Village seeks to preserve ‘rural setting’ amid development pressure

Residents of a Devon village have moved to try and protect the “rural setting” of their homes and called for community spaces to be protected.

Clyst St Mary, on the edge of Exeter, has created a new local plan with its neighbour, Sowton, that has been approved in a local referendum and which will act as a guide in terms of what development is acceptable there.
While the two locations – which are technically under Bishops Clyst Parish Council – don’t have direct control over planning applications, creating a neighbourhood plan can help inform East Devon District Council about what the residents there want and, crucially, don’t want.
Included in the plan, which secured 235 votes for it versus 57 against, is a plea to “restrict further business and commercial development” in a bid to “limit the urbanisation of what is still a rural parish”.
The creation of Clyst St Mary and Sowton’s neighbourhood plan comes as East Devon is progressing with its Local Plan, which identifies sites across the whole district where the principle of development is deemed acceptable. 
Rob Hatton, chair of Clyst St Mary and Sowton neighbourhood plan review group, said the neighbourhood plan, which will update the existing version, had taken into account views of residents.
“Fundamentally it aims to add more detail and local relevance to district planning policies to ensure development is appropriate, fits in and most importantly brings benefits to the area and its existing communities,” he said.
“We have allowed for a limited amount of new development in the area, to align with the strategic requirements of the new draft Local Plan but have specifically linked this development to improvements to the infrastructure of the parish to provide some important additional benefits for our existing residents.”
The neighbourhood plan states there is “no justification” for any extension of the current business areas, which include Winslade Park, Little Bridge and Langdon.
Crucially, though, the neighbourhood plan stresses a desire to protect its community facilities “for many years to come”.
“The parish is fortunate to have several community facilities that serve local needs and help ensure we retain a sense of being a sustainable community,” the plan states.
“They are the churches and village halls at Clyst St Mary and Sowton, The Half Moon Inn and Mills Stores at Clyst St Mary and The Cat and Fiddle Inn. The community does not want to lose any of these precious community facilities.”
The plan makes way for a minimum of 72 more homes by 2042, beyond those that are “well advanced” such as the 78 new dwellings at Winslade House that should be completed by 2040.
The plan also states it would support development that would help improve the existing primary school facilities. The school has around 180 children attending, but access to it is problematic, with parents having to park in a nearby village hall car park but then walk along a stretch of street where there is no pavement.
Residents also vocalised a desire to protect the environment, with 90 per cent of survey respondents stating this as a key focus of the neighbourhood plan. Sowton is protected by being in a conservation area.
Flooding was also a key issue raised by the plan, with a call for improvements to help surface water drainage and to increase resilience to climate change.
While flood alleviation works were completed in 2022, making the village’s risk one in 100 years, the plan stated issues remained.
“There remains flooding problems behind these defences caused by infiltration into an inadequate sewage system and occasional failures at the pumping station, which has to cope with run-off arising in the defended area,” it added.
East Devon District Council’s cabinet is being asked to agree the Clyst St Mary and Sowton neighbourhood plan at its cabinet meeting this week (Wednesday 29 October). Dong so would mean the plan has “full weight” in any planning decisions East Devon makes for the locations.