Seaton Hospital plan presented to Devon NHS
The Hospital steering committee has issued the following press release:
“Following six months’ discussion with over 30 community organisations, the cross-party Seaton Hospital Steering Committee, elected at a large public meeting in November and representing Colyton and Beer as well as Seaton, has submitted a plan to NHS Devon and NHS Property Services, the owner of the Hospital, for community use of the vacant wing in the Hospital, to improve the health and wellbeing of the local area.
“The plan has been developed after regular discussions with the two NHS bodies. It was presented to Sue Windley of Devon NHS by Jack Rowland, Chair of the Committee, Kirstine House, Chief Executive Officer of Seaton Hospital League of Friends, and Ben Tucker of Re:store, who was the lead committee member in long discussions with all our partners and in drafting the plan. (See photo.)
“We are now waiting for our partners’ responses, which they will not be able to give us until after the General Election. At that point we will share our plans with the whole local community who gave the Hospital such strong support when the wing was threatened with demolition. We are excited about the potential for restoring the whole Hospital to use on behalf of everyone locally, young and old.”
Labour to buy beds in care homes for NHS – they could reopen our community hospital wards too
NHS money will be used to buy thousands of beds in care homes under Labour plans to reduce overcrowding in England’s hospitals, long waits in A&E and patients becoming trapped in ambulances. Denis Campbell http://www.theguardian.com Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said the move would tackle the huge human and financial “waste” of beds being…
— Read on eastdevonwatch.org/2024/06/19/labour-would-use-part-of-nhs-budget-to-buy-beds-in-care-homes/
Pro-proportional representation group Compass backs Richard Foord and Paul Arnott
Compass East Devon, a local group affiliated to the national cross-party campaigns group Compass, has come out in support of Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat candidate for Honiton & Sidmouth and Paul Arnott, Liberal Democrat candidate for Exmouth & Exeter East.
The group says: “Crucial to these endorsements is that both candidates are public advocates for proportional representation (PR), a voting system where everyone’s vote counts equally, politics is fairer and Parliament reflects how we vote.
“This decision is based on Compass East Devon’s close analysis of both seats which shows that these PR-supporting candidates are best placed to win with the help of a tactical voting campaign.“
In a press release, the group also notes that the by-election points to Richard as the main contender in our constituency, and successful local election results in 2023 and 2024 point to a Liberal Democrat win in Exmouth & Exeter East, and that both constituencies are on Labour’s own ‘non-battleground seats’ list -suggesting it is not seriously contesting either seat.
In other constituencies local groups are supporting parties other than the Liberal Democrats – for example, in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset seat the Compass local group is backing Dan Norris, the Labour candidate.
Compass, through the election-focused campaign Win As One, aims to facilitate collaboration between Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens in key seats to help a progressive government win power and change the voting system.
Compass local groups aim to back the best-placed progressive candidates who support wholesale reform of our democracy – starting with replacing our First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system with PR.
This is because FPTP stifles productive debate, promotes short-termism, tribalism and timidity, and blocks us from pressing ahead with the bold and transformative solutions that our age of permacrisis demands.
At the next election, voters in these constituencies have an opportunity to elect two Members of Parliament that will fight to change the voting system so that every vote counts, at every election, and every vote can be genuine.
A spokesperson for Compass East Devon said:
“Just a cursory glance at Westminster politics over the last few years shows our politics is quite clearly not fit for purpose. That’s why we need an entirely new system. To get one, we have to begin with electing people committed to reform – starting with proportional representation.
“With progressive MPs representing Exmouth & Exeter East and Honiton & Sidmouth, we can begin to build towards a new democratic politics where tactical voting is unnecessary, where our vote counts, and where our needs, as a county and country, finally come first.”
Paul Arnott only 1 per cent behind in new projection for Exmouth
Electoral Calculus now puts the Tories on 30.6 per cent, and Paul (for the Lib Dems) on 29.4 per cent, in the Exmouth & Exeter East constituency. Labour are trailing on 19.4 per cent – a small shift of Labour voters towards the Lib Dems would give the Exmouth area its first ever non-Tory MP. Paul is picture above with Claire Wright, who blazed the way for this result in previous general elections.
