It has taken far too many years to get to this stage! Finally, Devon County Council has put forward a planning application for the development of a multi-use path to (in theory) link Sidbury to Sidford and beyond. However, it is putting this forward in two phases. This planning application is only for phase 1 of two phases.
This planning application will be determined by the County Council, and it is the County Council that has submitted the application! The application number is DCC/4404/2024 and the public have until 2 August to submit their comments on it. The application can be viewed online at Search and comment on applications | Planning (devon.gov.uk). I have submitted my comments as the District Council Ward Member, and these can be read in these County Council planning application online pages.
In summary, this application being for phase 1 would take the path from the Sidford business park site on Two Bridges Road, Sidford, across the A375 at that point, into fields, across Ottery Lane, through a field, into the top of Hillside, and down ending at the junction of Hillside and Burnt Oak, Sidbury on the A375.
The path’s Phase 2 would link phase 1 and be routed through three fields which would become (if the landowner gains planning permission at some point) a housing development, out through Furzehill and into Greenhead above the village War Memorial at the junction, again of the A375.
However, there are a couple of issues in the way of delivering all of this even if the path’s phases 1 and 2, as well as the housing development. One is the need for all three elements to gain the different planning permissions required. Another is that in this planning application for the path’s phase 1, the County Council are asking for up to a possible delay in starting work on the path to allow it to raise the necessary funds. I am very concerned that the County Council won’t be able to raise the funds to develop phase 1 given the state of the County Council’s budgets and the national economic situation. What happens if phase 2 doesn’t get planning permission?
There are a few other concerns that I have raised in my comments on this application, and these include:
The fact that where there would be a crossing at Two Bridges Road at a point where the A375 floods regularly. That flooding would need to be resolved to allow regular and safe use of that crossing.
Concerns about path users’ safety in crossing Ottery Lane.
The inappropriateness of the path going through Hillside, not least due to potential path users’ safety, given they would have to use the roadway and the footpath from Hillside House flats to the A375 is usually inaccessible.
Perhaps the multi-use path should divert around the outside of the top of Hillside as envisaged within phase 2. I see no reason why this cannot happen as part of phase 1 rather than waiting until phase 2.
There is no point developing phase 1 and 2 at different times. It would lead to the lack of safe access to phase 1 from anywhere other than Hillside/Burnt Oak and concerns as to whether phase 2 can be guaranteed to be delivered.
This route could solve the long overdue need to link the two locations, but I believe it would need to be amended to ensure that:
Phases 1 and 2 were delivered at the same time. Simply delivering Phase 1 brings the possibility that the route may just end in Hillside, Sidbury. It would not solve the safety concerns of path users traversing through Hillside, nor having to possibly use the A375 from there into the centre of the village.
The flooding on the A375 at Two Bridges Road, Sidford where there could be a crossing, must be resolved prior to a crossing being established.
Additional actions must be taken to ensure path users safety when crossing Ottery Lane.
The County Council is not allowed to extend the usual 3 years period from when planning permission is granted to 10 years as it seeks. To do so would question whether this proposed scheme would be delivered given the state of the County Council’s budgets and the national economic situation.
I would like to support the proposed scheme but because of the shortcomings in it as I have set out in the comments that I have submitted to the County Council, I regretfully cannot. The residents of Sidbury deserve better.
There have been some difficulties in this District Council, along with some others around the country, leading to some voters not receiving their polling cards and/or their postal votes. The following information has been published by the District Council –
We have become aware that many residents across the district have not received their polling cards. This is due to an error made by an external printing contractor. The contractor has apologised to the council for the mistake, and they will be sending out polling cards for those affected by first class post today.
We are issuing press releases, special editions of our newsletters, social media and app messages and we would be grateful if members can share these on your own channels so we can amplify the message.
For residents looking to see where their polling station is located the Electoral Commission have a helpful postcode search tool which shows this information, and which candidates are standing for election.
Polling stations are open from 7am until 10pm on Thursday 4 July.
The council has said sorry for any inconvenience caused by this error, and we are doing all we can to make sure that voters across East Devon can have their say in the General Election on Thursday, 4 July. We want to remind people that they do not need to bring a polling card with them to vote, but will need a valid form of official photo ID. More information can be found on the council’s election webpages.
