Uplyme Parish Council

A Personal View

Very and possibly just a bit biased

Of the Meeting Held on 13th June 2001

Turnout On entering the village hall my thoughts were directed to the citizen's involvement in politics. I was forced to dwell on why there had been such a poor turnout for the general election of the previous week. Just 60% of the public voted. I then took stock of the parish council members in attendance. There were four not present, making just 60% present. A sign of the general apathy throughout society? Traffic Calming One topic that surfaced again both in the official meeting and in the open forum that followed was the one concerning the mini-roundabout, traffic calming and speed cameras. There seems to be a general consensus that speed cameras would be much preferable to the traffic-calming scheme. The speed cameras of Chideok were cited as being a perfect example of how well they get the speeds down. I think a bit of crooked thinking is going on here. Agreed that speed cameras do get the speeds down to the limit, in Uplyme's case that is 30 mph. I recently drove a van through the village and paid particular attention to the speedometer. I passed the post office shop at 22 mph, as fast as I dare go, Esme was just leaving her house and she looked at me as if to say "maniac". A camera would only have an influence on those that would have been travelling at over 30 mph, it would not bring their speed down to 22 mph. So a speed camera with the present speed limit would only be partly effective. Now if we could get a speed limit of 20 mph and a speed camera! As it is, traffic calming is the only way to get speeds down substantially. The situation at Chideok is entirely different, the road is wider as are the pavements, 30 mph is not such a frightening speed in Chideok as it is in Uplyme. I did notice on driving through there recently that the cameras have been removed*, did I detect slightly higher speeds already? *I apologise to all those who have been caught speeding in Chideok for I see that the cameras have now (6th July 2001) been replaced, but they were not there two weeks ago - honest. Is it true that the new cameras not only catch a vehicle passing the camera over the limit, but being linked together measure it's speed from one camera to the next? If the average speed between the cameras is over 30 mph, they've got you. Uplyme Filling Station In the open forum Mr Nicholson who's house borders onto the Uplyme filling station registered his objection to the proposed demolition of the filling station and the building of two or three houses on the site. At first I could not understand anybody preferring a filling station as a neighbour to houses, but it all comes down to the fact that the filling station does not overlook Mr Nicholson's property but houses almost certainly would. Parish Councillor Mr Pratt sympathised with Mr Nicholson suggesting the option facing him is a derelict filling station or the planned houses. He tried to put words in the mouth of Mr Nicholson saying that he knew what Mr Nicholson would prefer of this choice. I myself would prefer a derelict filling station to a working one. A filling station is not exactly a thing of beauty, with its garish colours and ugly design. How do they ever get planning permission? Uplyme's filling station hardly nestles in unobtrusively with the village. What a fuss was kicked up about the sign written on the wall of what used to be the New Inn, compare that with what we have with the filling station. Harcombe House Swimming Pool A new attempt to obtain planning permission for a building to house a swimming pool and other facilities in the grounds of Harcombe House has been made by the owner, and rejected by the parish council, with their recommendation that the district council refuse the application. Mainly on the grounds that it is new development outside the village envelope, and that it is situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. New rulings insist that these AONB areas are now on a par with National Parks when it comes to planning matters, with all the added restrictions that this now brings. It was revealed that the owner of Harcombe House has recently bought from Mr Dallimore the adjacent land known to many for it's beautiful collection of Azaleas and Rhododendrons originally planted by Captain F.J.Francillon just after the first world war. Mr Dallimore himself made several attempts to obtain planning permission to build on the old tennis court, but was refused each time. Can we be assured that the land is now in safe hands from development? Watch that space!

Topics on this Page: Turnout Traffic Calming Filling Station Harcombe House Other UPC Meetings: Meetings in 2003 Pre-2003 Meetings: 11th July 2001 12th September 2001 10th October 2001 14th November 2001 12th December 2001 9th January 2002 13th February 2002 13th March 2002 10th April 2002 8th May 2002 12th June 2002 10th July 2002 14th August 2002 11th September 2002 9th October 2002 13th November 2002 11th December 2002 Other Relevant Pages Barnes Meadow Development Introduction Page Rhode Hill Gardens Home Page