A BID to rap the district council s knuckles failed to attract support last week. At Exmouth Town Council meeting last Monday, Lib-Dem councillor Ian Stewart listed a litany of EDDC s perceived failures.

A BID to rap the district council's knuckles failed to attract support last week.

At Exmouth Town Council meeting last Monday, Lib-Dem councillor Ian Stewart listed a litany of EDDC's 'perceived' failures. He proposed a formal complaint that the district had not answered Town Hall concerns in a 'timely and professional' way.

He said that, despite a range of concerns over the new Vanguard planning system, 12 months after its inception it was only now the head of planning, Kate Little, was coming to address the Town Council.

Cllr Stewart also criticised their failure to respond to concerns about two 'unauthorised' adverts in the town centre and to a question asked a year ago about gaining interest on nearly �0.5 million of developers' contributions for new housing in the town.

Attempts to get funding to improve the Sea Cadets 'dilapidated' scout hut, he said, had also hit a dead end - and he also criticised the 'Dickensian' sight on Thursday mornings of litter strewn across the streets.

"Why are our streets full of rubbish and Sidmouth's aren't? What have EDDC done about addressing the problem?" he asked.

He said EDDC had started the wheelie bin roll-out from the east end of the district and Exmouth had been put off until October 2010.

He added: "This may sound like a motion to 'knock' EDDC, it isn't, I want to stimulate a debate on how, as I perceive it, we are viewed and dealt with."

Cllr Stewart said voters asked him "What do you mean EDDC has no money? We've paid our council taxes, where has the money gone?"

Councillor Trevor Cope backed the motion and he added: "We are finding that we don't have to write to them once, or twice but sometimes three times before we get a reaction."

But Tory town and district councillor Mark Williamson said the motion needed to be more specific:

"To talk about perceived failures like this is like a scattergun and is much too general," he said.

He agreed questions had been raised but said: "This motion is not good enough."

Cllr David Chapman went further and added that he did not recognise the picture Cllr Stewart was trying to paint.