8 February 2011

An interesting insight into "The Ditch"

I think what we know about THE DITCH would be useful for other necessarily interested parties ... not that I expect any notice will be taken either by Tesco or by the Wicked Witch of the East.
Our information is not too official, but came from a Manager of one of the Contractors, who told me that ::
"There will be no retaining wall to keep the IoW sludge in place. It will just be allowed to trickle over the edge, making a slope.
As far as the Kings Court frontage, a 'Natural Country Ditch' will be left, resulting in a ditch on the Tesco side.
We asked if it would be surfaced ... apparently not.
... and what sort of drainage sytem there would be ... no reply.
... and did they plan to raise our wall, to prevent yobs running along their wretched ditch and climbing over into our carpark, but again there was no information available.
Lack of info is typical of Tesco. If they want to say anything, it is blazoned over everything. If they don't, the almost certain answer is "we aren't planning to meet your concerns /requirements."

Contributed by James Hiney

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update. I take your point about Tesco as on their site for this development they proudly proclaim under the heading "Being a good neighbour" - Although this is a very large site, we are mindful that there are residents nearby. We have given careful consideration to the layout of the site and the operation during this process. It could be worse, under the heading "Reducing local congestion" they proclaim - We are in discussions with Axmouth Town Council to address highways concerns that were raised when the application was approved. In invisble ink it goes on to say that what ever people think Tesco will take a route through Axmouth as the line of ease and least resistance!

    Sounds like they are doing something to work with the local community when in reality it seems like smoke and mirrors.

    And then once the site is filled, and if the Interpretation Centre does get built ( has planning been approved and is funding in place? ), the tram will operate in a deep gully between the two, at what looks like the original flood plain level. How long before this is deemed unsafe!!

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  2. What do you mean about the Wicked Witch of the East, surely not refering to EDDC. I will let you know that they are very concerned about excessive retail development in the region. For example the recent increase in the size of the Waitrose supermarket

    Strict conditions were imposed:

    7. Following completion of the development the net sales area of the extended store shall not exceed 2,096 sq m.
    (Reason - To safeguard the integrity of the Sidmouth Town Centre shopping are.)

    8. Following completion of the development no more than 25% of the extended sales area shall be used for the sale of comparison retail goods.
    (Reason - To safeguard the integrity of the Sidmouth Town Centre shopping area.)

    So now you can see that EDDC are looking out for the voters of Sidmouth!!

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