Environmental cost of a marina

SIR – Recent correspondents have demonstrated considerable opposition to the proposed marina but it will be EDDC councillors who decide.

SIR - Recent correspondents have demonstrated considerable opposition to the proposed marina but it will be EDDC councillors who decide.

As it seriously undermines the district Local Plans and EU climate change policy, the marina is a distraction.

Located on the Unesco Heritage coastline on space owned by the crown, the seaboard is national property, so changing use from a listed townscape to an overwhelming commercial zone for vehicular parking is highly controversial.

As well as grossly disfiguring the much-loved genteel face of the seafront, the superstructure will generate excessive pollution in the form of carbon and waste. The marina should be rejected as a red herring but the real catch would be the blighted onshore area in the vicinity of Port Royal.

This public land must not be sold as exclusive real-estate occasionally occupied as second homes with their eroding impact on the community.

The way forward is for a less imposing sustainable mixed development as amenity to live, work and play for generations to come.

Apart from being dazzled by profit, no-one in authority appears to be adequately addressing the shortfalls of the current proposal.

To aid decision making before the EDDC meeting on February 27, officials should advise councillors against ignoring their own guidelines or disregarding government regulations attempting to cap carbon emissions.

It's now time for representatives to listen to people's concerns before they make a decision they may later regret.

Graham Cooper

Peak Hill

Sidmouth