| Join the Green Party and you'll receive our local quarterly newsletter, as well as invitations to Green Events. You'll be invited to attend meetings, join our discussion list, vote on issues, and contribute to our campaigns and policies for North Devon. |
The Bradworthy Wind Turbines
Councillor
Christie's Weblog
From your Torridge District Councillor Peter Christie
Previous entries
|
4th February '07
It was time once again this week for the 6 weekly meeting of all the Torridge councillors. A novelty at this one was the screening of a DVD produced to inform council house tenants about the proposed transfer of their accommodation to Tarka Housing. If you haven’t kept up with this long running story I will explain very briefly how we got here. The government has decreed that new standards for housing must be met – and in Torridge this will cost £13.8 million over 5 years – and the council can only afford £4.1 million of this (and couldn’t afford the interest payments if it borrowed the shortfall). Part of this funding gap is because Torridge has to send 20% of its rent receipts to central government to support the national housing budget i.e. subsidise inner city areas. This in itself is remarkable given that average earnings in Torridge are £16,574 p.a. against the English figure of £23,945 – but the most surprising thing is that these new government housing standards do not seem to apply to privately rented accommodation – where rents are far higher than council tenancies. The final decision as to whether council tenants transfer to Tarka Housing will depend on a vote to be held later this year – I await the outcome with interest.
Previously I mentioned how the local flood defence budget had been cut so it was extremely worrying to see a report from the Northam Burrows Committee about an address they received from Mr.Bushby of Westward Ho’s! Royal North Devon Golf Club. His members are, fairly naturally, concerned over any erosion of the pebble ridge. They were especially worried over the possible loss of the 7th tee, the 8th green and access to the 9th tee owing to recent erosion in these areas. He said recharging of the ridge had last occurred 3 years ago and he went on to reckon that without urgent action the ridge could be breached by the sea with a major loss to the golf course – plus a consequent threat to the old refuse tip. As Mr.Bushby noted ‘the people of Northam and Appledore would probably see this aspect of the erosion as more serious than the loss of Golf Club land.’ When I asked questions about this I was told that Natural England (the successor body to English Nature who ultimately govern what can go on at Northam Burrows) had taken the decision to allow the northern end of the Burrows to be over-run by the sea if the ridge is breached – and not to repair any such breach. Following my queries Councillor Alan Bewes suggested that Torridge should send a letter to Natural England expressing our disgust over their stance – a suggestion that was accepted unanimously. Councillor Hugo Barton couldn’t resist adding, rather flippantly, that ‘The days of playing golf on the Burrows are numbered – perhaps the golfers should take up water polo.’ Whether this is going to be the future or not it is, of course, the fate of the old tip that is the most serious and pressing concern. If the sea breaks through and scours out the tip then some 50 years of rubbish (some of it highly toxic) could be spread along the coastline and estuaries of North Devon – with a massive knock-on impact to tourist revenues to this area. Although I have banged on about this now for the last 10 years I suspect that following the May elections the new council will be forced to confront this problem head-on – although given the fact that English Nature got their way over closure of the old tip then Torridge are going to be hard pressed to fight against the possibility of ‘Managed Retreat’ from the Burrows.
Website designed by Jon Hooper
Published and promoted by Jon Hooper, 3 Elizabeth Court, Well Street, Torrington EX38 8EP on behalf of the North Devon Green Party, 1 Taw View Terrace, Bishops Tawton, EX32 0AW
PLEASE NOTE: Not all of the material presented on this site is necessarily Green Party Policy or endorsed by The Green Party.