Councillor Greenslade

Councillor Greenslade is obviously a very busy man, but surely he reads his e-mail?

I sent him the following over a week ago (Friday 13 February 2015) and am still awaiting a response:

“Dear Councillor Greenslade,

I’m absolutely dismayed by what’s happening to the Local Plan, and its potential effect on South Molton:

  • The first iteration that went out to consultation in January 2013 showed 1,100 new dwellings for South Molton and 30 hectares of employment land.
  • The second iteration, published in June 2014, had an increase in dwellings of about 10% to 1,208 and a decrease in employment land of about 40% – to just 17.6 hectares.
  • The proposed amendments that were endorsed by the NDDC Executive on Tuesday 10 February show a further increase in housing to 1,240 and a further considerable decrease in employment land to 10.8 hectares, albeit with an additional 1.5 hectares being allocated to a re-located cattle market.

Why does it appear that the NDDC Executive and NDDC planning officers have totally ignored the views of local residents who quite clearly wanted fewer houses and more employment land?

Were South Molton Town Council consulted at any stage before these latest modifications? If so, when?

It seems that the Local Plan won’t actually be adopted until 2016! Why has there been such an inordinate delay?

It appears to me that North Devon District Council treats South Molton and its residents with complete and utter disdain as shown by these ill-considered  changes to the Local Plan and the Tesco debacle.

Yours faithfully,

Marc Cornelius”

I’ve put an updated plan of the proposals here.