Devon CPRE objects to strategic-scale new settlement in East Devon with the misnomer ‘Clyst Village’
We’ve lodged an objection to a proposed development of up to 2,000 new homes in East Devon on a site that’s not allocated in the adopted Local Plan. Devon CPRE says the applicant is promoting the new settlement as a modest village or a proportionate extension to the proposed new town of Marlcombe; however, in planning terms it represents a strategic-scale new settlement with long-term consequences for infrastructure, landscape, transport, public services and nearby communities.
In preparing the draft new Local Plan, the Council has identified land between the A30 and A3052, east of Westpoint, as its preferred location for the proposed Marlcombe new town. We believe that granting permission for Clyst Village before the Council has settled its spatial strategy would risk cutting across the plan-led system and prejudicing decisions about the location, scale and sequencing of major growth in East Devon. Although the applicant describes Clyst Village as separate from Marlcombe, the two proposals would draw on the same broad growth area and could compete for infrastructure investment, developer capacity, funding, employment opportunities, housing demand and transport improvements.
Devon CPRE Director Penny Mills says, “We accept that East Devon needs more homes, specifically affordable homes. We also support well-planned communities where new development is genuinely sustainable. However, that does not mean that a proposal of this scale should come forward outside a properly tested local plan process. In our opinion, the proposal raises clear issues of prematurity. It should not be treated as a one-off answer to short-term housing supply pressures, but assessed against the adopted spatial strategy, the emerging Local Plan and national policy support for a genuinely plan-led system.”
She adds, “It would have a significant impact on the landscape, urbanising a substantial area of open countryside between the A3052, the A376 and the Crealy Theme Park and Resort. Countryside does not have to be nationally designated to be valued; it would permanently change field patterns, rural character, tranquillity and views from surrounding settlements and public routes – resulting in neither localised nor limited landscape impact. Over time, this would increase the risk of a more continuous urban corridor and weaken the separate identity of existing settlements.”
Our objection also points out that the the majority of the site is Grade 3a land, with a smaller proportion of Grade 3b land. About 120 hectares are currently being farmed. We believe that Best and Most Versatile agricultural land (BMV Land) is a finite resource and the permanent loss of such land should therefore carry weight, particularly at a time when food security and agricultural resilience are increasingly important.
Our objection concludes that in our view the benefits identified by the applicant do not overcome our central concerns, namely that the proposal sits outside the spatial strategy, would cause permanent landscape change, would result in the loss of Best and Most Versatile agricultural land, would affect heritage settings, and would place additional pressure on the local transport network.