Key cash agreed for major second new town

A cash injection of £350,000 has been agreed by a Devon council to help create an entity that will steer the development of its forthcoming new community

East Devon District Council has now approved the funding that will help it set up a so-called development corporation that will oversee how its second new community, Marlcombe, will be created.
This cash, which is likely to be nearly match-funded with £305,000 from Homes England, will go towards progressing the masterplan for the town, and the technical work required to help set up the development corporation.
Councillor Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Rockbeare and Whimple), whose cabinet portfolio position includes oversight of strategic planning, said creating an organisation that can dictate how Marlcombe progresses will answer a key question from residents.
“The case for this delivery vehicle is that it addresses one of two fairly fundamental questions this authority quite frequently gets asked about the new community,” he told East Devon’s full council (Wednesday 15 October).
“The first of those is first what services, facilities and infrastructure will be included there, and the second is how will you make sure that actually happens.
“The delivery vehicle is our answer to the second question.”
Cllr Olive said the development corporation would have direct control and influence over when certain aspects of the new town are brought forward.
That aim links to a desire to ensure vital services are completed before residents move into the town, something that didn’t always happen with Cranbrook.
While that new town did have early successes – such as schools opening quickly after the first residents moved in back in 2012 – Cranbrook’s first supermarket only opened in December last year.
Cllr Olive said the Homes England match funding for this financial year was still “going through the approval process” of the government department but that a decision should be made soon.
The £350,000 spend was largely carried in terms of votes at the meeting.
However, Councillor Roy Collins (Independent, Honiton St Michael’s) said the plan “horrifies me”.
“To take all that agricultural land [is awful], and there will be at least 1,500 acres affected because it isn’t only where you are building hosues but it is virtually impossible to farm against a new estate,” he said.
“You are taking away all that grassland that is highly efficient at retaining water and acts like a sponge, and so it prevents soil eorision and flooding.”
He added that he was against the spending of the money on helping the Marlcombe plan progress, and that data from CPRE, previously known as the Campaign to Protect Rural England, suggested the government’s national housing target need could be served entirely by brownfield sites.
Councillor Paul Arnott (Liberal Democrat, Coly Valley), the leader of East Devon District Council, welcomed the progress on the masterplanning for Marlcombe, which will lie between the A30 and A3052, immediately south of Exeter Airport.
He asked whether there had been collaboration with other councils, seeing as different authorities could have oversight or responsibility for certain aspects of the new town.
Cllr Olive said both Devon County Council and the Devon and Torbay Combined County Authority had “already been involved” in the development of plans, and that as things progressed there would be a statutory requirement to secure support from such bodies.
The proposed new town, which was recently named Marlcombe after a public vote, is hoping to create at least 8,000 new homes, with a bold aim of making 40 per cent of those affordable.
Senior officials and councillors at East Devon have stressed their desire for essential infrastructure in Marlcombe to come before homes, to ensure the town becomes a genuine community rather than a housing suburb of Exeter.
Marlcombe’s recent inclusion in the government’s New Towns Taskforce report should help ensure it can secure funding to bring forward the likes of road improvements and other infrastructure before homes are occupied.