CAMPAIGNING TO PROTECT DEVON’S COUNTRYSIDE
Protecting Devon’s Countryside Since 1926
A failed planning system, a government policy to build millions more houses than we need – of the wrong type, at the wrong price, in the wrong places – and a runaway energy policy targeting thousands of acres of our productive farmland mean that today Devon’s countryside is threatened as never before. CPRE was founded to preserve and protect the rural environment, and has been doing just that since 1926.
Devon CPRE is an independent local charity that fights to prevent poor planning and bad policies destroying the rural landscapes that are Devon’s unique heritage. We offer professional planning expertise and a wealth of experience to help our members fight inappropriate development throughout the county.
We’re funded solely by members’ subscriptions, donations and legacies.
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Devon CPRE and Westleigh residents celebrate fending off unwanted new homes in historic village.
Devon CPRE, the charity that campaigns to protect Devon’s countryside from inappropriate development, is delighted that a Planning Inspector has dismissed an appeal by the Christie Estate for outline permission to build a cluster of new houses in the village on a site that locals said was highly unsuitable for numerous environmental and heritage reasons.
Last year, Westleigh residents successfully opposed an outline planning application to construct nine houses on agricultural land just outside Westleigh’s Conservation Area (WCA), saying that the construction phase alone would ‘cause havoc’ in the settlement of just 69 homes, threatening the precarious existence of the community’s village hall, as well as the Grade-II-listed thatched dwelling known as Rock Cottage. They also argued that it would destroy a traditional Devon Bank hedge, a habitat frequented by ten species of bat, four of them endangered.
To the delight of villagers and Devon CPRE, North Devon District Council resoundingly refused the initial planning application, deeming it an unsuitable location for new open-market residential development that would not meet local housing need and would cause harm to the character and appearance of the area.
The Christie Estate subsequently appealed against the council’s decision (Appeal Ref 6003960) and submitted slightly modified plans, including reducing the house at the entrance of the development to a single storey to make it less overbearing and to mitigate the impact on Rock Cottage.
The Planning Inspector’s decision to dismiss the appeal has now been made public - to the delight of Devon CPRE, Westleigh Parish Council and local residents.
Devon CPRE Director Penny Mills says, “We have supported the villagers of Westleigh from the start in opposing this planning application, and the inspector’s ruling demonstrates that the planning system still has the power to preserve important landscape and heritage assets, despite the relentless political drive to build, build, build. This is a first-class example of why CPRE was founded 100 years ago and has campaigned relentlessly for all the protections that rural areas now rely on for their preservation. The main reasons the Inspector rejected the appeal related to damage to the setting of the listed cottage, the adjacent lane and an established hedge, as well as to the wider conservation area. We couldn’t agree more.”
Summarising the decision to dismiss the appeal, the Inspector stated, “Weighing against the proposal, the development would be contrary to the local development strategy, would be reliant upon the use of the car, harm the significance of a listed building and setting of the WCA, and harm the character and appearance of the wider area… planning decisions should guide development towards sustainable solutions whilst reflecting the character of an area and conserving and enhancing the historic environment.”
CPRE’s Devonian-designed garden wins Gold and Garden of the Year at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Created to celebrate the Campaign to Protect Rural England’s centenary year, its ‘On the Edge’ garden - by Devon-born landscape designer Sarah Eberle - has been awarded a Gold Medal and the title of Garden of the Year at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Sarah Eberle, the most decorated British designer at RHS Chelsea to date, grew up in Devon, spending much of her childhood on the edge of Dartmoor and in the town of Dartmouth. She has spoken about her long connection to the landscape and countryside and credits her rural Devon upbringing as the inspiration for her winning collaboration with CPRE.
Sarah describes herself as “a nature girl at heart.” She grew up on the fringes of a town: climbing trees, walking hedgerows, spending what she cheerfully calls her “misspent youth” in exactly the kinds of landscapes that On the Edge is about. The scrubby, overlooked, in-between places that most people walk past without a second glance – the vulnerable areas of countryside around our towns and cities that are under the most threat from developers.
Sarah’s striking ‘On the Edge’ garden features naturalistic planting that celebrates native wildflowers often dismissed as weeds, a fallen tree carved into the figure of Gaia or Mother Nature, and a dry-stone wall that snakes through the landscape like a boundary slowly being reclaimed.
