Seaton Regeneration: The Alternative

Many of you will have seen the Seaton Sustainable Living and Environment Group’s slide presentation at our open days. Following that, we have refined our vision (Stand Up For Seaton) of how we think the site could work.

Homes: build them on the Axe Riverside site (this needs raising only 9 inches as it has already been raised once). Super-luxury homes facing the river, affordable housing facing the town. Public board walk along the river to the mega-marsh (see below). As a town we now need to provide only about 150-200 homes to fulfil our quota according to the Local Plan. These can go there – and on the Commercial Zone – see below. There is still space for a small hotel and other facilities.

The Holiday Village/Long Stay tourism/Short Stay tourism/SUSTRANS/Megamarsh/TIC/Vistors Centre: knock down the chalets, keep the two large buildings fronting Harbour Road. Build a stunning “eco-tourism village” – on boardwalks so that if there is flooding it goes UNDER the lodges. There are many good examples of this type of holiday accommodation. Clad the two large buildings in wood to soften them and make them look better. Keep the swimming pool, the gym and the nursery (if you must demolish the nursery, build another one, locate it the most suitable part of the site). The SUSTRANS route goes along the top of the site, down to the tourist hub. It remains a flood plain. In the front building (which is huge) put all the tourist facilities – Visitor Centre, Tourist Information Centre, SUSTRANS terminus – everything. Include tourist parking here. If you are worried the tourists won’t walk to town, get your (proposed) land train to ferry them all over town from wherever the Tramway decides to locate (see below).

In the middle section: (roughly where the derelict caravan park is now): open space of all kinds: park, gardens, outdoor sports, children’s play area, skateboard park, bandstand – you name it. PLUS a community centre also raised off the ground like the eco village. This area also remains flood plain – if it floods , it dries out.

Commercial/Retail/Live-Work Units/some further housing: If you must have the commercial and retail area put it where where the current car park, TIC and derelict Youth Centre are - adjacent to the "old town". A supermarket suitably sized for Seaton (and not for the rest of the world) and other shops, live/work units, etc. This might need to be raised but the tarmac is there already to make a start. Here you can also have homes above shops and live/work units. There will be no need for a monsoon drain – water from here will drain on to the flood plain directly down a slope.

Tramway: can go between any of the three zones (Eco village/open space/commercial). Comes three-quarters of the way down the site then stops short (so that people can cross from one zone to the other easily) but has a frontage on Harbour Road (or the Underfleet if it prefers to go there).

Sustainability: awesome - we are re-using and recycling buildings, working with nature, leaving a light carbon footprint. Of course, the site would have the whole array of renewables - tidal power, wind power, ground source heat, photovoltaics - you name it. Kind to people, kind to wildlife, wary of water.

Remainder of Section 106 money: Invest in the “old town” and pretty up the seafront.

This way we WORK WITH THE FLOODPLAIN and not against it.

How do we finance it: Section 106 money, Community Land Trust, Housing Association(s), Commercial Developers and Builders.

Result: The nightmare turns into a dream.

Only problem: the developers make less money – some money but not the mega-bucks they make from their proposal.

HOWEVER, they come out with brownie points and perhaps knighthoods and Seaton is happy.