Staverton’s neighbourhood plan steering group has been told to look for a total of 40 new homes over the next 20 years – 20 in Staverton and 20 in Landscove.
Now the plan steering group has put out a call for potential development sites within the parish which includes Staverton, Landscove and Wolston Green extending west right up to the A38 from the Dartbridge Inn near Buckfastleigh to Pridhamsleigh near Ashburton.
Said a spokesman: ‘The Steering Group, which is a working party of the parish council, wish to hear from any landowners with land in the parish that they would like to be considered as a potential development site in the evolving plan.’
The Steering Group carried out a household survey in August and September with a questionnaire that was delivered to every household in the parish.
A total of 37 per cent of parishioners responded and a snapshot of the view expressed shows that:
l 83 per cent of respondents said the parish is an ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ place to live.
l 99 per cent said it was either excellent, very good or good.
l 78 per cent said the things they value most are ‘peace and quiet, the countryside and the natural environment’.
Said the spokesman: ‘This is very relevant when considering the level of development required by the Joint Local Plan, making it abundantly clear that parishioners really value their peace and quiet in a rural environment and don’t want to see that being adversely affected by too much new development.’
Regarding new development, sites for one to five houses were supported, overall opinion was neutral for sites for between five and 10 houses while the community was opposed to sites for 10 or more homes.
‘The biggest area of concern was to do with roads and traffic, with 51 per cent saying what they dislike most are traffic and roads related issues, and 68 per cent expressing concern about large vehicles passing through the parish,’ explained the plan spokesman.
‘Like so many local parishes, Staverton has a network of narrow roads which struggle to cope with the size of many of today’s trucks and tractors.’
They added: ‘The Steering Group are very happy to announce that they have just engaged Lee Bray, the retired head of community and strategic planning at South Hams District Council, as consultant to guide them through the next stages of developing the Plan.
‘We are delighted to have Lee’s professionalism, depth of knowledge and familiarity with the parish on board to help us deliver a great Neighbourhood Plan for our community.’
The steering group request that when submitting sites, landowners need include only the site location and size at this stage, and to make their submissions by email by the end of January to the Steering Group at: npsg@staver ton.org.