At the examination of the Joint Local Plan(JLP) held at Follaton House last week, green party councillors opposed to a housing expansion being planned.

Green party councillors, Jacqi Hodgson and John Green both presented strong arguments at the public examination held to discuss the proposed sites for over 1,000 new homes in Totnes and Dartington.

In the JLP in section 5.122 it states: “As set out in policy TTV29, 282 new homes and 17,300 sqm of employment floorspace are proposed within Dartington and this is considered to be an appropriate scale of growth which respects its historic character and relationship with Totnes to support the future sustainability of the settlement.”

Cllr Green said it was “ludicrous” for the JLP to say that “282 new homes are needed in Dartington to support its future sustainability”.

“This does not even include the homes in Dartington Parish that are located near to Totnes” he added. “Overall the plan would result in over a 70 per cent increase in the number of homes in Dartington, leading to it shouldering a large percentage of the new housing being allocated across the South Hams.

“Is it a coincidence that there are no conservative councillors representing Dartington and Totnes?

“At the JLP Examination the representative for the Dartington Hall Trust at one point referred to Dartington as a town. It is a village, but I know some councillors and others who have wanted that to change.

“Parts of Dartington Parish are sustainable locations for development, but this is not the same as saying that Dartington needs these houses to support its own sustainability. And some locations are more sustainable than others.

“Development located adjacent to the hamlet of Week at Broom Park, for example, which is arguably one of the least sustainable locations for housing in Dartington, is being proposed down a small country lane.”

In the JLP, Broom Park is allocated to have a further 80 new homes built.

Cllr Green said he undertook a survey of the people who already live in Broom Park to ask how many trips they take along the A385 into Totnes each week. The results showed that per household there was one return trip taken each day on average, which works out as 159 trips per week by the 23 surveyed households.

“This stretch of road is classified as an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) which requires action to be implemented to reduce the poor air quality.

“Adding new housing in areas that will lead to residents using cars daily to travel on this road will negatively impact on the ability of the councils to improve air quality here for decades to come.”

Cllr Hodgson outlined the sites proposed which amounts to 500 new homes in Dartington. She said: “If the particularly contentious Broom Park site remains in the JLP, then it would be unlikely that the well developed Neighbourhood Plan would be approved by local people.”

She also challenged the assertion by planning officers that Dartington could continue to be a sustainable location with all the additional new homes.

Both Cllr Green and Cllr Hodgson welcomed the offer by the inspectors to take a visit across all the sites proposed for Dartington so they could consider the impact of the proposals for themselves.