D-Day for massive Newton Abbot homes scheme

Plans for more than 1,000 new homes on green fields on the outskirts of Newton Abbot will come under scrutiny next week.

Members of the Teignbridge Council planning committee will be asked to make decisions on three separate planning applications for land at Houghton Barton. Officers are recommending that all of them should be granted permission.
The sites are spread across fields off the Ashburton Road west of Highweek.
The plans were first submitted in 2020 as part of a massive regeneration of the Newton Abbot area. The Houghton Barton applications are known as ‘NA1’, while land at nearby Whitehill is ‘NA2’ and the controversial Wolborough Barton site south of the town is ‘NA3’.
NA1 will be the largest of the three developments.
Together they could create nearly 5,000 new homes. Objectors say the number of new homes will swamp local services including schools and medical facilities.
They also fear it will lead to the creation of a complete ‘new town’, with houses stretching across the countryside. Supporters, however, point to the area’s urgent need for new homes.
The largest of the three Houghton Barton planning applications to be considered next week (July 22) is for 900 homes in an area which takes in both sides of Ashburton Road and runs up across fields past Seale Hayne and almost as far as Trago Mills.
It includes a primary school, shops, community buildings and open spaces.
In return, developers will be expected to hand over half a million pounds towards local employment land, another half a million to subsidise bus services and £1.5million towards 15 gypsy and traveller pitches.
One in five of the homes must be ‘affordable’ and work must start within three years.
Conservation concerns include the presence of rare cirl buntings and greater horseshoe bats, while people living nearby have described the plan as a major intrusion into the rural landscape, causing urban sprawl and the loss of countryside. They are also concerned over the harm caused to the setting of Seale Hayne and other listed buildings.
The second planning application is for 250 homes on a piece of land between Seale Hayne and the former Torquay United training pitch alongside the main road. Again, 20 per cent must be affordable.
The third application is for a link road into the site, off Howton Road in the north-east section.