To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.
Minutes:
The Chairman read a statement on behalf of Mr Quinn referring to Item 5 on the agenda – minutes of the previous meeting:
At the last Cabinet meeting, I asked two questions.
One was answered in writing after the meeting, but the other has not been.
I had asked where I could see the answer to a question posed at the Audit Committee meeting of 23 June 2020.
In section 201 of the minutes of your previous meeting, at the end of the second paragraph, it is recorded that the Deputy Chief Executive “would respond to Mr Quinn directly”.
I have not had any response from the Deputy Chief Executive since that Cabinet meeting - so I still have not received an answer to my question.
My question is:
Why has the Deputy Chief Executive not provided the response he is shown as promising in the Minutes of the Previous Meeting?
Mr Allan referring to Item 11 (Greater Exeter Strategic Plan) on the agenda stated:
I am concerned that the economic development assessment is dated March 2017 and the assumptions in it date back to 2015 - it seems that the economic numbers that are unpinning the plan seem to ignore both the risk of a hard Brexit and even more the current economic situation due to the Covid virus.
Secondly the ‘attitudes to growth’ survey suggests that there is a net negative of 15.6% about the prospects for Mid Devon which clearly seems to be linked to the scale of the development which I think if economic growth is going to be slower, you should rethink whether that is appropriate.
Thirdly there is encouraging talk of the wish to maintain visual and technical separation of Kentisbeare, however on the one hand the map seems to show that the Garden Village is creeping closer to the A373 and also there are 2 different maps, one on page 98 and the other on page 156 which conflict with each other. One suggests the border at Dead Lane and the other suggests the border halfway between Dead Lane and Hole Road, so it is actually not quite clear what is proposed. Some of the scoring is odd - given the likelihood of creating a commuter town using the M5, its sits rather oddly with scoring for the Garden Village as having significant effects on climate change. It also refers to constraints of flooding in the Garden Village. I have after the last Delivery Board Meeting been in contact with Connecting the Culm, which they say that all future development is neutral which is not really what we were promised, which was that they would look at the impact of the scale of development that was intended both here and at J27, instead of just deciding that it was neutral and just mapping up the Culm regardless. My question is whether it makes sense to go out to public consultation without reworking the plan with objectives that look both more realistic to the time we are now in and closer to the wishes of the people who live in Mid Devon.
The Committee Clerk then read a letter from Cllr Enright (Chairman -Newton St Cyres Parish Council) referring again to Item 11 (Greater Exeter Strategic Plan) on the agenda:
I am dismayed to see that in the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan my village of Newton St Cyres has been singled out for at least 1200 new dwellings. Our village presently has under 800 dwellings.
The sites chosen are very difficult to access and partly prone to flooding.
A few days ago, the Full Mid Devon District Council voted to adopt the Mid Devon Plan Review. It follows that you should today formally reject the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan.
Should you require more housing then my suggestion would be that you build a new road from North of Crediton to the A30 and fund the road by strategically placed housing estates.
This would result in fewer cars and lorries needing to use the A377 to access Exeter and would be better for the local environment.
My question is this. Having just adopted the Mid Devon Plan Review will you today vote to not allow our villages to become a part of Greater Exeter by agreeing not to adopt the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan?.
The Chairman indicated that answers to questions would be provided when the items was debated.