Sarah says, “Having thought I had retired from creating gardens at Chelsea, the Campaign to Protect Rural England changed my mind. This garden’s mission is very personal to me. I am a country girl through and through, so I embody the same message and beliefs that the Campaign to Protect Rural England and this garden hold.”
CPRE’s ‘edgelands’ campaign seeks to protect the countryside immediately adjacent to towns and cities. These areas are vital resources for urban dwellers. Instead of developing them and sprawling willy-nilly into the countryside, CPRE believes we should focus on developing the upwards of 1.4 million brownfield sites available nationally, which it has identified so far.
To stand up for the countryside on our doorstep, add your name here: takeaction.cpre.org.uk/page/189868/petition/1
Devon CPRE sponsors inaugural festival to celebrate 'Devonshire's Robbie Burns' on Devon Day, 4 June 2026
Heanton Punchardon Residents Association and St Augustine’s Church proudly present the Edward Capern Festival 2026
Two days of activities (4-5 June) to celebrate this local literary hero, including a new poetry competition for citizen poets
We are sponsoring the first Edward Capern Festival, taking place on Devon Day (Thursday, 4 June) in Heanton Punchardon to honour the ‘Postman Poet of North Devon’, also known as ‘Devonshire’s Robbie Burns’ or ‘Devon’s Bard’.
Edward Capern (1819 - 1894) composed a wealth of poems and songs about the Devon countryside while going about his job delivering the mail to far-flung villages. He became famous throughout Victorian England. He died in Braunton and was buried in the churchyard at St Augustine’s in Heanton Punchardon, where the first day of an annual Festival to commemorate this local literary hero is being organised by the church and the residents' association.
Our Chairman, Steve Crowther, who lives in the village, is inviting people to submit their own poems about Devon’s countryside to win a £500 prize as part of the first Edward Capern Award for the ‘Postman Poet’ of 2026, sponsored by Devon CPRE.
Steve says, “As Edward Capern went about his rounds as a postman, he composed poems and songs celebrating the glory of Devon’s countryside. As an organisation that equally loves Devon, we at Devon CPRE have decided that in our centenary year, we would help to revive his memory. So, we’re working with the community and church here at Heanton Punchardon to create the first-ever Edward Capern Festival.
“We’ve decided that this year we should also introduce the very first Edward Capern ‘Postman Poet’ of the Year award. Something we can start this year and then build as a recognition of citizen poets. So if you’ve got any poetry in you, of any kind, celebrating Devon’s nature, our landscapes, our way of life, send it to me.”
A two-day programme of events will take place in Heanton Punchardon:
Thursday 4 June, 7 - 9 pm, An Evening of Music and Poetry at St Augustine’s Church
Local author Liz Shakespeare, an authority on Capern, joins musicians Mick Wyke and Becki Driscoll to celebrate the life, poems and songs of ‘Devonshire’s Robbie Burns. Tickets £10. Drinks and snacks are available.
Friday 5 June, 1 - 3 pm (schools), 3 - 7 pm (public), Capern’s Countryside Exhibition at Wrafton Hall
Art, poetry, displays and choral music created by local schools and residents based around six of Edward Capern’s best-known poems, reflecting the North Devon countryside, coasts and rural life. Announcement of the first Edward Capern Award for the ‘Postman Poet’ of 2026, with a prize of £500.
Tea and cakes are available.
Entries for the poetry competition should be emailed to sjcrowther@btinternet.com by Friday, 29 May 2026.
To book tickets for the event, email sjcrowther@btinternet.com or call 07775 787579.
To find out more about the festival and the poetry competition, go to CPRE Devon’s YouTube:
We want everyone across England to stand with us and ask that every town and city should be surrounded by thriving and protected countryside - for nature, climate and wellbeing.
Add your name today and help protect and regenerate the countryside On the Edge.
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Plans to build 39 homes near the historic Bloody Corner Viking battle site in Northam have been thrown out on appeal.
The Planning Inspector agreed the development would harm the area’s historic and rural character, including the setting of the commemorative stone tablet linked to the 878 battle between Saxons and Danes.
A great result for protecting Devon’s heritage and countryside.
Plans for 39 homes near historic Viking site thrown out on appeal - Devon Today
devontoday.com
Devon CPRE has welcomed a Planning Inspector’s decision to dismiss an appeal made by a developer who wanted to build houses on agricultural land in Northam, near a Viking battle site – a proposal ...
Devon CPRE calls on all district councils to follow North Devon’s lead towards banning solar installations from productive farmland.
