I understand that Devon CC have ruled out any improvements to the 376 for the forseable future.
I must confess, I do not really want to see any either. Although many complain about the volume of present traffic, 'improving' the road will not inevitably improve Exmouth's lot. Those who think it is bad now really ought to see some places up country to see what bad really is, and what could happen.

First of all, i don't accept this idea that 'doing nothing is not an option' which you hear bandied about by people who say the sorts of things they hear on TV and which they obviously think sound kinda snappy. Hugo Swire for instance. Cheers, Hugo, but *we'll* decide what the options are. Thanks.

If the choice is doing nothing and doing something disastrous then doing nothing is the *only* option. And if the record shows that the people you're giving the power to do something - i.e. EDDC - are a bunch of blundering clueless halfwits then i would suggest that it's irresponsible and negligent to allow them to do anything *but* nothing.

On the other hand, if we *were* to do something - here's what i think we should do. Get Somerfield out of their current location when their lease expires and put a co-op there. Not a co-op that we're familiar with in the UK, not the supermarket Co-Op - but a cooperative which is actually owned by the citizens of Exmouth and run by them - a co-op of the sort you find in many medium sized west coast american towns. We could get an american team who had already run co-ops over to manage it for the first few years while we got it off the ground, until we could do it ourselves.

The great advantage of a co-op is that it's not profit driven. it exists as a utility for the community. It's actually owned by the community. this means that it can stock better quality food at much cheaper prices than large supermarkets can sell low quality food for.

Simple. All we have to do is get together, as a community and decide to do it and it'll get done. We have the power. The town and it's future belong to us - not to some bunch of remedial Tories and not to an American corporation.

I remember hearing a story once about how Orwell came to write Animal Farm. He was walking down a lane and he saw a kid and a horse - and the kid was hitting the horse with a whip, really lacing into it - and the horse just took it. This was a little kid and a huge horse. Orwell thought - if the horse had chosen to do so it could've thrown the little boy off and trampled him very easily. But it didn't.

And that's what we're like. Huge and passive like that horse. Allowing ourselves to be hit over and over again and doing nothing. When are we going to demonstrate some self-respect and do something about it? When are we going to take responsibility for ourselves and our town?

some great ideas coming out of this forum now... king ludd, skeptic and dopey (sic) have, in a couple of paragraphs, put forward a much more plausible town plan than anything i've heard coming from the council over the past few years! i beleive that now is the time for community to reignite it's assertion over it's own affairs, and scrap this passive idea that we should let the 'officials' make decisions for us.

if i was rich i would commision these three, and others, to put down in a document the ideas that are being formulated, present them to the council in a official manner, allow the rest of exmouth to see that there are alternatives other than selling our soul. unfortunately i am not rich, other than that richness which comes from entrusting the citizens of exmouth to make the right choices. so gor for it people, meet up, set a date, take notes, make plans. make your mark on your community (i know you don't need me to tell you this but i want to add my weight!)

might i suggest that thursday night, may 8th at the blackmore theatre would be a great chance to meet, a couple of beers in the bar after the film and we can begin to churn up some action in this town!

King Ludd wrote: The great advantage of a co-op is that it's not profit driven. it exists as a utility for the community. It's actually owned by the community.

what a fantastic idea, this fits in perfectly with the knowledge that exmouth is going to have to be a lot more self-productive in the coming years due to the high cost of fuel/energy.

give our citizens the chance to grow their own, sell it, and reap the rewards. reconnect the fabric of our town and put our local producers to the forefront of our economy and social structure. i want to be able to visit the farm from where i buy my salads, veg and meat. i want to be able to say hello to those that work hard to feed the community... and i want to be able to learn from them the skills that will allow me to live a first-hand, healthier and more socially sustainable life!

Thanks again for taking the time to write to us. We did distribute a press release announcing the launch of our website which encouraged people with questions to write to us directly (you can view this, along with our other press releases, in the Media section of our website).



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In addition, we are about to create a FAQ section on the website, which should give people more detailed information.



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Kind regards,

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Ah the anonymous Asda team!
I can personally guarantee that they do NOT reply to every email send to them. Ask them a potentially embarrassing question and they ignore it. If they were to agree to answer questions on a forum then all could see how good or poor their answers were.
Cowardly conduct.