18 June to voters living in the UK who were already a postal voter before 22 May
21 June to new postal voters
How to apply for a replacement postal vote pack
If you have not received your postal vote pack, you can apply for a replacement up until 5pm on polling day, 4 July. To do this please call East Devon District Council (EDDC) on 01395 571529 or email elections@eastdevon.gov.uk. Before we can give you a replacement postal vote pack, we will ask for proof of identity.
By law, any replacement requests made between 5pm on Wednesday 3 July and 5pm on Thursday 4 July must be made in person with accepted proof of identity. We will then issue your postal vote pack to you in person, and you can return it straight away.
Returning your postal vote pack by hand
To return your postal vote in person:
return it to the address printed on your pack during office hours until 4 July
return it to a polling station in your constituency between 7am and 10pm on 4 July. To find your nearest polling station, use the Electoral Commission’s postcode finder service
When you return a postal vote pack by hand, you must fill in a form for the pack to be accepted.
You can return your own postal vote and up to five additional postal votes at this election from family, friends, or neighbours.
Candidates and campaigners are not allowed to collect or return postal votes on electors’ behalf.
Why are postal votes not sent out as soon as an application comes in?
Candidate nominations closed at 4pm on Friday 7 June, so ballot papers could only be finalised and sent to print after that.
Due to the short notice for the 4 July UK Parliamentary General Election, specialist election printers and Royal Mail have been working at capacity to print and deliver an anticipated 10 million postal votes across the UK.
It is a complicated process, with personalised postal vote statements matched with the correct ballot paper. There is also a need to produce personalised envelopes and instruction sheets. We also need to carry out crucial security checks which add to the time needed to prepare and send votes out.
Postal votes for overseas electors have early priority because of the extra time it takes for international mail to be delivered and returned.
Public Consultation on Proposals for New Homes alongside delivery of Phase 2 of Sidford to Sidbury Cycle Link on Land between Furzehill and Hillside
On behalf of the Cave Estate, Savills have now written to Sidbury residents explaining that there are proposals to build homes in the fields that are located in between Hillside and Furzehill. Savills are inviting residents to complete an online questionnaire about the brief proposals that they have posted.
The suggestion that homes should be built on these fields has been around for many years with on the detail having been developed over the past 18 months or so. Savills state that up to 50 new homes could be built on these fields. These appear to range from 2-bedroom flats through to 4-bedroom houses. I have concerns that building 50 properties would be too much and as with all other local proposals for building homes I have worries about where children would be able to go to school as the County Council states that whilst Sidmouth primary school has some capacity to support some development, the village primary school has no capacity to support development and no ability to expand the existing school. I am also concerned about the capacity of our sewerage system and the local GPs. I don’t think we should build homes that don’t have the necessary supporting infrastructure.
It cannot be argued that we don’t need more places for people to live locally. However, nothing in the proposals indicates that any of the homes would either be social or affordable housing, both of which we desperately need.
I have reservations about whether building on these fields would place homes in the right place. They would impinge on Furzehill Farm and would be directly in the line of site for existing homes in Burnt Oak.
I am concerned about access to these homes, which appears to be proposed to be from the A375, just where Chapel Street ends and opposite to the steps down to the cricket ground. That does appear to be a rather difficult blind spot on what we know is often a busy and fast main road. I am however pleased that Savills appear to have ruled out an earlier idea to create an access route via Furzehill.
Savills make great play of the site being able to provide the second phase of Devon County Council’s cycle/multi-use path. If this development went ahead, I could see the benefit of linking Hillside and Furzehill with such a path, and which should be a stand-alone proposal.
However, at this point there is no first phase of a cycle/multi-use path, and indeed there is no formal proposals from the County Council, possibly because there would be very significant costs associated with building this path. Indeed, I have reservations about a path, as was in the County Council’s last suggested route, that would end up at Hillside having started in the business park site in Sidford and then which would cross Two Bridges Road as well as Burscombe Lane, and which would then wander up a slope entering into, or skirting the top of, Hillside.
As any proposals to formally develop this site will require planning permission from the District Council, and as your local District Councillor, I will have the opportunity, as will all residents, to comment on whatever is put finally forward for any development. It is therefore important that I also know what your thoughts are on these proposals. Please send your views to me at john.loudoun@eastdevon.gov.uk.
