Unfortunately parliamentary duties meant that our prospective candidate for Tiverton & Minehaed, Ian Liddell-Grainger, was unable to attend Tiverton Town Council's Planning Meeting where they were discussing the new planning application at Tidcombe. In his absense Cllr Rebecca Clarke agreed to read out a statement to the meeting.
The town council's planning committee voted to recommend Mid Devon refuse the application.
STATEMENT TO TIVERTON TOWN COUNCIL
"I’m afraid official duties elsewhere mean I am unable to be present at today’s meeting. However I should be grateful if councillors could give my views on this development some consideration.
Although I am only a parliamentary candidate for the new Tiverton and Minehead constituency I have spent 23 years as an MP, during which I have been drawn into discussions over a number of controversial planning applications.
Many of these, it has become immediately clear, have involved siting the wrong development in the wrong place. And I would put the Tidcombe Hall scheme now before you firmly into that category.
Housing developments should only be approved if they are going to have a beneficial or at least neutral impact on the local community and this scheme falls well outside these parameters.
On the contrary: it will deliver a number of distinct disbenefits, including the loss of the canal crossing and the generation of additional traffic on an entirely unsuitable local road network.
Siting 100 new homes on this site would also have a huge environmental impact which it would be impossible to mitigate, immeasurably scarring the eastern approaches to the town.
Previous applications on this site have been dismissed as ‘meritless and catastrophic’ by the district council and I see nothing about the current scheme to persuade me that those terms will not, equally, apply to it.
Democracy starts with the voice of the people and accordingly I would invite the council to listen to those many, many local people who have voiced their opposition to this development and represent those views when making its recommendation to the planning committee.
Thank you for your attention."
