Teignmouth Mayor Cllr David Cox is strongly urging residents to give their opinions to the single largest issue affecting the town since the war. The Core Strategy document S18, once adopted, could see a large increase in the town’s population, with wide-reaching implications for housing, employment and local services over the next 20 years.

Councillor Cox is very concerned that the scale of impending developments has been largely overlooked by the public which he says ‘Is hardly surprising as the district authority hasn’t exactly gone out of its way to make this known. There has been little or no use made of the local press, and public consultation meetings have been held to largely invited audiences’.

For those who know what to look for, copies of the summarised document are available online from both Teignbridge District and Teignmouth Town Council websites, the same document, is on display at council offices and the library but can cost up to £1 for your own copy, so the average resident can be forgiven for not having seen one before.

Time is running out for residents to make their opinions heard, the closing date for comments is 2nd March and it is essential that input on the issues raised is received before that date. Councillor Cox will be spearheading a campaign to raise awareness of the current plans and will be handing-out free copies of the consultation document at the TAAG centre in Northumberland Place on Saturday 4th February.

Cllr Cox concluded, ‘although I have my own views on the proposals it is ultimately the people of Teignmouth who can influence them to the greatest extent, yet there is a very real danger that widespread ignorance of the plans will lead to their implementation without any public scrutiny or modification’.

Copies of the Core Strategy Preferred Options for Teignmouth and other documents are available online at: www.teignbridge.gov.uk/planteignbridge