Like so many residents, particularly those living in Sidbury and those who rely upon the A375 through Two Bridges Road in Sidford as a through route, I have become more than fed up with the regular flooding that occurs there virtually every time we have any significant amount of rainfall. The fact that this flooding now makes the road impassable, or at best passable with extreme care, when it rains heavily brings disruption and even isolation to the village of Sidbury, not to mention to problems for general road users.
This disruption has become far too regular now. I, like anyone who relies upon this road being passable, have become totally fed up at the disruption to residents’ lives and the County Council, which is responsible for the highway, seems unable, or unwilling, to sort this out and I cannot understand why.
So, in order to try and understand what the County Council has been doing and to what effect, I have now submitted the Council with a Freedom of Information request. The County Council has 20 days to provide me with the information I have asked for. Here’s what I have submitted to the County Council’s Chief Executive –
Under the Freedom of Information Act/Environmental Information Regulations, I am requesting information related to the regular flooding of the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10, specifically at the point between the junctions of Ottery Lane and Brook Close and the A375.
The information I am seeking covers the period from 1 January 2020 to 23 February 2024 inclusive.
The information I am seeking includes all forms of communication, but should not be taken to be exclusively restricted to, but should include –
Letters;
Emails;
File notes;
Notes of conversations be they by telephone and/or person to person;
Exchanges contained within WhatsApp, text or any other electronic messaging medium;
Draft and formal reports as well as decisions taken within Devon County Council by officers/members of staff, elected members, committees and or panels, or equivalent, and/or any Joint Body or Panel, or equivalent, where the Devon County Council is represented by officers/members of staff and/or elected members;
Requests, and/or claims, against Devon County Council for financial compensation due to alleged damage done to a vehicle registered to them, or related to a loss of business and/or income alleged to be associated with the effects, such as, but not exclusively restricted to, potholes, raised drain covers, lack of drain covers, vehicle water ingress, of the flooding of the A375 as described in paragraph 1 above.
The information I am seeking includes, but should not be taken to be exclusively restricted to, paragraph 3 above’s communication methods which were either originated by and/or received by –
Any Devon County Council officer/member of staff;
Any Devon County Council elected member;
Any contractor with a contractual relationship with Devon County Council;
Any land owner, and/or agent or similar acting on behalf of the landowner, who owns land that the A375 abuts between Brook Close EX10 and 1 Hillside EX10 and the first 800 metres within Ottery Lane EX10 from its junction with the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10;
Any householder, and/or anyone authorised to act on their behalf, who lives between Brook Close EX10 and Ottery Lane EX10;
Any resident, and/or anyone authorised to act on their behalf;
Sidmouth Town Council officers/members of staff and/or elected members or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf;
East Devon District Council officers/members of staff and/or elected members or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf;
Stagecoach South West officers/members of staff or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf.
For clarity, in regards to paragraphs 3 and 4 above I am seeking information that is held in both paper and electronic form, as well as any related photographs.
In addition, I am seeking information as set out in the following 3 paragraphs –
I am seeking information about any planned preventative maintenance, or equivalent, that Devon County Council its officers/members of staff, and/or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf, undertook on the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10, specifically at the point between the junctions of Ottery Lane and Brook Close and the A375 and in Ottery Lane EX10 within the first 800 metres of its junction with the A375 between 1 January 2020 and 23 February 2024 inclusive.
I am seeking information about any planned preventative maintenance, or equivalent, and/or repairs, and/or upgrading that Devon County Council its officers/members of staff, and/or or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf, has identified, and/or scheduled to be undertaken to the road surfaces, verges and/or drainage system, and associated infrastructure, on the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10, specifically at the point between the junctions of Ottery Lane and Brook Close and the A375 and in Ottery Lane EX10 within the first 800 metres of its junction with the A375 between 24 February 2024 and the end of the 2025/26 financial year inclusive.
I am seeking information about the dates and number of occasions from 1 January 2020 until 23 February 2024 inclusive, related to when any Devon County Council officer/member of staff, and/or elected member and/or or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf, attended the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10, specifically at the point between the junctions of Ottery Lane and Brook Close and the A375 and in Ottery Lane EX10 within the first 800 metres of its junction with the A375. Within this I am seeking to know when they undertook, any, and what actions associated with these visits relating to –
Repairs to road surfaces, verges, drains and associated infrastructure on the A375 and in Ottery Lane;
Maintenance, such as jetting through and other similar and/or associated activity to road surfaces, verges, drains and associated infrastructure on the A375 and in Ottery Lane.
