Campaigners channel ‘Count Binface’ in fight against possible giant Exmouth housing site

Campaigners fighting a proposal for a site on the edge of Exmouth that could accommodate 700 homes have channelled the satirical political candidate battling Nigel Farage.

Opposition to the notion of building the homes at the St John’s site has been persistent, with efforts by a committed group cranking up as a crucial deadline nears.
The Stop Exmo_20 group has held various public meetings and updates its campaign on a dedicated Facebook page.
The location is just one of dozens that make up East Devon District Council’s draft local plan, a document that will identify which pieces of land can be built on.
East Devon, like all councils, is legally required to produce a local plan and has to target the number of homes calculated through a method set by Whitehall.
The council has stressed that the process has been open and honest, that it has responded to residents’ queries, and that a host of documents are available on its website for scrutiny.
It has also said residents can make representations to the government inspector once the council submits the draft plan.
Thomas Shillitoe, a resident who has ardently opposed the Exmouth site – whose official name in the draft local plan documents is Exmo_20 – donned a waste paper basked on his head for part of his latest speech to the councillors who are steering the process.
The move echoes the increasingly prominent Count Binface, who is challenging Nigel Farage in a by-election in Clacton-on-Sea.
“Apparently putting a bin on your head gets you listened to, so here goes,” he said to the strategic planning committee at East Devon.
Mr Shillitoe has, alongside other residents, consistently claimed that the Exmo_20 site failed a key assessment early in the process of creating the draft local plan.
That test – known as HELAA or Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment – helps decide if a proposed location is “suitable, available and achievable”, according to the government’s website.
Mr Shillitoe believes the site should be removed from the local plan for its HELAA failure, but also its proximity to the internationally protected Pebblebed Heaths.
While the council acknowledges the site did fail HELAA, senior officers have stated that the specific issue it failed on – access to the site – has been rectified through subsequent work.
The proposed allocation now includes an access road connecting to the existing B3179, and states a 400-metre buffer zone will mean homes can’t be nearer than that to the heaths.
The council has also expressed concerns that if it removes Exmo_20 from the draft local plan, this could be viewed as a ‘significant change’ by the government inspector that will ultimately approve or block the plan.
It doesn’t want to upset the proverbial apple cart, because the timeframe it is currently operating on means it can target a lower number of homes than if it was starting the plan afresh.
Other residents also spoke out against Exmo_20 at the committee meeting (Tuesday 14 July), with Nigel Humphrey stating that just because Exmouth was the largest town in East Devon, it didn’t automatically follow that it should take the most growth.
“It should have been [asked] ‘can Exmouth take this level of growth going forward?’, and the answer should have been ‘no’,” he said.
“In a recent application for 75 homes there were major concerns about the lack of infrastructure, but Exmo_20 will bring hundreds [if approved].”
John Hamill, another opponent, said there was already a “speculative developer” eyeing a proposed planning application for the Exmo_20 site even though the draft local plan hasn’t been ratified yet.
He suggested some of East Devon’s own officers acknowledged shortcomings with the Exmo_20 site, most notably in relation to the potential impact on the Pebblebed Heaths.
“Stand up for honesty, for your constituents, and reject this whitewash of Exmo_20,” he said.
“Say ‘no’, because it was wrong from the start and there are some councillors who want nothing to do with it.”
Councillor Melanie Martin (Independent, Budleigh & Raleigh), who attended the most recent Stop Exmo_20 event, told the meeting she felt Exmo_20 could be removed from the plan without derailing it, and that it “saddens me” that homes were being considered in such close proximity to the Pebblebed Heaths.
Speaking after the meeting, she acknowledged the ‘Catch-22 situation’ of the potential development.
“It’s obvious that the site is a difficult choice, and if people had the opportunity to have their say early on it may have never been selected,” she said after the meeting.
“If we throw it out, we risk the housing numbers increasing, but if we keep it in, then another historic and beautiful part of East Devon changes forever.
“Plus, we won’t know for sure the harm it may do to the Pebblebed Heaths. The Exmo_20 objectors are fighting hard but it looks like EDDC is not going to change its mind, as they are looking at the bigger picture.
“It’s a case of damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”
Councillor Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Rockbeare and Whimple), who chairs the strategic planning committee, said the council had a “moral and legal obligation to deliver homes”.
“The housing affordability ratio is about 9-10 times average incomes, and so when lenders give 4-5 times an income, if you’re lucky, that’s a huge gap,” he said.
“Housing here is fundamentally unaffordable and unattainable for huge numbers who live here. It’s a Hobson’s Choice – we have a job to do and we’re doing the best we can, and we are never going to please everyone and solve every problem.”
He added that in his village of Whimple, its prospective growth could be proportionally bigger than Exmouth, if the draft local plan is approved as it currently stands.
The strategic planning committee heard that the council was aiming to submit its local plan by October, with adoption due in 2028 following approval by the government examiner.