We (Devon CPRE) has warmly welcomed the news (27 April) that North Devon Council has voted to protect farmland by prioritising small solar installations on roofs and car parks, and large ones on brownfield rather than greenfield land.
The motion, proposed by Cllr Pru Maskell, called on the government to develop policies to support these priorities and provide financial incentives for rooftop and car park solar projects.
Currently, the financial incentives push developers towards ever-larger solar parks on greenfield sites.
“This is a very welcome and timely move by North Devon, as offshore investors are lining up to create mega-solar installations in several parts of the county, including North Devon and Torridge,” said Devon CPRE chairman Steve Crowther.
“We sincerely hope that other district councils will follow suit and send a clear message to the speculators that they are not welcome on our green land.
“At a time of such geopolitical instability and uncertainty, it is crazy to cover productive Devon farmland – one of the UK’s principal food production units – with inert glass and steel arrays
which produce on average 10% of their theoretical power capacity and have to be backed up with huge battery banks.
“North Devon’s principled stance follows on the heels of several councils that have taken a similar line in the past 18 months. The remarkable thing is that these motions have been pushed through by parties from across the political spectrum – from the Greens in Suffolk and Liberal Democrats in South Norfolk to Reform UK and Conservatives in Doncaster and Derbyshire – showing that the government’s approach to energy policy and food security is falling far behind the public’s expectations.
”Devon CPRE is currently leading opposition to two mega-solar sites, one of 2,700 acres at Holsworthy and a growing cluster of 700 acres around Alverdiscott. The charity is urging Devon residents and visitors to sign the petitions calling on the government to stop these developments: devoncpre.org.uk
Photo of newly installed solar panels near Ashreigney, Torridge
The Stop Beacon Solar Residents have a couple of fundraising events planned on Saturday 18th April.
These include a guided walk at 10am around sections of the proposed Solar Generating Station Site. It is a great opportunity to experience some of the beautiful countryside and wildlife habitat that is being threatened by the proposed development.
To register your interest, please visit www.stopbeaconsolar.com
And a Barn Dance and Pasty Supper with music by Fiddlefit at Bradford & Cookbury Village Hall at 7pm.
Tickets avaiable at Ruby & Elm and HBH Woolacotts in Holsworthy, or by call 07346 501377
CPRE – the Campaign to Protect Rural England – is 100 years old this year. As one of England’s oldest and most influential environmental charities, we should be celebrating, and we are. But we are also using this centenary to tell everyone that the problems we were founded to combat are as nothing to those we face today.
In 1926 the great and the good, backed by all three great party leaders of the day, joined together to address the complete lack of formal planning in rural areas, which combined with the rapid rise of the motor car, road building, ribbon development, roadside advertising and the like seriously threatened our green and pleasant land. Within 30 years, CPRE had originated the Town & Country Planning Acts, National Parks, Green Belts, Nature Conservancy, National Landscapes (AONBs), Listed Buildings… pretty much everything that now protects rural landscapes from the depredations of unfettered progress.
Today, rather than speaking for the establishment, we face a level of threat to our countryside and rural life from the establishment, and it’s on a different scale. The government’s new Land Use Framework intends to take 10% of our farmland out of production, for housebuilding, wind and solar energy, and re-wilding.
We hear that sheep are disappearing from our fields, largely because it is uneconomic to farm them. Farmers have had their subsidies cut by up to 70%, and now face Inheritance Tax. Nearly two-thirds of our prime arable land is at risk of flooding. Three years ago DEFRA commissioned a report from their own experts, which they now ‘can’t find’, which said that we risk a catastrophic failure of our food supply by 2030 – the same date by which the government wants to triple the amount of solar on our fields.
We are driving farmers off the land, just as the need for home food production is rocketing upwards. Planning rules are being relaxed to make it well nigh impossible for elected councillors to oppose development. We are ‘rewilding’ our rolling green hills, which provide the world’s best livestock pasture, into untended thickets of bramble and scrub.
Devon CPRE is fighting a lonely rearguard action to defend our countryside and rural communities. We fight bad policy nationally and bad planning locally. We are the only charity who does this; and we can only do it through the support of our members. For less than the price of a pint of beer a month, they help us keep at it - Devon CPRE fights 100 or so planning cases a year in this county alone.
