THIS may, of course, be a classic case of “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted” but having listened to the audio transcription of the Mid Devon District Council Planning Committee meeting on January 13, where the above application was granted permission, I felt that I had to write as some aspects of the presentations, “factual” evidence and comments made in support of the proposal troubled me.
Several people spoke against the planning application, no-one in favour and three main topics seemed to dominate the proceedings – flooding, access and the lack of industrial floor space in the Crediton area.
Flooding – no-one at the meeting seemed to adequately take on board what it feels like to watch water creep ever closer to your home. This is exactly what happened along Fordton in 2012… the flood water did not come from the river but from surface run off – the drains could not cope and the leat, which runs behind Fordton Terrace, was full to capacity.
I don’t think it’s something we just need to put up with – as intimated by one councillor’s response. With more hard landscaping around the industrial units this can only add to the amount of run off in the future.
Access – Recent changes to the access to this sliver of land have left a telegraph pole stranded in the middle of the “gap”.
Who will compensate local residents when the pole comes crashing down after a large vehicle collides with it whilst attempting the tight turn… planning committee members?
Lack of Industrial Space – At one point a committee member bemoaned the lack of small industrial units on Lords Meadow as he would like to expand.
I am sorry but this, to me, is a shockingly obvious conflict of interests – NOT stated by this councillor at the beginning of the meeting. Perhaps these new units will be right up his street, not literally of course as he doesn’t live in the area!
It does seem ironic that a listed building, (Crediton Railway Station Signal Box), and property included in Mid Devon’s Heritage Asset Register, (1-11 Fordton Terrace), account for nothing when up against “a slab” development, as described by one committee member.
Using out-of-date images of the scrap yard was either laziness or a deliberate attempt to mislead … and a garbled discussion on noise levels was even skewed towards the people working in the units, as local residents can put up with the increase in noise because they already cope with a noisy railway!
If this is an example of democracy in action – then I say “democracy is an ass!”
No thought was given to all the local residents who will have to live with this ridiculous development and it has to be said the meeting did have a whiff of a tick box exercise with the conclusion already having been decided.
Why oh why as a hard-working, tax paying resident of Fordton did I put my faith in at best a flawed process and at worst an unsavoury, blatantly undemocratic one?
At the end of the day the only casualty from this sorry experience will be a complete lack of faith in “local” government!
Well done MDDC Planning Committee!
Robert Logan
Fordton Terrace
Crediton.
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