me, they all go in with good intentions until they are shown the ropes and then hey bingo they are no different that any other.
No he didn't i wrote that. hahaha as if @Gary Taylor would write that!!!
And yes it does apply to all politicians I share your opinion, it is because they have sociopathiic tendencies. I'm not even sure if some begin with good intentions, because egotism is a common trait if you study their psychological profiles.
Some are career politicians from the beginning and I once listened while one wannabe stated openly that they aspire for greater things such as becoming a MEP, well they'd better hurry up before the EU boat sails.
If I have missed it, I apologise, but what councillors turned up on the 28th, who in your opinion came out on top if any. And did you get any promises from any of them, if so what were they?
Empty promises mainly and UKIP was what you'd expect, hardly worth going but I thought the Labour candidate did well, even though I'm not sure where she sits on the Corbynite/Blairite spectrum.
Still she's the best of a bad bunch for me.
But I would write that wouldn't I.
I would vote for every election that comes my way if the voting list had a box for NONE OF THE ABOVE.
Or an X against none of them Leatash.
There were a number of ballot papers at the count that were uncounted or 'spoiled' because of such infringements.
For information, the intention is that if it is clear that a vote was meant but not applied per regulations (say an X against a candidate but not in the box, or a tick instead of an X) then candidates and/or agents (with advise from the presiding officers staff) would agree to allow the vote to count.
