Hats off to Weston

Rumour has it that Exmouth's long awaited seafront bowling alley has been inadequately piled. That is the cheap option was taken and the building is now twisted. If true, was that mentioned at the Gun Gardens meeting? It certainly didn't find its way into the Journal report at the time.

I understand also that the revised planning permission has been granted. Does this include specific clauses relating to the piling issues, a time limit on completion and adequate suitable vehicle access? I wonder.

In the time that this development has been a stagnant eyesore, of no use other than to obstruct the view, Weston Super Mare have managed to burn down and replace their pier! Yet they are in a town which has many more charity shops than Exmouth, which ought to be suggestive of decline. They have certainly done something right on this occasion and put East Devon's movers and shakers to shame.

I shall be contacting Ladbrokes for odds against Hastings rebuilding before Exmouth's alley is complete.

Good to see that Exmouth Town Council have robustly rejected the plans for the latest monstrosity near the docks. However, given EDDC's form with developers in general and Eagle One in particular, I am not confident that it will not be built. Look at the existing staircase maximising the use of the last bit of ground on the other side, and remembering that the purchasers of the original units were promised the whole development would be one size. Perhaps the 'magic sign' could help me fill my pockets here also.

Incidentally, has anyone got any occupancy figures for first and second homes in the existing units? Or even of the economic benefits to the town's shops and restaurants?

Jurassic walk ii

Thanks to Radio 2 for the fireworks, reputedly the best in Exmouth for some time, well since the millenium at least. Apologies to Eliza Doolittle who is well short of her fiftieth birthday! And congrats to Show of Hands, who were of course great and looked a lot fresher than their contemporaries(?). Will Glen Tilbrook ever develop good taste in shirts, or stop being dressed by his mother?

And most importantly the guys did apparently walk the whole thing, so they must be fitter than Stuart looks.

Peace and love. x

Jurassic Coast walk and other media moments.

Radio 2 DJs Mark Radcliffe and Stuart McConie are to walk the Jurassic Coast path this coming week, possibly with a little artistic license. Good for them, hope they enjoy it. Guests include Dorste's adopted son Billy Bragg in Lyme Regis on Monday evening and Topsham's own Show of Hands in Beer on Tuesday.
The week's other shows are from Sidmouth on Wednesday and Exmouth on Thurs.

Wednesday's guests include Squeeze, who were obviously not put off by their first visit to the west country in 1979, when they performed a storming set in Barnstaple despite having been made unwell by the fare on offer at a cafe owned by a local councillor.

The recordings are unfortunately not open to the public, but we hope the spies will bump into them at times that are not necessarily stage managed, to greet them and in order to verify their efforts. And with all due respect to the very talented artists, some local, that they feature, to tell them that if they looked harder they might be able to feature someone who hasn't reached his or her fiftieth birthday!

By strange coincidence this weekend the Guardian magazine carries features on Budleigh (Lets Move To...) and on the Fish Shack at Dart's Farm. It seems the liberal intelligentsia are moving down here almost as fast as McCarthy and Stone.

ECA ideas

Who really needs to be wasting money on private sector consultants?

Exmouth Community Assn have published it's views on enhancement to the seafront, selected extracts are published in the Journal. There's a lot of common sense, perhaps it doesn't go far enough. Though I must emphasise to date I've only seen the Journal extracts. 

Their main thrusts are to join up the seafront with the town centre , to maintain the seafront views and to improve the pedestrian/cycle/mobility scooter experience.

Piazzas on the seafront and a footbridge over Carlton slipway are great ideas. The present promenade is too narrow even out of season and a seafront walk often spoilt by the aggressive brinkmanship of some pedestrians determined to take possession of the cycle path. Perhaps ECA's plans don't go far enough with this. How much vehicle access do we need between Alexandra Terrace and the new lifeboat station? 

Reducing access along to Orcombe Point is also suggested, but how much could be taken without limiting or spoiling the pleasure of sitting in the car eating fish and chips whatever the weather? A cafe at Orcombe Point is a must, though not on the beach(dog loo). There was one and it never should have been taken away. A replacement has to walk the line between being a magnet, white elephant and vandalism target.

Perhaps it should be simple to create a pleasurable Strand to Orcombe Point experience without too much expense or difficulty. Bath Road would have to be made more inviting and the two brash pubs en route would need strictly enforced guidelines on broken glass outside their premises. In fact the whole issue of glass in the town /seafront areas needs to be addressed.

No further intrusion on the view is a no brainer. But so it was before the bowling alley was allowed to ruin the Salterton Road/Carlton Hill vista and the developers were allowed to do their worst with the entrance to the docks. I was talking to a consultant engineer from Manchester recently, who told me that up there if a building exceeds its height it has to be lowered. No such backbone or attention to duty here. 

Sorry this is so Exmouth centred so far. I just don't get out enough. And every time I think of Seaton seafront my blood boils. Plenty of buildings there wouldn't have been put up without a backhander, would never be seen in Sidmouth. Especially the one that looks like a seventies CD tower.

