News in Seaton

Leisure centres and swimming pools across East Devon may be forced to close as LED and East Devon District Council may be unable to afford to keep them open.

The picture and position facing the council has been described as 'bleak' by the leader of the council and chief executive in a letter they have sent to the region's three MPs in calling for extra financial support.

A motion to stamp out 'sexist banter' and end a freeze on allowances during maternity was almost unanimously supported by East Devon councillors.

Wednesday night's full council meeting saw backing given to calls to 'end the sexist treatment of woman which was treated as banter', as well as to scrap a policy that meant special allowances ceased to be paid if female councillors were on maternity leave, and to introduced a new clause in the Code of Conduct against sexism.

Eeast Devon councillors have considered new research on coastal erosion by Plymoith University, estimating future rates of coastal erosion in the region over the next 100 years.

The research, which focuses on the eastern area of the district, is different from previous work on coastal erosion as it is for planning purposes only.

Seaton Jurassic is planning to expand its offering to visitors while highlighting the town's natural heritage, the urgent issue of climate change and our disconnect with living with nature.

The original planning application for Seaton Jurassic in 2013 included an area of development from the existing boundary to the edge of Sheep's Marsh, to the north of the centre.

Seaton's new fruit and vegetable shop Squirrel has received an "incredible" response from the community since opening doors at the end of August.

It was actually back in March when local mum-of-four Paula Smith decided she wanted to open and fruit and veg shop, but lockdown restrictions were implemented before she had the chance to get up and running.

Planning permission has been granted to convert and extend a property in Fore Street, Seaton, to create four new flats.

The original application sought permission to create seven flats at Foxford, 51 Fore Street, but this was later scaled back to four flats and permission granted by East Devon District Council on October 8th.

Colyton fire crew were called to Axminster Arts Café in the early hours of this morning (Monday).

Crews from Axminster, Colyton and Charmouth were called to the café in Church Street at 1.12am after a neighbour reported that the fire alarms were sounding and they could smell smoke.

The Seaton, Beer and District branch of the RNLI will be holding a socially-distanced autumn walk to raise funds for the life-saving charity.

The walk will be held this Sunday (October 25th), meeting at the layby on the A375 road to Honiton, at the junction to Blackberry Camp.

The minutes of a Colyton Parish Council meeting held in September were called into question last week, after one councillor stood down but later rescinded his resignation.

Councillor Howard West announced his immediate resignation during a heated discussion on the Draft Neighbourhood Plan in a virtual meeting of the parish council in September. At the time, he declined to comment further on his reasons for resigning.

Seafield Gardens in Seaton is the latest of East Devon's parks and green spaces to be awarded the coveted Green Flag Award.

It joins Seaton Wetlands nature reserve, Connaught Gardens in Sidmouth and Manor Gardens in Exmouth which have maintained their Green Flag status.