Exmouth residents have put forward an alternative vision for what they want to see on the Queen's Drive seafront site.

It would include an innovative play area with high ropes, water wars and climbing towers for older children and adults.

Their proposals will be presented to East Devon District Council and they will ask them to include them alongside the scheme that HemingwayDesign have created for the seafront.

HemingwayDesign's proposals for the site, which include the Harbour View café site, are set to involve a mix of public space, continued popular free play facilities and the kind of commercial developments that will pay for those elements and benefit Exmouth's economy.

They will be put forward next month at two exhibition events being held in the town, with another public meeting to be arranged either just before or just after the Christmas and New Year period where the public can give their feedback on the proposals.

But having been challenged by the council to come up with a solution for the development of Phase 3, a group of Exmouth residents, led by Cllr Nick Hookway, have come up with their own plans that they say tick all the boxes and is in line with what last summer's Hemingway Design survey results said people wanted.

They are set to present their scheme to Queen's Drive Delivery Group tonight and are asking for the proposals to also be put forward to the public so the town can decide what happens on the seafront.

Sally Galsworthy, part of the group who helped come up with the alternative plans, said that their scheme is in line with what the Exmouth Neighbourhood Plan wants for the site and what the results of the Hemingway Design survey said people wanted to see.

She added that it would be delivered by a not for profit organisation so that community benefit will be felt by local residents, the plans have been costed, and some of their proposals could even be in place next summer.

Their plan includes:

-An innovative pay play area with high ropes, water wars and climbing towers for older children and adults.

-An intimate arts/performance space for hire

-A brand new Crazy Golf course

-A sunken garden on the site of the former swan boating lake where all the plants will be edible

Sally added: "The vision is to create a destination that will complement the watersports centre and restaurant offer as part of phase 2 and will cater for all age groups, all abilities and huge variety of interests. It is backed by research into current trends in the leisure industry, the experience of other seaside towns in England and surveys carried out by locals and HemingwayDesign.

"We want East Devon District Council to give these proposals given equal opportunity alongside Hemingway Design so that the town can decide what happens on the seafront."

She said that the current trends are for shared experiences for adults and children and the 'pay play area' would provide the thrills and spills that people want. A price of around £7.50 per person has been used as part of their costed business plan.

Exmouth residents will shortly have the chance to hear about ideas for the future of the Queen's Drive area of the town at a public exhibition on Thursday, November 14, at the Ocean Suite, LED Ocean, Exmouth, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, organised by Hemingway Design and supported by East Devon District Council.

Interested members of the public will also be able to view the exhibition materials at a public drop-in at LED Ocean on the previous day, Wednesday, November 13, from 12pm to 4.30pm.

No official details as to what the Hemingway Design proposals will include have yet been revealed, but speaking at last week's full council meeting, councillor Ben Ingham, leader of the council, said: "Proposals are emerging for a mix of public space, continued popular free play facilities and the kind of commercial developments that will pay for those elements and benefit Exmouth's economy.

" This is very much in keeping with the principles laid out some years ago in the Exmouth masterplan and much more recently the policies agreed by Exmouth people in their neighbourhood plan."

Asked about timescales, councillor Ingham said waiting another three years was 'unacceptable' and that he hoped to focus everyone's minds and get it done by the end of 2021.

He added: "It is this administration's view that a new and sharper focus was needed on delivering the final phase of the Queen's Drive development and that is what we are doing. You have heard my aspirations so we have got to get cracking.

"That is not to say that the council may not then also turn its attention to other important projects for Exmouth but let's sort out the final phase of Queen's Drive first."

Following the public events set to take next month, councillor Ingham said that he hopes that there will be another public meeting to be arranged either just before or just after the Christmas and new year period where the public can give their feedback on the proposals that Wayne Hemingway has put forward, which will then enable the cabinet and the council to start taking the key decisions early in 2020.

East Devon District Council has been asked for comment on the proposals put forward by the residents' group.