The culmination of a multi-year process is fast approaching for a plan that identifies which sites in East Devon could be appropriate to build homes on. At the latest meeting of the committee overseeing the process, tense exchanges emerged as the council acknowledged some key assessments had yet to be completed with little over three months until submission.
Chair Councillor Todd Olive temporarily suspended the meeting after clapping from the public gallery followed his warning against interruptions. He asked some members of the public to leave. In spite of the fast-approaching deadline, the committee heard the council remained confident it could submit the plan for assessment on time.
Several members of the public spoke to air their concerns. One was that a Habitat Regulations Assessment had still not been entirely finalised, which the council explained was due to further work being carried out so it could respond to concerns from Natural England. Others complained that potential heritage impacts had not been fully acknowledged, specifically in relation to the prospective Exmo_20 site which could house up to 700 homes. Some argued that the council’s air quality assessment needed to be more robust, that other councils weren’t targeting the initial numbers set for them by government, and that Exmo_20 was not a sustainable location.
Regular campaigner Thomas Shillitoe, donning an afro wig, offered a rendition of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror, asking the committee via the song’s words to “change [its] ways”.
“Cos no message could have been any clearer, if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that… change,” he sang to the strategic planning committee.
Bill Edmunds, a member of the Stop Exmo_20 Action Group, said he “struggled to see” how Exmo_20 could be considered sustainable when it is “sandwiched between the internationally protected estuary and the double-protected Pebblebed Heaths”. He added that government criteria suggested residents of new homes should be able to walk to the likes of schools, shops and community facilities within 800 metres.
“But for [prospective] residents of Exmo_20, if they walk 800 metres, they will still be in Exmo_20, which has no meaningful facilities,” Mr Edmunds added.
Nigel Humphrey, another regular campaigner, complained some of the language in the draft local plan was ambiguous and that it should be more clearly defined.
"For the 400 metre buffer zone [between Exmo_20 and the Pebblebed Heaths] it states 'new homes and other development that would result in unacceptable impacts will not be permitted within 400 metres of the Pebblebed Heaths'," Mr Humphrey read. "The term 'unacceptable' is ambiguous as there is no definition of what 'is' or 'is not' unacceptable in the plan. Why?"
The committee heard that officers had intended for it to be in a position to approve the draft local plan at the meeting on Tuesday 22 September and send it to full council. But with some key work outstanding, including updated analysis linked to its water cycle study that assesses waste water and sewerage capacity in the district, and an ongoing assessment of the potential air quality impacts of the draft local plan upon the Pebblebed Heaths, more time was needed.
This is likely to mean a nail-biting finish, because the council must submit its draft local plan to the government by the end of the year if it is to benefit from an agreement that would allow it to target fewer homes. The government increased housing targets for councils at the end of 2024, but said local authorities in the middle of the local plan process could target 80 per cent of that upwardly revised figure.
Campaigner’s Michael Jackson Rendition Highlights Tense 700-Homes Meeting