24 Aug 2020
Seven eligible projects put forward
East Devon District Council has £300,000 to spend on creating new sports facilities in Exmouth or improving ones that already exist. Residents now get to decide what the money is spent on!
The funds – Section 106 money - have been collected by East Devon District Council from housing developments in the parish and since 2008 the council has a clear policy of ensuring that residents and town and parish councils choose how the money is spent.
Last year East Devon District Council and Exmouth Town Council asked Exmouth’s residents, voluntary groups and other organisations to give them their ideas on how to spend the funding. Since then the councils have been working together with the people that proposed the projects to find out which of those proposals were eligible, affordable and can actually happen.
Now residents get to decide which projects actually happen and 5,000 randomly selected Exmouth households will receive a letter in the post giving them a unique online code. They can use this code to go online and vote for their households favourite projects.
There are seven eligible, affordable, possible projects for people who receive a letter to choose from:
Asking for: £150,000
Letters will be arriving with the 5,000 randomly selected households in the week beginning 31 August 2020.
If certain age groups or locations are significantly under-represented within the voting, additional measures may have to be taken to make sure the demographics adequately represent the population of Exmouth.
Cllr Paul Millar, East Devon’s portfolio holder for Democracy and Transparency (including consultation) said: “Rather than wait until physical voting can take place again, I am delighted that with the support of council staff, a way of having the Exmouth community voting remotely has been identified and created.
“With £300,000 of developer contributions to distribute, these are significant projects, the completion of which will support exercise opportunities and wellbeing across the town.
“As the Council plan for a future post-COVID, the quality of Council-owned outdoor spaces have never been more important. I urge everybody who receive a letter take the time to read through the project proposals and vote on which projects will ultimately get the go ahead.”
Chairman of the Exmouth Town Council Section 106 / Community Infrastructure Levy Working Party, Cllr Fred Caygill said: “I am pleased that we have reached the point where we can move forward with a vote of 5,000 households selected at random to vote on the projects selected.
“The current situation with the pandemic certainly highlights the importance of Health and Wellbeing and how keeping ourselves fit and active at all ages also plays a part in helping with our Mental Wellbeing. I look forward to seeing the projects that are chosen to receive funding come to fruition and providing opportunities for activities at all levels.”
Cllr Geoff Jung, East Devon’s portfolio holder for Coast, Country and Environment, said: “I would urge everyone that gets a letter to please take the time to vote, they really can make a difference. This is a fantastic amount of money to spend in Exmouth on some much needed sports improvements. We would usually do the voting face to face at large events, but in these current difficult times that isn’t possible and isn’t likely to be possible for some time to come. This way of doing an online vote ensures that only people that live in Exmouth can vote, and that people can’t vote multiple times. This means the vote is more meaningful and representative.”
Cllr Nick Hookway, a Littleham ward member for the district council, added: “I am happy to lend my support to this excellent initiative to replace and upgrade essential sporting facilities within Exmouth.”
ENDS
Andrew Hopkins
Corporate Lead - Communications, Digital Services and Engagement
East Devon District Council
01395 571699
andrew.hopkins@eastdevon.gov.uk