We know that many of you will sympathise with this, and some of you will already be members. But could I respectfully ask if not, to consider joining us (at cpredevon.org.uk), and help to ensure that ‘this scepter’d isle, this other Eden, demi-paradise, this blessed plot, this earth’ will be fit to bequeath to their grandchildren.
www.cpredevon.org.uk/join-us/
www.cpredevon.org.uk
Join us, for Devon’s sake What Do I Have To Do? As a member, you have the choice. You don’t have to do anything: but...devontoday.com/fury-as-plans-to-dump-waste-in-devon-countryside-face-backlash/
Fury as plans to dump waste in Devon countryside face backlash - Devon Today
devontoday.com
Devon CPRE has made a scathing objection to a proposal for a waste import site at Rackenford in North Devon, which residents have fiercely opposed, gaining over 900 signatures on an online petition si...Edward Capern Festival & The Postman Poet of the year Competition – 4/5 June 2026
Calling all poets! Could you win the top prize of £500 in the inaugural Edward Capern Postman Poet of the year competition. Come along to the festival on 4/5 June. #northdevon #devon #barnstaple #heantonpunchardon #poetry
Congratulations @cpre Winning a gold medal and garden of the year at @The_RHS #chelseaflowershow
Gold medal and Garden of the Year for CPRE garden at RHS Chelsea
We are CPRE, the countryside charity. Learn how we're working for a beautiful and thriving countryside that's access...
www.cpre.org.uk
Could you be the Postman Poet of the Year 2026? We're pleased to announce a new partnership with the new Edward Capern Festival, in #NorthDevon. We're sponsoring the inaugural event on 4-5 June, including the ‘Postman Poet of the Year’ competition with a £500 first prize! #Devon
Solar panels on farmland. You can’t eat solar panels.
North Devon challenges national solar strategy to protect 'productive' fields
North Devon challenges national solar strategy to protect 'productive' fields
Campaigners have welcomed the move, warning that productive farmland is increasingly being targeted for energy projects
www.northdevongazette.co.uk
Good news! North Devon Council moves to stop more #solarfarms on #farmland. We hope that other councils will follow suit & send a message to speculators that they are not welcome on our green land. #northdevon #devon @CommunityPlann1 @cpre @NoFarmsNoFoods
Block Solar Projects on Devon Farmland, Charity Urges
A Devon-based environmental charity is calling on all district councils across Devon to follow North Devon's example, ...
www.totnes-today.co.uk
Happy St George's Day! #stgeorgesday #devon
Plans for 39 homes near historic Viking battle site in Devon thrown out at appeal. #torridge #northam #bideford #devon #battlesite #vikings @CommunityPlann1
Plans for 39 homes near historic Viking site thrown out on appeal - Devon Today
Devon CPRE has welcomed a Planning Inspector’s decision to dismiss an appeal made by a developer who wanted to ...
devontoday.com
There's still time to get your tickets for the fundraising barn dance this saturday organised by Stop Beacon Solar, local residents fighting the mega solar proposal near Holsworthy, Devon. In support of the @CommunityPlann1 day of action. #devon #holsworthy #northdevon #torridge
Come and join the guided fundraising walk this Saturday, around sections of the proposed mega solar site near #Holsworthy, #Devon, in support of the @CommunityPlann1 day of action. #northdevon #torridge #solarfarm #megasolar
Become a member
Devon CPRE is a charity sustained by its members. By joining, you’ll not only support our campaigns to defend Devon from bad planning decisions, but also join the many thousands of CPRE members across the nation who are committed to celebrating, protecting and enhancing England’s incredible rural environments. Here’s what you get:
Individual Membership: £60 a year (only £5 a month)
Household/Group/Organisation Membership: £84 a year (only £7 a month)
Workshops & Events
Free places at our regular Planning Workshops and other events during the year
Planning Advice
Access to expert planning guidance and support when you need it
Exclusive Resources
Member-only offers, documents and materials to help you deal with planning and countryside issues as well as getting the most out of your membership
Updates & Bulletins
Stay informed with monthly online bulletins and quarterly newsletters
National CPRE Membership
Access to the wealth of advice, information and resources available via the national charity at CPRE.org
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If you’re not yet ready to join, but agree with our aims and want Devon protected from badly-planned developments and misguided government policies, sign up as a Devon Defender. We’ll keep you informed about our work and major campaigns, and make sure your voice and thousands of others are heard loud and clear.
Thanks to Joe Ashworth, Peter Benson and Reinhold Staden for their superb professional photography of Devon’s glorious countryside.