Finally, I am seeking information as to whether any Devon County Council officer/member of staff, and/or elected member, and/or contractors and/or agents acting on its behalf keep records of when the A375 at Two Bridges Road EX10, specifically at the point between the junctions of Ottery Lane and Brook Close, becomes impassable to vehicles due to the road flooding.
If it does not record this information, will it in future?
If it does record this information, I would like to know the dates recorded during the period 1 January 2020 and 23 February 2024 inclusive.
I am an Independent and I am not a member of the Liberal Democrats, however I have decided that I have to support the local Liberal Democrat candidate, Richard Foord, in the next general election. Here’s why I have arrived at that decision.
The next general election has to be held by 28 January 2025 which much fevered speculation that it will be held at some point this year. If we believe Rishi Sunak the election won’t be in May and if you accept what ex-Chancellor George Osborne predicts, it will be in mid-November. You pay your money and takes your choice.
It becomes clearer by the day that the prevailing view across the country is that the majority of electors are fed up with the continuing incompetence we’ve had for the past 14 years of successive Conservative governments and Conservative Prime Ministers; three in just the last two years. I share this view that we need an election and the sooner the better, as this government, like its predecessors over 14 years are crashing this country, its economy and its public services. It is definitely time for a change.
This parliamentary constituency of East Devon has now had its boundary changed. As a result, it now will be known as, and fought as, Honiton & Sidmouth, taking in some, but not, all parts of the current East Devon and current Tiverton & Honiton constituencies. The latter is currently represented by Richard Foord MP, a Liberal Democrat and the former by Simon Jupp MP, Conservative.
The new Honiton & Sidmouth Constituency boundary
I had been looking forward to there being a credible Independent candidate, such as Claire Wright who boldly and strongly challenged the Conservatives in the East Devon seat in the past two elections. Claire has decided not to stand and as I say, sadly, I cannot see there being a credible Independent to vote for.
Both the current MPs, Jupp and Foord, have declared that they are standing for their respective parties in our new constituency. Reform, that has been created out of the ashes of the old Brexit party has announced its candidate here. I would never vote for a Reform candidate.
The Labour party has placed the constituency in its list of non-battleground seats. In other words, Honiton & Sidmouth is a non-priority seat for the Labour party, thus conceding it cannot realistically win here. If the Labour party has deprioritised this seat, then I believe it isn’t serious in trying to win it and therefore a vote for Labour would be a wasted vote.
Labour party non-battleground seats
I have to cast my vote; not voting is not an option for me. It’s a democratic right that has been hard won by our fore fathers and mothers. So, the question I posed myself last summer, as I posted on this blog, was what do I do with my vote at the next general election? It isn’t a difficult question to answer. It has to be Richard Foord.
As a District Councillor I can see at first hand how local government both here, more widely at Devon County and more broadly around the country has been starved of government funding over the past 14 years. This is seriously affecting what services councils are able to deliver and the quality of these services. It’s the same for the NHS as everyone can see.
The District Council is a well-managed one that has taken the necessity to balance its budgets and act as a financially prudent authority seriously and effectively. The current Administration inherited a decade or more of poor management of the council from the Conservatives and a lack of investment in its assets whilst it kept its council tax low.
This District Council tries very hard to do the right thing and to deliver quality services to residents. I believe that the council gets right most of what it does. Sometimes we don’t. Since he was elected in December 2019 Simon Jupp has done nothing but constantly criticise and snipe at quite literally everything the council has done, whether it has been done well or poorly. This has been a deliberate cynical political approach by the current East Devon MP.
On the other hand, Richard Foord has taken a far more even-handed approach to how he deals with the District Council. He’s prepared to praise it when that’s appropriate and to criticise on the occasions we get things wrong.
That’s exactly what I want from my MP. I want a critical friend to the council. At present all I have is a critic in my current MP. Its therefore time for a change.
Within the District Council I am pleased to sit within a ruling Administration that is a coalition that crosses political boundaries. The Administration, that hopefully in May will commence its fourth year, comprises of some Independents such as me, some Green party members as well as liberal Democrats. We coalesce around our broad political and social common objectives. We are able to bury naked party-political point scoring for the greater good of the council and its residents.
