‘Back to the drawing board’ call over Newton Abbot homes project

Work has started again on a controversial housing development on the outskirts of Newton Abbot where construction was halted earlier this year.

Vistry Homes was ordered by Teignbridge Council to stop work at Wolborough Barton amid concerns over how water would drain into a wildlife habitat which experts say is ‘priceless’.
The Wolborough Fen is an official Site of Special Scientific Interest, and is home to a number of rare plant and animal species.
Vistry insists its latest work is on a different part of the site and has all been approved in advance.
The builders downed tools in April on the ‘NA3’ site where permission has been given for 1,200 new homes, with council officers stepping in to halt the work amid claims that Vistry had gone beyond the limits of the permission granted.
Work had begun on a large drainage pond, and campaigners said they feared it could cause irreparable damage to the fen, which was named by a national newspaper as one 10 ‘jewels’ of English nature at risk from development.
The council said work to create the drainage pond fell outside the approved areas and issued a temporary stop notice. In June, with the stop notice due to expire, Vistry confirmed that it would stop work on the whole site, apart from ‘mitigation’ work to reduce soil erosion and make sure silt does not end up in the fen during storms.
Vistry has now lodged an application with Teignbridge Council to waive one of the conditions of the planning permission it was given for the 1,200 homes. At the same time, work has restarted.
The permission was granted following an appeal, at which ‘Condition 20’ was imposed, saying no development could take place unless measures were agreed with the council and the government’s environment watchdog Natural England to ensure that the development does not have an adverse impact on the integrity of the fen.
Vistry now wants to discharge that condition, saying that its strategy for dealing with the fen will protect it adequately.
In a letter to the council’s planning department Natural England says: “The proposed mitigation measures should ensure that the development would not have an adverse impact on the integrity of Wolborough Fen SSSI during either the construction or operational phases.”
On the other hand Devon Wildlife Trust, which manages the fen, says Condition 20 should be kept in place, arguing that there is not enough evidence that the fen will be protected without the condition in place.
The trust also says it has concerns that work has already started elsewhere on the site, saying that might also affect water making its way into the fen.
Local councillor Richard Daws (Ind, Ambrook) said the application to scrap Condition 20 was ‘fundamentally flawed’.
“The developer needs to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “It needs to undertake several years of surveys to understand the hydrology of the site.
“The outcome of them doing this would likely both delay the project and significantly affect the density of any potential development. It is probably unsurprising that the developer wants to attempt to proceed.”
A spokesperson for Vistry said the company had ‘carefully resumed limited works’ at Wolborough Barton, all of which had been approved and fell outside the scope of Condition 20.
The work is being carried out outside the area affected by the earlier temporary stop notice. The company says it has submitted updated technical information to support the discharge of planning conditions relating to the fen, and Natural England has not objected.
The spokesperson went on: “We continue to engage constructively with the council to support their review and remain fully committed to progressing the site responsibly, with sensitivity to the local environment and in line with all planning requirements.”