BYE BYE Sidmouth!

In the least surprising event of the year EDDC’s Cabinet voted unanimously yesterday to move its HQ from Sidmouth. Even if they haven’t decided yet where to go.
Only two members of the public spoke. New Sidmouth town councillor Kelvin Dent pointed out the damage to Sidmouth’s economy of such a move, and Mike Temple questioned why the option of improving Knowle’s 1970’s building had not been explored, and pointed out that the carbon cost of new buildings would only produce savings after 50 years.
Deputy CEO Richard Cohen was adamant that there was no way EDDC could afford to stay at Knowle. If the 1970’s building alone were renovated, there would be a shortfall of 1000 square metres of office space. It would only take 11 years to repay the carbon cost of building new offices. A modern, accessible HQ was vital, and it couldn’t be in Sidmouth.
But Sidmouth was the cash cow that would pay for the move. The Knowle site (minus the parkland and lower carparks that would be handed over to the Town Council) was a prime housing site for 50-63 dwellings. The Manstone workshops would also be sold to developers for affordable housing – which might detract from the upmarket Knowle residences.
A succession of councillors warmly supported the resolution to move. The Knowle buildings were “not fit for purpose”, “impossible to modernise”, “past their sell-by date”.
Cllr Andrew Moulding shed a few crocodile tears for Sidmouth’s lost jobs, but comforted himself with the thought that other parts of the District would benefit. And while he was “very worried” about the carbon costs of new build he couldn’t resist pointing out that Icelandic volcanic eruptions made carbon saving efforts a bit pointless!
Even Sidmouth councillors Drew and Wale welcomed the resolution to move, and were pleased that the Parkland “was saved.”
A lone voice of dissent came from the “Father of the Council”, ex-chairman Peter Halse. He said he had appreciated welcoming visitors to the elegant surroundings of the Knowle. He was dubious about the figures given for the costs of renovating the Knowle. He was alarmed by Richard Cohen’s revelation that up to £4.5 million might need to be borrowed to fund the “cost-neutral” re-location. In any case, in his travels around the district, he had found no support for the move from members of the public. A period of austerity was not the time to spend large sums on a risky capital project.
Leader Paul Diviani dismissed ‘conjecture’ about the loss of jobs in Sidmouth and hinted that there might be more investment in Sidmouth in the years to come.
Given the massive loss of employment land at Knowle and Manstone was he perhaps thinking of the “grand project” of the 12-acre business park in the AONB at Sidford cunningly slipped into the Local Plan at the last minute?
This would free up the Alexandria Road site for the carefully planned Morrison’s supermarket development.
Last Monday’s DMC approval for a vet’s practice at Sidmouth Garden Centre sets a precedent for breaching the AONB, and is another green light for out-of-town commerce.
Bye, Bye Sidmouth as we have known it!