New homes planned for South West Devon to come under the spotlight at CPRE Devon seminar

Countryside campaigners CPRE Devon are hosting a seminar in Tavistock next month amid growing concerns in the area about the scale of current and future housing development, and whether these plans provide the number and kind of homes that are really needed.

The Devon branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is holding the event called “Is the scale of housing development right for South West Devon?”
at the Bedford Hotel in Tavistock on Friday 8th February 2019 from 10am-1pm.

The seminar comes hot on the heels of a similar event in Tiverton last autumn at which CPRE Devon launched a major independent study produced by leading research company Opinion Research Services (ORS). The report exposed the stark truth behind ‘official’ assessments of Devon’s housing needs. The key findings were:
● too many homes are being planned for Devon over the next decade
● most planned new homes are to be built on greenfield sites
● a staggering two-thirds will be bought by people who have moved into the county.

Penny Mills, Director of CPRE Devon, says, “We have chosen to hold this event in West Devon’s largest market town because we, like local residents, are concerned about the volume of new homes planned in this and neighbouring areas. People rightly have many questions about the number of planned new home, sustainability, the location and size of developments and the affordability of housing for local people. There’s also growing concern over the loss of more of Devon’s green fields to housing development.”

The guest speaker at the Tavistock housing seminar is Tom Jones, lead planner with South Hams and West Devon councils, who will be providing an update on the Plymouth and SW Devon Joint Local Plan. CPRE Devon’s Dr Philip Bratby will be presenting the key finding of the Devon Housing Needs Report, which was unveiled in October, and his own report ‘A Review of Government Housing Policy and its Impact on Devon’.

The event is free to attend for CPRE members. £5 admission for non-members to include light refreshments. Places must be booked in advance through Eventbrite. For full details, visit www.cpredevon.org.uk