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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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15th July '07
Several weeks ago I wrote about a talk I went to given by Professor Pethick on the physical dynamics of the Taw-Torridge estuary and the local coastline. You may recall that I quoted a very senior Devon County Council officer’s estimate as to how much it would cost to remove the old rubbish tip on Northam Burrows (to avoid its being scoured out by the sea) as being £30 million. I was, therefore, astonished at the Journal’s recent headline that the cost was now estimated at £150 million. I immediately thought back to the saga of Bideford Bridge where tenders to repair the structure came in at £9 million – way above what was expected when an announcement by the local county councillor followed saying that he didn’t think the state of the Bridge was as bad as had been made out and the costs being quoted were thus exorbitant. How on earth do the County manage to get their figures so wrong one wonders? The ‘revised’ assessment of the Bridge’s condition is clearly about saving money – and so I expect is the Northam Burrows one in that by quoting such a ridiculous sum as £150 million then any possibility of removing the tip is instantly seen as far too expensive and thus is not looked at again when solutions to the possible destruction of the pebble ridge through global warming are examined – or am I being paranoid here?
Large planning applications are, by their very nature, likely to be contentious. A recent one that came before the town council planning committee under my chairmanship is an example of this. Grenville College have applied to build 199 houses and flats on their playing field fronting Abbotsham Road and opposite the Londonderry estate. The development is in two sections each with its own access onto the main road they being split by a new all-weather, multi-purpose floodlit sports area and sports hall. Of the accommodation some 30% is to be ‘affordable’ housing – and the overall scheme has been over a decade in the planning. So where does the contentious bit come in?
Firstly, Londonderry residents don’t want to lose their views and secondly there are concerns over the floodlighting of the pitch and how this will affect near-by houses. Thirdly, serious worries about the increased traffic onto the already heavily used Abbotsham Road at this point, which is, of course, the site of the main access to most of Londonderry. Fourthly where will the inevitable increased run-off from the site end up?
The town council looked at the scheme and decided there was nothing to be done about the ‘views’ aspect – sadly no-one ‘owns’ a view. They did, however, query the need for the floodlit pitch to be where it is planned – and suggested it could be moved to be adjacent to the main college buildings at Moreton. They also highlighted the problems over increased traffic on the Abbotsham Road – both going in to the town and going out to the Link Road and it is hard to see how this problem could be attenuated. They also expressed concerns that increased and more rapid water flow into the Kenwith valley via the Westcombe stream could lead to problems with the existing dam.
From talking to local residents I know that many say they were not even aware that this scheme was in the pipeline – yet it has been in the District Plan for at least 5 years and Torridge carried out a very full consultation and produced a report based on a fair number of responses from nearby residents. The application now goes to Torridge’s Plans Committee for a final decision – and I can predict with great accuracy that whichever way the vote goes one group will be unhappy.
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