Upottery Parish Council organised a Public Meeting on the Local Plan

at 7pm on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, in The Manor Rooms, Upottery.

Copies of the slides used during the meeting are available to read or download here

As you may have read in the November Parish Pump, the online consultation on the new EDDC Local Plan runs from November 7 to January 15, 2023 and all residents are encouraged to make their views on the plan known, what ever they may be. The plan is over 300 pages long, so to make it possible for everyone to provide feedback EDDC have produced an online consultation/questionnaire which asks you questions about the plan. Click here for full details https://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/emerging-local-plan/draft-local-plan-consultation/

Upottery has been designated as “unsustainable” in the plan which means that no new housing development will be permitted here. Instead it will all be focussed on and around larger settlements like Honiton, Axminster, Exmouth and Dunkeswell, plus another new town planned for the west of the area, south of the A30 and north of the A376, close by the M5. By 2040 this second new town would provide 2,500 new homes and beyond that could grow to 8,000 new homes.

Designating settlements like Upottery as unsustainable means that EDDC will not permit new development, despite the fact that when they put out a call for development sites in 2017, the field across the road from the Manor Rooms was identified by EDDC as a suitable location for up to 20 new homes by 2040.

The lack of a stand alone village shop seems to be the only reason that Upottery has been designated as unsustainable, despite the fact that the Sidmouth Arms continues to sell essentials such as bread, milk and eggs; a Post Office operates in the Manor Rooms one day a week; a very successful community shop is open six days a week three miles away in Churchinford, Somerset. Also, most people in Upottery have access to ultrafast broadband which makes it easy to order home deliveries from all the major supermarkets. (NB: Broadhembury, which is very similar is size and population to Upottery, does have a shop cum Post Office and has been designated as “sustainable” by EDDC and will be allowed new development on sites also identified in 2017)

As well as preventing the 20 new homes that the field across the road from the Manor Rooms could accommodate by 2040, the label “unsustainable” will also tell the County Council, Department for Education, Bus Companies, Highways Authorities etc. that no new service provisions are needed here which could have consequences for the future of the services we have today, including the School, bus services, roads and pub. All settlements need some, limited growth but EDDC wants us to have none.

The Local Plan online questionnaire only asks questions about the settlements that EDDC have decided are sustainable. It does not ask questions about settlements like Upottery which EDDC have designated as unsustainable. (Questionnaires always tell you more about what the people who ask the questions are thinking than they do about what the people who answer the questions are thinking!)

For this reason, Upottery Parish Council encourage everyone in the parish to send a separate email to EDDC saying what they think about Upottery being designated as unsustainable, as well as completing the questionnaire. If you don’t wish to write your own email/letter you can use the template below, in part or in whole, as you may prefer, where the email addresses to send your comments to is planning.policy@eastdevon.gov.uk and it is recommended that you also copy your email to EDDC Chair, Cllr Ian Thomas at ithomas@eastdevon.gov.uk and EDDC Leader Cllr Paul Arnott at parnott@eastdevon.gov.uk If responding by letter, please address your letter to Chair, Cllr Ian Thomas, Leader, Cllr Paul Arnott and Planning Policy Lead, at East Devon District Council, Blackdown House, Border Road, Honiton, EX14 1EJ. The closing date for completing the questionnaire and sending emails/letters is January 15, 2023.

if you have questions about how the Local Plan will affect Upottery or about responding to the consultation please Contact any Upottery Parish Councillor

Below is:

(a) An extract from the EDDC Role and Functions of Settlements Report which EDDC have used to decide if a settlement is sustainable or unsustainable by simply counting the number of services available in each settlement.

(b) An EDDC map showing the field across the road from the Manor Rooms, designated Upot_01 by EDDC in 2017, as a potential site for up to 20 dwellings by 2040. The map is taken from the interactive Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment map on the EDDC website.

(c) An email/letter template which you can download as a Word document (by clicking the pop-out box on the top right corner of the document) and send to the email addresses given. You can also of course cut and paste content from the template to create your own email or letter. Closing date for completing the online consultation and emailing/writing to EDDC is January 15, 2023.