An eight week consultation starts at noon on Monday (14 June) on the site options being considered for new home building and for businesses creating local employment opportunities.
The consultation is the next step in updating Teignbridge’s local plan to ensure it meets government requirements to build 751 houses per year whilst preserving the character of our communities.
Residents can influence the plan by commenting on specific sites via an online consultation questionnaire. Not all sites identified in the consultation will be developed, so residents are being asked for their preferences and whether any development could help resolve, improve or aggravate existing problems.
Residents are asked in the questionnaire to comment on sites under planning themes such as environment and landscape; health and wellbeing; access, transport and connectivity; infrastructure; employment and the economy.
Executive member for Planning, Cllr Gary Taylor said: “Few if any local people want to see this level of development but we have no option but to prepare a plan that can deliver the Government’s required housing growth for our district.
“An up-to-date local plan will help us stop development in inappropriate locations and avoid unplanned development in open countryside through planning appeals”.
To minimise the need for car travel and reduce the climate change impact, most sites are around the district’s towns, maximising opportunities for access to services, employment, public transport, walking and cycling. Some small sites are identified in villages where new homes could help support and maintain local businesses and services.
Over 60 percent of the consultation sites are in the Heart of Teignbridge or on the edge of Exeter with possible village sites taking less than 1,000 new homes over the 20-year period of the plan. Physical constraints, climate change impact and the capacity of schools and other infrastructure to cope with increased demand has also informed the options.
Site options for employment are aimed at supporting a sustainable and resilient local economy, helping businesses to start and grow, improving connectivity and modernising the visitor economy.
People can also comment on two technical papers which have helped inform site selection – a Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment as well as a Draft Habitats Regulation Assessment.
Cllr Taylor said: “No decisions have been taken on any site option development so the consultation is an opportunity for people to get involved, look closely at the sites and give us their local perspective.”
To ensure safety of staff and residents as we come out of lockdown and to minimise any risk of spreading the virus, this consultation is being conducted online.
From noon on Monday, the consultation documents can be viewed and the survey accessed at www.teignbridge.gov.uk/localplanreview A ‘need to know’ document highlighting the main issues will also be available.
Throughout the consultation, paper copies can be viewed at our Forde House offices, local libraries and Town and Parish Council offices.
Instead of completing the survey, people can write to Local Plan Review, Spatial Planning and Delivery, Forde House, Newton Abbot, TQ12 4XX or email localplanreview@teignbridge.gov.uk
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