The Future Group « The Seale-Haynians

Seale-Hayne Future Group

When the University of Plymouth announced plans to close Seale-Hayne there was grave concern amongst several people who had been closely involved with various aspects of the college throughout its remarkable history. Under the chairmanship of the late Jim Hosking, a former Governor of Seale-Hayne, a group formed in January 2003 to discuss the closure plans and to investigate the possibility of somehow maintaining land-based education at the historic campus. They called themselves The Seale-Hayne Future Group.Meeting regularly and attracting much media interest, the group quickly expanded as more and more people realised exactly what was happening at the site and the effect that this closure would have in and around Newton Abbot and also within the land-based education sector. The group worked closely with Newton Abbot Town Council, Teignbridge District Council and Devon County Council to examine and challenge the planning issues raised by the closure and the subsequent plans of the University, and also investigated the legality of the University’s acquisition of the freehold title to the Seale-Hayne Charity’s biggest asset, its estate. The Future Group spearheaded a successful high profile campaign to raise public awareness of all the issues involved. It led the protests against development plans for the estate and even put forward its own detailed proposal for the future of Seale-Hayne. It also became a valuable ally to other interested organisations who were formulating creative and constructive education based plans for the future of the buildings, houses and farmland that make up the estate. The Seale-Hayne Future Group has been influential in saving Seale-Hayne from the developers and is pleased that education will now remain at the core of this beautiful piece of Devon under the guise of the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust. The group is now closely allied to the Seale-Haynians Club. It meets less regularly and has a close working relationship with the DHRT, but is also acutely aware that there may still be issues to examine in the future surrounding Seale-Hayne and the Seale-Hayne Charity.

• Jim Hosking	• John Halley	• Eirene Williams	• Ray Bartlett	• Ian Goodwin	• Roger Mitchelmore
• Stella Watson	• Kate Templeton	• Martin Hall	• Jill Rew	• Simon Daligan	• Anthony Rew
• Anne Marie Morris	• John McInerney	• Reg Wills	• John Usher	• Mike Atkinson	• Arnold Sayers
• Stuart Barker	• Steve Fisher	• Lisa Wiley	• John Wibberley	• Roger Mewis	• Richard Younger-Ross
• Mary Quicke	• Tom Archer	• Ken Smith	• Clive Morgan

SHF response to the Teignbridge District Council 20-year Core Strategy plan.

The Seale-Hayne Future Group spent nearly eight years from 2002 arguing that the Grade II listed former Agricultural College buildings, along with 450 acres of its productive farmland should remain in use for education and food production. In November 2011, TDC released its 20-year Core Strategy Plan covering the region’s development strategy until the year 2033. It seems that much of the Seale-Hayne estate is earmarked for development within the Houghton Barton “vision” of the Council’s Strategic Plan. SHF responded to the first draft of the 30-year plan and TDC have now issued a second draft for submission to the Secretary of State in March 2013. To view the second draft, click here.SHF group is now registered as a consultee with TDC and has also responded to the second draft of the document. This response will be forwarded along with the TDC proposals for consideration by the Secretary of State before he agrees or disagrees to this 30-year plan. Click here to see the full text of the SHF response.

News from Ian Goodwin, Chairman

You will no doubt be aware by now that the University of Plymouth took education away from Seale-Hayne and has been trying to sell the estate for many years now. There has been a long but spirited campaign to keep education at the college and not to allow it to disappear under a huge housing development, even though that would have raised the University large amounts of cash! This action has been spearheaded by the “Seale-Hayne Future Group” – a group of ex-S-H governors, staff, students and others who came together in 2002 when closure was first announced. A sale has now been agreed and the new owners of Seale-Hayne are the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust, an organisation which specialises in the education, therapy, care & respite for children and young people with profound physical disabilities.We believe that to enable the purchase, the DHRT has agreed to split the estate, selling the bulk of the farmland separately, with the old farm buildings and the surrounding land to yet another purchaser, probably a developer. Although this arrangement is far from satisfactory (we would all have preferred S-H to remain in land-based education), we feel that at least Seale-Hayne will now retain its educational purpose to some extent as was decreed in Charles Seale-Hayne’s original bequest. The University and its agents have been very secretive lately about the sale process, having eventually realised that there are many people keeping a keen eye on developments and who are not happy about the demise of such a highly respected seat of learning.

Seale-Hayne has always been an important part of the Newton Abbot area, of Devon and the South-West and of the Agricultural industry in general, so it is quite right that its future should be closely scrutinised.The Seale-Hayne Future Group is still monitoring developments and meets regularly to discuss the situation and will, if necessary, rigorously challenge any proposals that are deemed unsuitable, unnecessary or out of character with the long history of the place. There are many who are dismayed that the University was not more proactive in the discussions around establishing a Centre for Sustainability at Seale-Hayne. It seems now that the need for research and education around this subject grows daily, especially with reference to sustainable agriculture and the world’s food security issues. Seale-Hayne was ideally positioned to once again lead the world in its field, but despite talks at the highest levels this was deemed not to be. Cynics might say that the financial potential of the site may have influenced the decisions. The charity that once owned the estate still exists as the Seale-Hayne Educational Trust. SHF believes that at least part of the money raised from the sale of the estate should find its way back into that charity.

Seale-Hayne Future congratulates the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust in its purchase. We wish them a long and happy experience at Seale-Hayne and hope to be able to work with them on projects in the future.