Sidmouth Beach Management Plan meetings

Agendas, Papers and Minutes

Later this month, the Sidmouth & East Beach Management Scheme Steering Group will be meeting up for the first time in some months – a meeting which had been expected in April, but which was postponed:

Kennaway House, Sidmouth: 2pm on Thursday 22nd August

With the agenda, papers and minutes of the last meeting to follow…

It will be chaired by the independent District Councillor Geoff Jung, who also has the Environment Portfolio:

Councillor details – Councillor Geoff Jung – East Devon

Unfortunately there are no records of “agendas, papers and minutes” of any of the steering group meetings on the council’s dedicated pages; but there are plenty of press releases and reports and FAQs on the EDDC website, which are here:

Sidmouth and East Beach Management Plan

Nevertheless, here is a copy of the presentation given to the SG at its last meeting – last August:

Sidmouth Steering Group Meeting FINAL for SG August 2018

For the record, here are some of those agendas, papers and minutes from the last five years:

Although matters had been considered some time before:

Futures Forum: 28th January 2003: “EDDC is proposing a coast protection scheme aimed at reducing the rate of cliff erosion at Pennington Point. The scheme would protect the properties located at the top of Salcombe Hill and the Alma Bridge.”

Futures Forum: 23rd July 2009: “DCC supports the ‘hold the line’ policy option for continued investment in maintaining existing coastal defences to prevent flooding and erosion, and to leave undeveloped and open coast to evolve naturally.”

Terms of Reference of the Steering Group

The steering group is made up of the statutory bodies and local stakeholders.

According to the EDDC website, this is what they do:

The steering group provides an important link between the community, businesses, regulatory bodies and our consultants, CH2M. The steering group meet at key points during the project, where the technical analysis can be explained, queries can be raised and actions agreed to take forward the BMP to the next stage.

Steering Group

However, looking at the full Terms of Reference of the Steering Group – which are not available on the EDDC website – 1b of the SG’s ToR says the SG is responsible for …..

“b. Providing advice and guidance as appropriate to the Client on developing, delivering and monitoring the Project to ensure that it is delivered in accordance with the contract, the project plan and budget. “

Here are the full Terms of Reference:

Sidmouth & East Beach BMP – Project Steering Group

Finally, the Environment Agency’s own Draft National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy, under ‘People Places and Plans, states “Working with many other organisations the EA has developed this draft strategy which seeks to put people at the heart of decisions in their place.”

fcrm-strategy-draft-final-1-may-v0.13-as-accessible-as-possible.pdf

In other words, putting people at the heart of decision-making reflects the Government’s view: the lack of proper, regular Steering Group meetings indicates that it is regarded as a passive/consultative body and not an active/advisory body.

However, it is clear that the Steering Group was set up to steer the project, as opposed to being merely consulted about the project.

Preferred Options

Finally, here is the option ‘preferred’ by the Steering Group:

Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: “There is widespread scepticism of the process and little regard shown to the local understanding of what the real issues might be.” and Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: looking for funding for the ‘technically preferred’ option 4b >>> latest reports

Agendas, Papers and Minutes

Terms of Reference of the Steering Group

Preferred Options

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