In our area (Honiton & Sidmouth), Electoral Calculus puts Richard Foord ahead by 46 per cent to 34 per cent, but they estimate that the Tories still have a 21 per cent chance of winning – none of these predictions are cast-iron!
Labour reminds ‘non-battleground’ candidates not to spend time campaigning in those seats
The Labour Party has reminded candidates in ‘non-battleground seats’ – which include Exmouth & East Exeter as well as Honiton & Sidmouth – not to spend too much time campaigning in those seats. In our seats, candidates and members had already been advised to campaign in Plymouth instead. This is further confirmation that ONLY the Liberal Democrats are seriously fighting to defeat the Conservatives in our area.
The Labour candidate for Honiton & Sidmouth, Jake Bonetta (pictured), had already signalled his support for this strategy, writing to members about Plymouth and saying ‘We cannot let the Tories win here’, as this site has already reported. Unfortunately, Jake has had to spend recent days in hospital – we wish him well. Labour’s Exmouth candidate has yet to comment. The Green Party has a similar strategy, with members travelling Bristol to help elect its co-leader Carla Denyer.
Jake Bonetta: “We can’t let the Tories win here”
Town Council asks for comments by Monday – the Green Wedge Group’s views are below
The Save the Green Wedge Group has sent me these comments about the Seaton-Colyton Green Wedge – they ask people to send in their views to the Town Council before its planning meeting on Monday (17th) and to EDDC by the 27th:
“Retention of the Green Wedge between Seaton and Colyford. The current Local Plan states “Seaton’s outstanding natural environment is its most precious and defining asset, and policies for the conservation, enhancement and sensitive management of the landscape, heritage and wildlife of the area will be prominent.” Seaton is the only East Devon town with such a designation, identity and protection through the Local Plan. This Green Wedge is vital in preserving this unique natural environment and any reduction in its size to enable any house building on it would have a hugely detrimental effect on:
1. the exceptional local natural environment;
2. the town’s tourism offer and future economy;
3. its role of preserving the identity of the settlements of Seaton and Colyford which ensures that there is no coalescence of the two communities;
4. would increase the likelihood of urban sprawl;
5. would, particularly importantly, irreparably destroy the current foraging and commuting habitats for a number of European Protected bat species, the grey long-eared being one of the rarest mammals in the UK and the rarest bat. The preservation of this habitat is essential in maintaining the conservation status of this colony. Natural England states, in response to a proposal to build within the Seaton/Colyford Green Wedge, that it is not possible to ascertain that such a proposal would not result in adverse effects on site integrity.
6. loss of biodiversity and rare wild life
7. loss of prime agricultural land
8. result in further flooding to surrounding housing and to the Wetlands which recently had to close because it became impassable to visitors.
9. impact on the ecology of the Wetlands, marshes and sea from increased discharge of sewage
10. would be unsustainable because there is no access to the town centre from this site that can cope with increased traffic, and the site is beyond the accepted 800m norm for residents to access services.
As the land designated LSE2 has not been developed for over 25 years, it should be returned to Green Wedge.”
Housing
- Reinstatement in the emerging Plan of EDDC’s commitment to restrict any further significant housing developments beyond the existing Built-up Area boundary by locating the majority of the required 150 houses within the existing town. The pressure to exchange Green Wedge space for housing should be resisted; this land can never be replaced.
- Seaton has already delivered or received planning approval for in excess of 779 dwellings against its requirement in the current Local Plan to 2026 of 638 dwellings. The town has therefore already contributed enormously to East Devon’s housing requirement and should not have to sacrifice its natural environment and therefore its identity and future tourist economy for yet further housing outside its built up area boundary.
3. Reinstatement in the emerging Plan of EDDC’s acknowledgement that community facilities in Seaton – school, health, social and cultural – are seen as borderline or inadequate with no capacity to serve additional residents. Such infrastructure has declined even further over the last few years with more housing but loss of hospital facilities, reduced bus services and fewer NHS dentists.
Town Centre
To reinstate the commitment as stated in the adopted Plan that the priority for the town will be the enhancement of the environment and business opportunities within the town centre.
Seaton & Colyton MATTERS 