We will fight against overdevelopment. Just as we always have.

Tory claims 5 & 6.

*We have worked to reduce the adverse impact of flat developments in The Avenues in respect of quantity, design, and impact on local services.

*We will fight against overdevelopment, particularly development in the Maer valley. (Previously expressed as: we want to continue to work for the protection of the beautiful Maer valley against any LARGE housing or other development). My capitals.

Or, in Brixington: With a Conservative East Devon we guarantee there will be no over development of the countryside – we will protect St John’s Wood/Bystock. It is our green lung!

     Since a number of the Conservative councillors live in the Avenues, one would have thought they had plenty of reason for keeping things ‘nice’.

     Take a walk up Lime Kiln Lane, coming away from Exmouth seafront at the top of Maer Road. On your left, for a considerable length of the lane, the hedge has been chopped down and you can see extent of  the development on the old Hazeldene hall of residence site. Although there are fewer units on the site than the original application, the 0.93 of a hectare looks pretty full. The houses are still very close to the lane at their rear boundary. The block of social housing flats has not yet been built, but its footprint looks substantial.

     This is a development whose impact has been reduced, not by a huge amount, but in the way the Conservative group claims it would. This was done not by elected representatives, but by the residents’ association with the unfortunate acronym, Save our Avenues from Despoilation. Sterling work by their members pointed out the holes in the developers’ figures and arguments and ensured that the authority had to take a rigorous attitude to the application. I am not sure that the members and representatives of SAD would be totally happy with the result.

     Carry on up to the top of the lane, which is quiet and leafy for the remainder, then turn left along Salterton Road. Then take the second left into Cyprus Road.

     You will immediately notice opposite a monstrosity named Villa Maison. This is the proverbial Cuckoo to its neighbours Dartford Warblers. Little wonder that the most obviously overshadowed neighbour, 6b, is for sale. This was hatched on the current incumbents’ watch.

      At the bottom of this road turn right into Douglas Avenue. On the opposite side there are a number of overdeveloped blocks of flats, conforming to varying interpretations of taste. There are also two development sites, one freshly demolished, plus yet another former hall of residence, Seacroft, which is subject to a planning application from McCarthy and Stone. The town planners have told the applicants that they are asking for too much on the site, so we are now waiting for the district planners to overrule them. No one seems to have addressed the issue of whether they should be allowed change of use. Despite, as our councillors claim; ‘If re-elected we will continue to press for good quality housing to be built in these locations’.

     By now we have the main Rolle College campus on our right. Part of this will be used for education and business start ups etc. in a Big Society project, subject to agreement with the site owners Bovis.

     As we enter the conservation area we come upon Rock House, a lovely old house with fine views out to sea, which has been allowed to dilapidate over a number of years. In Sidmouth the owners might have been instructed to maintain it. In Seaton they might already have a breeze block construction on the site. Eagle One have a poster on their boarding showing off 5 very glitzy ‘town houses’. Well worth their wait, I am sure. 

     At this point you might wish to carry on to the Carlton Hill roundabout to see how many apartments McCarthy and Stone managed to shoehorn into another old hall of residence site.

     Or you might prefer to retrace your steps back up Douglas Avenue to the Rolle College playing fields, which comprise the lower part of the Maer valley, not yet subject to the proposals threatening the National Trust land and farm further up. This land currently has protected status, but did a forward looking company like Eagle One really buy it to lease long term to the Boys Brigade?

     Better still turn left down to the seafront, then right at the still unfinished bowling alley  and walk along the promenade to the marina. Here you will find a modern café bar, The Point, which used to have a nice view across the channel. This view was courtesy of the last three remaining undeveloped plots on the old docks site. These were filled in one by one. The first, directly opposite the café, was rather higher than the artist’s impression suggested it might be. The second was higher still, and the third, on the estuary side, even higher. A stairway to heaven for the developers.

     The people who bought apartments in the initial dock developments were assured that no blocks would be higher than theirs. But this is the reality.

     When East Devon published its LDF core strategy document, Exmouth Town Council and many individuals made a robust demolition of  their targets, which were deemed way in excess of either need or available infrastructure. At the forefront of this was Exmouth mayor and Conservative East Devon councillor Darryl Nicholas, who is unfortunately not standing for re-election.

     East Devon responded sympathetically, saying that all targets would be reviewed.

For some reason we haven’t seen the results of this review yet. Did someone tell them there was an election coming?