A long hot day in the Exmouth Town Council Chamber. A thank you to those of you who turned up.
You may have wondered what was going on – at times so did I. The “main” event was Matt Dickens evidence on housing numbers and importantly his cross-examination. This took until about 4 pm! I have to say I was not inspired and if it hadn’t been for the Inspector’s questions I would have lost all faith. The Counsel for SLP was very clever and majored on the need for more housing, numbers not stacking up, why was their plot not considered as a better option than others.
Most galling of all was their continued assertion that this development is an “urban extension to Exmouth”. (Something we deal with tomorrow). Hope was restored with three very good presentations from Ben Ingham, Richard Eastley and David Atkins. Additionally I believe the Inspector smells a rat in the Devon County Council decision to withdraw their Highways objection and seems very keen on sustainability – we will see.
Wednesday – will open with another EDDC evidence and cross-examination (09.30). I will then go in with my evidence followed by Don Mildenhall and Helen Dimond with Mark Robertson closing. This should be the order and should begin at around 11.00 – but who knows.
Be assured we will give it our best efforts. Full transcrips tomorrow.
Rob Longhurst