This is the approach I am taking to looking at who I will be voting for. Indeed, I am prepared to do more than just voting for Richard Foord, I will campaign for him, despite the fact that I am not a Liberal Democrat. It was for that reason why I was pleased to be at his official election campaign launch yesterday.
I hope that others who perhaps like me aren’t natural Liberal Democrat voters will do as I am doing. Looking at who the best candidate will be in this Constituency, and who the best candidate will be to ensure that this new seat doesn’t have an MP that sports a blue rosette. Its time for change and achieving that by voting in a way that delivers the change we need here in our part of East Devon.
This is the response that I have submitted to Devon County Council’s latest public consultation on a revised route for a proposed multi-use path linking Sidbury to Sidford and into Sidmouth. This public consultation was published by Devon County Council (DCC) on 22 November 2023 and closed on 5 January. It proposes to create a multi-use path from Sidford to Sidbury in two inter-linked phases.
The last alternative proposed route for the path, published seven years ago, skirted the southern boundary of the A375 entering/exiting Sidbury at Burnt Oak. This would have left those who live in most of the village to have to walk/cycle along the A375 between Burnt Oak and just opposite the Pound on Chapel Street before they could use a short length of footpath.
Residents would then have had to walk/cycle again along the A375 between the end of that footpath, past the Chapel and to join the next piece of footpath just opposite the War Memorial at the start of Fore Street.
As residents and DCC Highways are aware the A375 from Sidford, through Burnt Oak, all the way through to the village, and out beyond Cotford bridge is narrow, windy, in many places has parked vehicles and despite the village being subject to 20-mph and a 30-mph zones, with the vast majority of drivers, according to official DCC data (2018), breaching the speed limits.
Not only is speed through all parts of the village a concern, the village also has to contend with in excess of 1 million vehicles travelling annually through it (2018 DCC data). These vehicles include HGVs, including the largest ones, vans, caravans, motorhomes, cars, motorbikes, buses and farm vehicles, such as tractors and trailers. The road from Sidford to Sidbury village centre and onwards to Cotford bridge is dangerous to walkers and cyclists, which is why there is a need for a path to bypass the road.
These latest proposed routes appear to mirror the detail published in autumn 2021. I find it difficult to see what, if anything in the latest set of proposals has changed in the past two years, which begs the question as to why a further couple of years has dragged on with nothing being said to residents. These proposals are to be developed in two linked phases, as was previously the case.
Proposed Phase 1
With the revised proposed routes entering/exiting Sidbury at Burnt Oak only a few yards closer to the village than the previous proposed route, this does nothing to connect the village to the path any better than had previously been proposed. Indeed, what this revised route does is to require residents to have to cross the A375 by the post box at Hillside/Burnt Oak in order to walk against the traffic towards the village. The previous route would not have added this requirement as the entry/exit to the path was on the opposite side of the A375 to this.
In order to effectively connect the village to Sidford any path needs to enter/exit the village in its centre. It also needs to have a spur to an entry/exit at Burnt Oak. This would allow all residents across the village to access the path in a safe manner. Ideally, an entry/exit in the centre of the village would be in Deepway, as it might not be possible to enter/exit via the cricket ground and the Millennium Green off of Bridge Street.
Equally ideally, a route from the centre of village, spurred off at Burnt Oak, would hug the River Sid joining up with the existing path in Sidford at the bottom of the business park site by Laundry Lane. I am confident that locating the path across the business park site at this point would be something that the owners could be encouraged to agree to.
The revised route will enter/exit Hillside from Sidford. Hillside only has a footpath for about half of it, from its junction with Burnt Oak up until the three-way junction at the top of Hillside. From there to the entry/exit point into the field below Ebdon Farm there is no footpath and it is narrow with residents’ parked vehicles.
As Hillside residents have to park partially on the footpath to allow the road to accommodate vehicles this makes the footpath impossible to use and therefore for much, if not all of this stretch of footpath, then the only alternative for those on foo or bike is to use the road which is potentially dangerous and inappropriate.
I attach photographs that were taken during the day in mid-December 2023 and which show how inaccessible the footpath in Hillside regularly is.
The route then traverses the three fields between the entry/exit in Hillside until it meets Otter Lane. The route across these fields is at an incline. At Ottery Lane the path then crosses it just above where it joins the A375. Any crossing at this point would be fairly blind particularly to drivers entering Ottery Lane from the Sidford direction. Otter Lane has water and stones cascading down it onto the A375 whenever there is heavy rain.
