Local environmental charity launches Defend Devon campaign

Devon CPRE, the local branch of the countryside charity CPRE, has taken to the road this summer, encouraging people who care about the future of Devon’s countryside to get involved in its latest campaign and become Devon Defenders.

The charity has taken its rallying cry to three agricultural shows in different parts of the county- Dartmoor’s Chagford Show, the Yealmpton Show in the South Hams and the North Devon show at Umberleigh.

Defend Devon is an overarching campaign by the local charity to protect our county’s unique landscapes from greedy developers and bad planning. It will run alongside Devon CPRE’s long-standing Grass not Glass campaign against solar farms on agricultural land, and the charity’s ongoing fight to combat the Rural Housing Crisis by campaigning for the right kind of homes in the right places at prices our children and grandchildren can genuinely afford. 

Devon CPRE Chair Steve Crowther says, “We’ve taken our Defend Devon campaign out to county shows this summer because the kind of people who will back us flock to events like these. It’s very clear from the hundreds of people we have talked to on our stand in recent weeks, and the new members we have recruited, that there’s widespread agreement that Devon needs protecting. 

“Every year Devon CPRE fights more than 100 unsuitable planning applications to preserve our precious landscapes and farmland. Why? For several reasons. We want our county’s world-leading pasture land used to produce food. It makes sense to put solar panels on rooftops and brownfield sites rather than on productive farmland. 

“We also know there’s a need for new homes in Devon, but not just any new builds. What Devon needs are homes our young people can afford to live in, not more luxury boltholes and Airbnbs that put real communities further and further out of the reach of the younger generation. 

“If you care about these issues, love Devon’s incredible landscapes and want to protect them from inappropriate development of one kind or another, join Devon CPRE and become a Devon Defender. We need you alongside us to defend Devon and everything that makes it a wonderful place to live.”

Devon CPRE made sure it stood out from the crowd with a bright new branded gazebo and eye-catching pull-up banners to encourage people to become Devon Defenders. 

Steve Crowther adds, “An annual subscription to Devon CPRE costs the price of a monthly pint for individuals. 17 pence a day, surely a small price to pay to Defend Devon? We need all the support we can get right now from individuals and from town and parish councils so that we can Defend Devon.”