Latest news with #SouthHams
BBC News
05-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Funding for chewing gum removal given to Devon councils
Funding to help remove chewing gum from the streets has been given to two Devon Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council both received a £23,590 grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force to clean up affected streets and footpaths across both areas and reduce gum task force grant scheme was established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and is run by Keep Britain Tidy with funding from gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van leaders said the funding would provide a positive impact on their ability to remove gum littering from the streets. Councillor Christopher West, West Devon's lead member for climate change and biodiversity, said he hoped it would "act as a reminder to people that our streets look much nicer without litter like chewing gum". Councillor Jacqi Hodgson, South Hams executive member for waste, added: "As a local council we can only do so much about the problems of chewing gum on the street, but we hope the public will be more thoughtful in how they dispose of their gum to help the streets stay cleaner."
Telegraph
29-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Luxury flats left empty as second-home rule backfires
Flats in one of Britain's most expensive seaside towns are lying empty because of a ban on second-home purchases. The apartment block in Salcombe has fallen foul of a rule preventing the purchase of newly built property by people whose principal homes are elsewhere. The Planning Inspectorate ruled this week that developer Valentine London can only sell its four new luxury apartments in the Devon town to people planning to live there full-time. The developer had appealed against South Hams district council's 2019 rule that any new homes in the coastal resort town must be primary residences. The firm said this strict condition made its £1.2 million flats 'unsellable' – but its appeal against the rule was rejected by the national planning body on Monday. Andrew Manning-Smith, 51, and his wife Samantha, 49 – Valentine London's directors – claim the rule has robbed them of potential buyers for their new luxury apartment block overlooking the town's harbour. The flats appear to have become a white elephant, despite efforts to market them off-plan, after completion or at 25 per cent under market value. Cheltenham-based Valentine London has claimed this is because buyers see it as a risky investment, fearing the principal-residence rule would make it hard to sell the flats on. No buyers in three-and-a-half years Mr Manning-Smith has previously denied the council's claims that his firm knew about the restriction when the homes were built. He said: 'When we applied for pre-planning and planning the primary occupancy restriction did not exist. It also did not exist in the statement of common ground agreed with the council a month before the appeal. 'We have applied to remove the condition as the apartments are unsaleable at a proper price with the condition, which we told the inspector on the original appeal, and highly unlikely to be mortgageable. 'Despite numerous reductions in price and offers of incentives, the apartments have failed to find a buyer in the last three-and-a-half years due to the condition on this site.' But local officials have defended the rule, saying it was vital to help preserve the character of the Devon town, which has come to be nicknamed Chelsea-on-Sea for its popularity with second-home owning Londoners. Jasper Evans, Salcombe's mayor, said: 'Salcombe's housing stock is under pressure from the number of second homes which is absolutely not a criticism of second-home owners. 'They have invested massively in the town and we are tremendously appreciative of everything they contribute. To be clear – we welcome everyone who loves Salcombe. 'In Salcombe, the permanent-resident population has been in decline. We don't want that to continue. 'We want young people to stay in the town, work here, be part of the local economy and community. 'The town's year-round vitality depends on its permanent residents of all ages. So, the policy is that if you buy a new house, it has to be your main home. That doesn't apply to houses already built.' Mr Evans welcomed the planning inspector's decision, saying: 'It was very important for us and I am sure other communities who adopted the principal residence condition will be equally pleased with this decision.'. Average house price up to £826,000 South Hams district council brought in the rule in its 2019 Salcombe Neighbourhood Plan over claims second homes were driving locals out of the area. The council said it passed the rule as a way of trying to increase the availability of property for local families in a town where the average house price has risen to £826,000. Permission for the four flats in Salcombe and a commercial unit at ground level below them – known as the Brewery Quay scheme – was granted in 2020. The council says the developers were aware of the primary residence restriction throughout. Valentine London managed to sell the commercial space to a marine business, but with most local people seeking to get on the housing ladder unable to pay the asking price, Mr and Mrs Manning-Street's waterside apartments have remained unsold. Companies House records show that a receiver has been appointed by creditors to take control of Valentine London's assets to recover outstanding debts. Mrs Manning-Smith was a finalist in Business Woman of the Year 2006 and was invited to Buckingham Palace to meet the late Queen in 2007 as one of the 100 Most Influential Women In Business. She was asked to speak at the Conservative Party Conference by David Cameron, then prime minister, in 2009 and was put forward to stand as a candidate for the party in London's Richmond Park constituency in 2007, missing out to Zac Goldsmith.