Having crossed Ottery Lane, the route passes through four fields and has to skirt the Wales and West Utilities site. The route then enters/exits onto Two Bridges Road/A375 opposite the proposed entrance to the business park. Two Bridges Road is a fast road despite its 30-mph speed limit, particularly at this point as it is a straight piece of road. The road is wide enough to facilitate vehicles travelling in both directions.
As this part of the A375 directly ends up going through Sidbury the same comments about traffic are appropriate, in that over 1 million vehicles travelling along it (2018 DCC Sidbury data). These vehicles include HGVs, including the largest ones, vans, caravans, motorhomes, cars, motorbikes, buses and farm vehicles, such as tractors and trailers. This is a dangerous road to have to cross.
Whilst the business park is being built this part of the A375 will have more and often bigger vehicles using it. Once the business park is built there will be hundreds of additional vehicle movements each day from those delivering to/from it and those working there. This will all add to the difficulties facing those needing to cross the A375 to access/exit the path. This really is not an appropriate access/entry point to the path.
Having crossed the A375 those using the path will then need to be mindful of all the vehicles entering/exiting the business park.
This point on the A375 is notorious for becoming regularly flooded as DCC Highways will be only too aware. Here it is often impossible for vehicles to pass through due top the depth and spread of the flooding on the road. To locate a crossing as part of the proposed routes seems wholly inappropriate and dangerous.
Included below is a photograph of this section of the A375 when it was flooded in autumn 2023. This photograph was taken from many that appear regularly on various Sidmouth community Facebook sites.
Ironically, on 5 January, as the public consultation closed once again the A375 became flooded outside the Sidford Business Park site. This led, not for the first time, to the local County Councillor, who also happens to be the County’s Cabinet Member responsible for Highways, to post a photograph (see below) on his Twitter/X account referring readers to a Facebook posting (photograph below) by a Sidmouth resident of a video taken earlier that day showing the flooding that had just taken place outside of the Sidford Business Park site where under the proposed Sidbury Walking & Cycling Scheme DCC propose to locate a crossing.
The fact that the Devon County Council Cabinet Member responsible for Highways who is also the local County Council Ward Member posts such a reference is ample demonstration that despite including a proposed crossing at this point, DCC Officers and Members are fully aware that at this point the A375 regularly floods. This leads me to believe that Devon County Council is being desperate, irresponsible, disingenuous and misleading of the public in proposing to site a crossing of the A375 at this point as part of its proposed Sidbury Walking & Cycling Scheme.
In order to make the path effective in its intention of linking Sidbury to Sidford and beyond it has to be useable and safe for all of its users. Not only would this include able bodied adults and youth, walking and/or cycling, but also children of all ages walking and possibly on scooters and bikes, babies and toddlers being pushed in prams, the partially sighted walking, those with mobility difficulties either on foot or using a wheelchair or a mobility scooter. A path that takes users into/out of the centre of the village could allow children who attend Sidbury Primary School, and their parents/carers, to walk/cycle directly to/from Sidford without having to drive or rely upon school transport.
Phase 1 would be paid for through funding provided and/or secured by DCC. When these proposals were published in autumn 2021 DCC advised that it was at that point actively seeking sufficient funding to pay for Phase 1. That has still not been acquired with DCC now stating that it wouldn’t be seeking funding until it had obtained planning permission for this phase. This gives no confidence that funding will be obtained.
Proposed Phase 2
Phase 2 would link Phase 1 from where that ends/starts by the post box at the junction of Hillside/Burnt Oak on the A375. It would then mean that the multi-use path users would have to go up Ebdon Lane and then enter what is currently farm land on the righthand side. As DCC Highways is aware Ebdon Lane at this point regularly is subject to run off water and stones cascading down it onto the A375 when there is torrential rain. This cascading has become more frequent in recent years and would make the use of the lane problematic for multi-use path users.
Once exiting into Furzehill users would then need to go through the housing estate and join Greenhead, which has no pathway, thus requiring users to use the narrow roadway, and seek to cross the busy A375 by the village war memorial to join the footpath that then would link them into the village centre.
