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Stand Up For Seaton (SU4S)

Community Action for Seaton's Regeneration Area, 80% owned by Tesco - a floodplain on a World Heritage site bordered by nature reserves, tidal river, the sea and the unspoilt town. SU4S is a state of mind - no members, no structure, no politics. SU4S has objected to 2 planning applications by Tesco, including one for a massive superstore/dot com distribution centre which led to the recent closure on the site of 400 tourist beds with the loss of 150 jobs,a gym and pool - all used by locals.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Hugo Swire, Karime Hassan, EDDC

I have today received a letter from Hugo Swire with a copy of a letter from Karime Hassan of EDDC. Neither letter reassures me - in fact they both make things worse. However, later when I have time to type them out, I will put them on the blog in their entirety (probably this evening). However, here are some choice highlights from the Karime Hassan letter - the remarks in square brackets are mine, the rest are Mr Hassan's:

Community Facilities:
"I understand that this is to be a room that could be used as a gym or a meeting room 278 sq m is the size quoted for this facility".
[that's a gym OR meeting room - anyone notice a replacement for the nursery, youth centre and other facilities in that sentence]

"the monetary loss of the Holiday Village ... will be more than compensated for by the visitors to the new Jurassic Coast Visitor Centre. The SUSTRANS terminus and expanded Seaton Marshes are also anticipated to have beneficial impact".
[Just where will the cyclists who have cycled 70 miles from Minehead stay? - ed. And since when did the developer or EDDC take credit for the SUSTRANS terminus - SUSTRANS have been patiently sorting out their route for years, often with very little help from EDDC and none from the developer until now when suddenly it makes sense to look as though they are the ones that have made this possible].

"We are trying with the Council's land to provide attractions for visitors that may help stimulate demand for hotels".
[sorry, exactly where will you put them - you've put a supermarket on part of your land. And sold it at a nice price to the developer (though perhaps for not as much as you might get on the open market for land with planning permission]

"There will be 496 new spaces for the retail development that would be available on short-term basis for visits to the town".
[NO, NO. NO - this is for shopping AND tourists AND people who live above the shops who can't part anywhere else. They will be for 3 hours maximum - after that, if you get Tesco for example, you will pay a £70 fine].

"Hopefully this will go some way towards answering the questions ...." [Nope - it raises more and more serious questions].

Full text tonight when I can face it ........

1 Comments:

At 1:00 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This bit about generating a demand for hotels...let's get this striaght, we have a tourist business that already attracts overnight tourists, so we scrap that, have an eyesore for 3-5 years, then come back with an extensive marsh area that people may or may not come to (it borders the surburbs like the berlin wall did for the brandenburg gate) and THEN business people might consider building a hotel for that demand....hmm, this doesn't stack up unless they're referring to Sidmouth hotels...and then you can't park here to visit said marsh. Oh it's an argument that just doesn't go together, we're just supposed to go "lovely" in a silly vacant voice aren't we?

 

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