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The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
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16th September '07
Doubtless you will have heard about the projected high-rise buildings in Westward Ho! This actually came about when Torridge discussed a Supplementary Planning Document on ‘design guidance for development control purposes’ in the resort. I know it sounds deadly dull but emotions ran very high at the meeting with members of the public attempting, at one point, to join in the heated debate. After the council officer in charge of the policy introduced the subject councillor Miranda Cox stood up and highlighted an apparent breakdown in communications between Torridge and Northam town council in that many of the concerns she and her fellow Northam councillors expressed had not been addressed. She was backed up by councillor Andrew Eastman the current Mayor of Northam who recommended that any action on the report be deferred to allow Torridge’s officers to look at it again and this time take Northam’s concerns on board. He went on to angrily denounce the rather premature statement on the document which boldly stated it had been ‘Adopted August 2007’ – the analogy of ‘red rag to a bull’ came to mind during this part of the meeting! One dissenting view came from councillor Phil Collins who thought that some six storey buildings would be possible on the escarpment behind Westward Ho! – though I have to say this wasn’t a view apparently shared by any of the other committee members. At this point new councillor Geoff Lee asked why were consultants being paid to ‘collect’ the views of the public when TDC could actually collect such views themselves? This is a point that has come up quite a few times lately with many councillors evidently suffering from ‘consultantophobia’. Indeed only a few weeks ago I asked why £70,000 was being spent by the Bideford Regeneration Initiative on a ‘Lead Consultant’ to sell off Brunswick Wharf and the Cattle Market sites in Bideford? It almost seems as if councils cannot do anything now without getting the seal of approval from some self-appointed ‘consultant’. The end result of the Westward Ho! discussions was a vote to defer the acceptance of the planning document until the views of Northam town council had been integrated into the text. As one of just four councillors who voted against the ‘Cobalt’ tower/extravaganza along the esplanade at Westward Ho! I can only say what a pity these concerns weren’t taken on board several years ago during the life of the previous district council.
The ‘streamlining’ of Torridge’s committee structures means that councillors get fewer opportunities to formally question officers but last week’s meeting of the Community Development Committee saw some interesting items on the agenda not the least being the council’s ‘Waste Recycling Plan and Waste Minimisation Strategy’. This rather ponderous title addresses an issue of interest to everyone and it certainly elicited some questions from councillors. Deep Moor near Torrington is currently where all our domestic waste goes and councillor Phil Collins and I were both interested in the projected ‘life’ of the tip – and were told it has until 2012-14 although ‘waste management’ will almost certainly go on after this especially if a projected ‘Vessel Composter’ is built there next year to handle domestic organic waste. Councillor Geoff Lee inquired where the compost now being produced at Deep Moor goes and was told it went to farmers as ‘soil improver’. I asked about the single reference in the report to ‘alternate weekly residual waste collections’ i.e. fortnightly rubbish collections. A recent visit from the Waste Auditors saw it suggested these need to be seriously considered though Ricky McCormack, TDC’s officer in charge of waste and recycling, expressed his personal belief that they wouldn’t be right for Torridgeside – but with North Devon having introduced them current investigations of joint working between the two councils could see alternate weekly collections here in Torridge. The discussion ended with my suggestion that TDC explore the possible use of Bideford based ships to carry the recyclable material out of the area to the recycling plants up country – to both cut down road transport and also bring another cargo to the port.
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