The whole basis of Phase 2 is predicated upon it passing through the three fields that link the two housing areas at Hillside and Furzehill. It is further predicated upon this phase being paid for not by DCC but rather the landowner, or rather the developer of these three fields.
It would appear that the intention would be for the current landowner to place housing across these fields and to incorporate Phase 2 within this development. However, at this stage whilst this development has been put forward to EDDC as a site in its developing Local Plan, even at this stage this site has not made it through to the list of preferred sites in the draft Local Plan.
Alternatively, the landowner has not submitted a planning application to support developing this site not accommodating Phase 2 of the proposed route.
Should Phase 1 be fully funded and receive planning approval then even at this point it could be that any Phase 2 doesn’t go ahead either on planning grounds for a stand-alone multi-use path, or as part of a broader housing development. In such circumstances the multi-use path would only connect Hillside/Burnt Oak to Sidford and would provide no wider connectivity for the majority of Sidbury. In short it would be under used and in effect be a white elephant.
A path has to increase the access to and from Sidbury for not only its residents but to also open it up to visitors and those walking in the area, such as those using the East Devon Way. This would assist the local economy as visitors could make greater use of visiting St Giles Church, Drews the village shop, Wag & Bone shop, the Village Hall and Parish Rooms, the Red Lion pub, as well as the Millennium Green and Sidbury Cricket Club’s ground.
From the information provided about the revised route I am not convinced that it is safe for users, that it will link the whole village to Sidford and beyond, or that it will be used to any great extent. This would probably lead to this path sadly becoming a white elephant, a waste of public money and a lost opportunity for linking an isolated village and its residents to Sidford and beyond.
It is seven years since the previous proposed route was withdrawn by DCC and two years since similar proposals were first published by DCC. Since then, I am unaware of any discussion that DCC has had with Sidbury residents or local groups or organisations. This appears to have been a wasted seven years during which, as I have asked over the past couple of years, broad local engagement could have taken place in order to develop a route that would truly link the whole of the village to Sidford and beyond, and be supported and used by the residents of Sidbury.
It has been suggested from within DCC the landowners on the southern side of the A375 through whose land any multi-use path would need to traverse had previously (seven or more years ago) not wanted to give permission to use their land. Since then, two of the landowners have changed. During the past seven years DCC could have taken steps to compulsorily purchase strips of their land to provide a flatter more scenic route for a multi-use path. In which case today’s proposals would be probably near fruition than we currently are.
Photographs (3) – Hillside parking
Photograph – A375 flooding outside of Sidford Business Park
Photograph – Local County Councillor’s Twitter/X post5 January 2024
Photograph – Facebook post link to A375 flooding 5 January 2024
Just to show that I don’t take myself too seriously all the time, here’s a promotional seasonal photo that I was happy to pose for recently at the District Council’s own Manor Theatre in Sidmouth as part of the Council’s Shop Local promotion campaign.
The need for a safe multi-use path to connect the village to Sidford and beyond is something many have asked for so many years. The responsibility with developing and building a multi-use path is the responsibility of Devon County Council.
Some residents may recall that previously a proposed scheme to route such a path on the eastern side of the A375 (on the right-hand side as you head towards Sidbury) was the subject of a planning application by the County Council, although it subsequently withdrew the scheme and the planning application. The proposed route would only have entered/exited the village at Burnt Oak, thus leaving most of the village still unconnected.
Out of the blue, two full years ago the County Council came forward with a revised scheme. This time it would be routed on the western side of the A375 and developed in two phases. Phase 1 took it as far as Hillside over Cave Estate land, with Phase 2 taking it via Cave Estate land between Ebdon Lane and Furzehill. Although Phase 2 was reliant upon the landowner footing the cost of the multi-use path over land it wanted to build houses on.
Since then, nothing more has been said about the County Council’s western side scheme. However, it has now, again out of the blue, published what is effectively the same two-phase scheme for public comment. At this stage the County Council has still has no funding for its Phase 1 proposals, and it still is reliant upon the landowner funding Phase 2, presumably as part of a potential housing development between Hillside and Furzehill.
If Phase 1 is completed it will terminate/start at Hillside. If Phases 1 and 2 are completed this will mean that the path will finish/start where Furzehill joins Greenhead or possibly by the War Memorial.