We Plan Anywhere ii

Didn't we just have a planning consultation for the Strand 'improvements' in Exmouth? And is it my imagination or did they start chopping trees down before anyone realised the consultation was over  ?

 The trees may well have been diseased, as we were told subsequently, although the tree surgeons apparently contradicted this to some concerned residents I met. If the diseased trees really were the stimulus, then why haven't they done anything about the very obviously diseased ones at the council offices at Sidmouth?

And how was it that by the time the tree work was done the cheap and inappropriate slabs had been ordered and which didn't match the artist's impression? The latter is a frequent issue with developments in Exmouth, although it's usually the size that is not accurately conveyed.

And why was allegedly 20k spent on that ugly and badly sited bus shelter which doesn't match the existing modern street furniture?

Seriously though, was there any announcement that the decision had been made and that work was due to commence? How do they expect us to participate when they apparently never follow the process through fully and openly?

Wet Blanket Showcase

Just heard that the Wet Robot Showcase scheduled for the Manor Gardens stage was a no show.

I tried to get the day off for this but glad I didn't. Two people I recommended it to went at different times, no puzzled teenagers, no cancellation signs and I can't find anything on line.

It's a shame because there are a few good young local bands who are worthy of a wider audience. The people who put these events on are an enthusiastic bunch headed by an Elvis Costello lookalike who is very well thought of, but they haven't yet got their heads around the need to communicate and provide information to the audience outside their own social group.

I'm sure it must have been cancelled or postponed for good reason and I guess there's a fair chance it will be rescheduled, but it will be an even bigger shame if this happens without good publicity.

WE PLAN ANYWHERE !

Credit to those at EDDC who want the local young people to get interested and involved. But how much planning did this take? Three thousand hits already but apparently no comments on the ldf site. And really it is crap.

Two obvious questions.

1. Was this video free to produce as implied on the youtube link or did it cost the 600 quid stated by Express and Echo?

2. Will the consultation carry any weight, or is it a fig leaf?

Certainly the links don't lead to an inviting space. Three clicks and you come to Coun Randall Johnson's welcoming smile, introducing you to a dry and opaque consultation document. Surprise, surprise no comments yet.

This is the same lady council leader who spent six figures of our money protecting us from a scenario where we might have had democratic options in East Devon by means of a unitary authority in combination with either Exeter or the rest of Devon despite, as Private Eye stated, the fact that she had a conflict of interest. This is based on her employment as a PR person with Flybe, and East Devon being the regulatory authority for Exeter Airport. The Journal even printed a poem from her on the subject.

She positions herself as fighting to uphold local democracy but in fact she is protecting an administration that is so entrenched that we are not just governed by one party, but by a clique within the local party. That is why Sidmouth and West Hill are always well looked after but Exmouth and Seaton (the town solld to Tesco) are always dumped on.

Show of Hands Indian Summer

Topsham rugby club on sunday to finally get to see this highly recommended act.

Still flying - for now

Red Arrows flew past yesterday. Very basic fly past , not perhaps as people were expecting from the Herald story, but see them they did.

They were impressive as always at the Dawlish air day, and of course we are fortunate to see so much of them when they stay over at Exeter Airport, so it was a particular concern to hear that their future is not assured subject to the government's defence review.

One hopes that the case for retaining the team is pretty strong. The Hawk jets are the principal RAF advanced jet trainer, so they might be considered to form a pinnacle of the training process. And of course their roles in creating aspiration amongst the young and maintaining a sense of patriotic pride in the not so young are significant if not easily quantified.

But we live in austere times. Plus , the cost of Trident , our membership subscription for being America's 'junior partner' may be shifted onto an already stretched defence budget. So perhaps the Arrows will be seen as an expendable frippery.

It may be that the threat is a posturing part of the underlying interdepartmental argument over responsibility for Trident. We shall see. Even as a non militaristic person , I feel we would be the poorer without them.

Off the ground, but not yet flying.

After many false starts and with a history longer than I care to admit, here is my first self published effort. I'm not certain why it's finally happening at this point and even less sure of why it's taken so long, though procrastination and excessive analysis are rolling over the horizon.


Barack Obama deserves some credit. An inspirational figure who hopefully will not be too far deflected by realpolitic , and who certainly does not deserve the opprobrium and abuse hurled by the intellectually short changed stooges of the 'divine right to rule' parties, his Dreams From My Father has more than any previous gripping read pushed me to just get on with it.


We should all grow up with dreams and with no sense of limitation on what we might achieve or might be able to influence. I can't say why I didn't grow up with dreams as such which were achievable and of value. I had ambitions which I don't have now, and which I would not expect to have if I had my childhood again. In many ways they are symbolic of old norms which represent the antithesis of values I now hold. The dreams I might have as a child now were then things that other people did. And possibly, even when I have been confident of my ability to follow through an idea or plan, there has been some fatalistic vestige of those negatives that may have contributed to lack of completion. Yet I certainly would not have considered myself disadvantaged. Nor would it be fair to blame anyone else.


Regardless of whether anyone else reads this , it will be fascinating to be able to remind myself of my evolving thought processes from this point on.