General Discussion
Given that discussion has turned to preventing over-development in the Dawlish area, is everyone aware of the Dawlish Against Over-Development Facebook group?
Is it still active in any form?
The group states in the About section (see screenshot) that;
@1263 Yes, I posted the above having read her unapologetic NIMBYism on other threads.
Years ago before Martin Wrigley became a Dawlish Town Councillor he attempted to create a break-way parish Council for Cockwood where he lives. That move was likely more about removing the village from proposed development quota for Dawlish and protecting property values in quite an affluent area. The Countryside park is more than a multi-million pound place to exercise your dog and allowing it to take a crap. It looks like a nice buffer for Cockwood and Cofton. At least for the time being. Nothing came of the break away parish of course and then Wrigley began to climb the political ladder starting in the Town Council and now the party he leads locally dictates planning. And we all know he only became our MP thanks to Reform doing him a massive favour and collapsing the Conservative vote.
To suggest the Liberal Democrats are bullied by housing developers is nonsense, they're basically in partnership. The other excuse we often hear from the Liberal Democrats is placing the blame on the Conservative administration in Teignbridge that ended in 2019 and the Conservative government in Westminster. I'm sure that will continue with blame being placed on the Labour government instead and whereas Labour and the Conservatives before do place unrealistic housing numbers on Teignbridge critics of the Lib Dems point to the fact that they put up no fight and have no backbone, yet they persist in claiming the are 'working hard' for you and I.
The Warren Farm campaign could be viewed as NIMBYism and as an ambitious new Councillor in Wrigley who mounted a petition and campaign which benefited a local land owner and Wrigley's own political aspirations. We know land prices in the area have soared since then, no doubt should Farmer Weeks, Wrigley's mate, decide to sell his land at Warren Farm or near Cockwood he'll do rather well out of it. It didn't stop the development, the housing was simply built elsewhere.
Since Warren Farm we've seen so many campaigns and petitions from the Lib Dems, with all the associated photo opportunities and coverage from the biased local press. None of which slowed down or ceased when the Lib Dems took control of Teignbridge District Council in 2019. The same tactics continue to this day as well as the emergence of so many sites and social media pages and groups run by Liberal Democrat supporters and Councillors which are designed to control the narrative, yet they don't want you to know that they're Liberal Democrat.
Rosie Dawson and Martin Wrigley before her know they need votes in the villages which are pretty conservative and likely to vote Conservative if not Lib Dem; so Cockwood and Holcombe. Dawson made such a big deal about preventing Holcombe being absorbed as a suburb of SW Dawlish, even though it's just a field separating the village from Southdown and the small woodland in Orchard Manor School.
Teignbridge cannot take further housing developments and none have truly affordable housing for local people, yet whichever party is in Central government will not take into account that over half the land area is either national park, forestry commission land, china clay works or large wealthy estates. Or that the topography is ill-suited to such sprawl and that we need to protect vital agricultural land and wildlife habitats.
We need elected representatives who realize this and stand up to central government. Unfortunately our local government seem to want to enable this destruction. It says it all when we have a Portflolio holder for Planning in Teignbridge who is a property developer himself, one who'll use physical force to prevent scrutiny being heard in a Council meeting and it says even more when he was backed by his entire party, including our now MP Wrigley.
Shouldnt the portflolio holder for planning declare a conflict of interest as a property developer .? is it the same man declaring he was trying to prevent covid when he threatened another councillor to steo outside.?
@1263 It's on his register of interests https://democracy.teignbridge.gov.uk/mgDeclarationSubmission.aspx?UID=393&HID=182&FID=0&HPID=68306641
When have the Liberal Democrats been concerned about conflicts of interest? And why would they be concerned when our cherished 'democracy' allows a person who is meant to be a public servant to hold four jobs at the same time costing the taxpayer northwards of £110K per annum? And that's just MP salary and Councillor allowances, the figures excludes MP expenses. The whole system stinks,
Whether Lib Dem Councillor Gary Taylor claimed he was trying to prevent the spread of covid by assaulting the opposition Councillor I do not know. However it transpires that was the reason (some would say excuse, others would say lie) put forward by Councillor/MP Wrigley. It's all very Machiavellian.