BBC News
27-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Sanitary bins to be added to Devon seaside toilets after row
Sanitary bins are to be installed at toilets in a seaside town following a row over a lack of waste disposal facilities. Photographer and artist Becci Hey, 58, has been installing sanitary bins in Hope Cove's public toilets for the past two years but South Hams District Council initially removed them.A council spokesperson said: "We are working... to ensure that we provide these facilities in the Hope Cove toilets and all our other facilities as quickly as we can."Ms Hey said the decision would mean that waste disposal bins would be installed in both female and male toilets and she described the move as "a great achievement". She said: "It was something that had to be done."It was a huge moral issue, an environmental issue, a hygiene issue and it was something that is such a fundamental necessity for everyone's dignity." Ms Hey - who was supported by harbour master Sean Hassall and other community members in her bid to install the bins - said she was "very happy with the decision" but would now wait for the council "to fulfill their promise".She said she wanted to thank all those who had "supported the cause". A spokesperson for South Hams District Council said: "The council recognises the importance of our public toilets to our residents and visitors and our council plan has committed to investing over £250,000 over the next three years to refurbish its 27 toilet blocks."This includes upgrading the sanitary facilities."The council added: "We agree that providing these facilities is important and disposing of the waste safely is equally as important."We appreciate the work that Ms Hey has done in supporting the facilities in Hope Cove and this is a great example of individuals helping support the wider community."
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
South Hams leisure centres set to get solar panel upgrades
A Devon council is planning to install solar panels on three of its leisure centres to help make them more financially Hams District Council said it would install the panels at facilities in Ivybridge, Dartmouth and authority said work to install panels on a fourth leisure centre, Quayside Leisure Centre in Kingsbridge, had already environment was a "key priority" and the leisure centres were one of the biggest contributors to the council's carbon footprint, it said. The upgrade would reduce energy bills, helping to make each of the centres more financially sustainable, the council said. It estimated the project would cut about 90 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Julian Brazil, lead member for community services, operations and leisure at the council, said: "The environmental benefits from installing the panels are huge."The installation of the panels will also lower the effects of rising costs for all three centres, which are a threat to many facilities like ours. "The panels should help to keep membership and entry prices as low as possible for users."
BBC News
04-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Beauty of countryside celebrated on Devon's day
"The best thing about Devon is the countryside. The views are spectacular."People from across Devon have spoken of their affection for the county's rich natural beauty as part of a day celebrating all that is good about this part of the Day, also known as St Petroc's Day, is a national day of recognition celebrated annually on 4 June since 2016. Ian Cobham, the head brewer and managing director at Dartmoor Brewery, said the county had a special place in the lives of many and nature was its biggest selling point. "I live on the moors and the views are pretty special," he said."As you drive through the South Hams, with the rolling hills and the farmland, it's just gorgeous." Mike Coombes, from The Bedford Hotel in Tavistock, the site which is claimed to be birthplace of the Devonshire cream tea, said his favourite thing about the county was its contrasts from the countryside to the coast."We talk to our guests who come and stay with us with us here and for them it's about the diversity of the offering," he said."They start with enjoying Tavistock, which is a quintessential Devon market town."We have all of Dartmoor and its fantastic scenery right on the doorstep, and then Devon's coast whether it's the north coast of the south coast."We also have Devon's great ocean city of Plymouth just a stone's throw away from us and the Tamar Valley Area of Natural Beauty just down the road." Discussing the legend of the cream tea's invention, Mr Coombes said: "Where the hotel is situated was the original site of Tavistock of Benedictine Abbey."So the story goes when the Benedictine Abbey was being restored around 997 AD the monks of Tavistock's Benedictine Abbey rewarded the labourers who were doing the restoration with bread, clotted cream and strawberry preserve."So it doesn't take a huge jump of the imagination to say effectively what they were getting was a cream tea, and that's exactly what we've been serving on this site since the hotel started in 1822." Sally Thomson, proprietor at The Highwayman Inn, Okehampton, which purports to be Britain's most unusual pub, also named Dartmoor as being a major draw for Thomson, whose family have worked the business since 1959, said of the national park: "It has so many legends. It's so atmospheric."But from a professional perspective, I think Devon has some great little pubs."Devon is filled with little gems, some little quirky places and some that offer really special things. "We have a lot to offer, here in Devon, but we're very understated so you have to discover it, as we don't throw it in your face." Rob Braddick, who owns a variety of tourism businesses in Westward Ho!, said it was an area where family-run firms were valued by residents."I think the community is really nice," he said. "Everybody gets on really well, it's full of independent shops and restaurants which is really nice. "It's nice to see the families working in the businesses instead of the big corporate boys."He also agreed nature was at the core of the county's offering."I love being on the beach, we live just a few hundred yards from the beach," he said."I very much love the fresh air and the walking."
