Manifesto

For decades Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have taken it in turn to damage and mismanage our beautiful part of South Devon.

  • The SOUTH DEVON ALLIANCE aims to :
    - Create a transparent and functioning democracy at Teignbridge District Council
    - Focus on the needs, health and wellbeing of local residents and not be led by national developers
    - Have meaningful engagement and be ‘serving’ rather than ‘self serving’ elected representatives
    - Continue our mission to #savethealex and create a cultural legacy for the district, with a youth focus, for the benefit of future generations
    - Add environmental safeguards to the Local Plan such that is it drastically scaled back or sensitive areas deemed un deliverable
    - Create a transformational Town Centre plan in Newton Abbot that has the support of the businesses.
    - Aim to force developers to avoid Greenfield sites; instead repurpose town center and brownfield land for housing development
    - Hold South West Water to account for discharges and river pollution
    - Work with our Parish and Town Councils to maintain vibrant villages and towns in Teignbridge that can develop sustainably, retaining the charm and identity of the district
    - Listen to the representative bodies of the residents and form policies that are in the best interests of the local residents and not dictated by national party policy

To see more on the South Devon Alliance check out the constitution here

  • The current South Devon Alliance councillors campaigned tirelessly against the Lib Dem proposal to demolish the interiorof the Alexandra Theatre

    •  

    The councillors have also been instrumental in setting up the community benefit society that is now positioned to run the Theatre as a multi functional cultural and community hub for the district. https://www.alexandratheatre.org/

In the last four years Teignbridge Council has failed to do what the Lib Dem administration said it would, and 'do everything in its power to halt NA3'. The founding principles of the campaign against this unjustified development, Newton Says No, still stand. 


Teignbridge District Council has also been found to have abused its standards procedures in what we can see as politically motivated attacks on one group of Councillors.  The Local Government Ombudsman has found that our current council failed to follow the law, ignored its own constitution and breached the UK Human Rights Act citing SEVEN faults when it pursued 'flawed' standards proceedings against Cllr Daws and Mullone soon after they were elected in 2019. A two year complaint by CLlr Daws was upheld by the Local Government Ombudsman, the main oversight body for councils.   This was reported on the BBC in January  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-64328876 and the press relase and fully report can be seen on the LGO website https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2023/jan/council-investigation-into-member-s-conduct-flawed-says-ombudsman
 We will correct Teignbridge District Council’s ‘systemic’ failings and poor governance.

As a local planning authority we would attempt to write into a local plan that water companies become statutory consultees on large scale planning decisions, and that they would need to guarantee service levels for water delivery and sewage treatment, without untreated discharges, for new large scale developments, before permission was granted. If this position was not defendable then we would need to work with other LPA's to lobby the government to change the NPPF guidelines so it was. We would also collaborate with Natural England on taking action to protect the environment and add our weight to any national campaigns that could alter policy at national level. https://goodlawproject.org/the-sewage-scandal-and-what-we-are-doing-about-it/ We have some of the most polluted beaches in the country. There is a general election coming and water shortages and sewage discharges promise to be a key issue.

The South Devon Alliance has the broadest range of candidates with 26 passionate residents putting themselves forward. People of all backgrounds and ages who share the aim of restoring a transparent and functioning democracy to Teignbridge District Council.
Our candidates herald from wide and varied walks of life including the founder of Dire Straits who is a former social worker, economics graduate and musician, alongside a supermarket worker, taxi driver, yoga teacher, former stockbroker, truck driver and former lifeboat volunteer, laundry worker, child services professional, retired Police Chief Inspector, eco house builder, reiki healers and a former adviser on the Bill Clinton presidential campaign. That’s not including the former Times journalist and comedian, Stagecoach Theatre School operator and Chartered Engineer, live venue owner and social venture champion that we already have on the council.
 
All aiming to restore a functioning democracy in Teignbridge, create a cultural strategy for the district around the Alexandra Theatre, protect the environment and challenge overdevelopment.

 

Time for a change - The South Devon Alliance


All rebellions are built on hope.