I believe this village has not been well served by the County Council in this matter. It has taken more than a decade to get to this point. This proposal is at least 2 years old. It will not guarantee a path that links the centre of the village directly to Sidford. It has no funding in place to develop either Phase 1 or 2. I believe a path should preferably be routed on the astern side of the A375 linking up with the footpath that skirts the leat and the cricket pitch and joins up with the Millenium Green.
You have until 5 January to give your views on the proposals by emailing to transportplanning@devon.gov.uk or by writing to Transport Planning, Room 120, County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter. EX2 4QD. On there is also a link on the County Council web page to allow you to post your comments on-line.
As residents living in Salcombe Regis are only too aware Salcombe Regis Camping and Caravan Park was sold at the end of last year and purchased by Serenity Leisure Parks Ltd.
This application caused a great deal of concern and upset among the residents in Salcombe Regis and they organised a campaign of opposition to this application. As the Ward Member I also opposed this application.
The District Council has now refused the application, (a copy of the decision letter can be seen on the planning site), which will come as a relief to residents. The site’s owners do however have the option of appealing this decision, therefore this may not be the end of the issue.
I have been twice elected as an Independent on the District Council and I have resisted approaches to join political parties. I am not a member of a political party and don’t see a time when I will be.
However, that does not stop me from working with others who are members of one political party or another if I feel comfortable with their broad objectives. That is why within the District Council I, and a number of other Independents, sit in coalition with other elected Members who are in the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats.
Anyone who knows me and my approach to life will understand that I can see no circumstances where I would join the Conservative group on the District Council. Having said that, I guess they probably wouldn’t want me anyway!
In the last couple of general elections, I have been pleased to support, promote and vote for Claire Wright, who has been an active, prominent and determined Independent parliamentary candidate in the East Devon Constituency. In the last election in 2019 Claire ran Simon Jupp a very close second, demonstrating to me that locally there is a large well of voters who do not want to be represented in parliament by a Conservative.
Claire has moved onto pastures new, although still lives locally. In her place I have yet to find a credible Independent who would be willing or able to stand at the next election. I would not just support any old independent candidate, they have to be a credible one.
So, as someone who does not want my MP to be a Conservative, I am looking at the next election, which isn’t that far away (I hope), and thinking about who I might want to give my vote to.
The East Devon Constituency will be no more at the next election. It will have parts of it placed into the new Exmouth and Exeter East Constituency. The remainder, being the part where I live, will be in the newly created Honiton and Sidmouth Constituency.
Going into the next election the new Constituency will not have a sitting MP defending their seat. Rather, as we now know, it will have two existing MPs, one from the Sidmouth part and one from the Honiton part, fighting for the seat. There may also be other candidates.
The incumbent MP for the Sidmouth part is Simon Jupp (Conservative) and the incumbent MP for the Honiton part is Richard Foord (Lib Dem). Both these existing MPs now have track records and have clear party policies that they follow and promote.
Claire Wright has announced that she is supporting Richard Foorde. Her approach is one of pragmatism. One of supporting the candidate that is nearest to her ideals.
I am approaching the next election pragmatically too. Whoever, the Labour or Green Party put up as candidates, whoever stands as an Independent, none will have the experience that Richard Foord has as an MP. I have seen him in action. I have seen his support of our group and what we are seeking to achieve on the District Council.
On the contrary, whilst he is a pleasant bloke, Simon Jupp has constantly followed his party’s line in parliament. He has spent over three years now constantly criticising all our group on the District Council does.
I want a local MP who will see the good in what we, at the District Council do, and be willing to say so publicly. I put this challenge to Simon Jupp in a letter I wrote to the Sidmouth Hearld immediately after this year’s District Council elections. His response was dismissive and I have still to see him support us practically or publicly, as opposed to playing party politics with all that we do.
I have therefore decided to lend my vote to Richard Foord in the next general election, and no that doesn’t make me a Lib Dem, nor is it a prelude to me abandoning being an Independent. Rather, I have decided to use my vote pragmatically.
As a result, I will be encouraging others who think like me to do the same.
My first outing in showing my public support for Richard Foord will be on Friday 25 August when he, ably supported by Claire Wright, will be holding an open meet and greet session for residents in Sidbury’s Village Hall at 2.00 pm. If you want to meet Richard but can’t make that session then there are others locally which are shown on his website https://www.richardfoord.org.uk/summer-tour.
John Loudoun 4 Sidmouth Rural 