Concerns over a second new town for East Devon | Opinion

The evolving EDDC local plan for 2020-2040 has as a core proposal the development of another new town just east of Exeter.

The preferred option is for a town lying between the A3052 and A30, planned by its developers to reach 10,000 dwellings.

To put that number in perspective, the town would eventually have a population of around 23,000 people and be twice the size of Honiton and larger than the existing and growing new town of Cranbrook.

When completed, these two new towns will be just a few hundred metres apart, separated only by Exeter Airport and extending almost to Exeter itself.

EDDC position these as separate new towns, each with its own identity, but they will inevitably become part of an urban sprawl spreading out from Exeter.

Between them they will have a population of over 40,000, which is almost a third of the size of Exeter today.

It is really surprising that the second new town would be placed right next to the first new town, bridging the gap between it and Exeter.

Interestingly, Cranbrook Town Council point out in their feedback to the draft local plan that they have suffered from being developer-led and from the lack of an overall development corporation, and they claim that EDDC has learned nothing from Cranbrook.

You would think that such a major development as a new town would be arrived at by high-level strategic thinking, involving neighbouring councils, to decide whether a new town makes sense and if so to choose the best location for it, bearing in mind that it is a very large and permanent change to the landscape.

Such strategic thinking should also look at all aspects of infrastructure including hospitals, schools, transport, policing and community facilities.

Then if a new town location is identified, something like a locally led new-town development corporation (as defined by the 2017 Neighbourhood Planning Act) would set the detailed requirements and do the long-term planning.

Only then should such a body select developers, setting very high build standards and being prepared to stop them if they fail to meet those standards.

Instead, in the case of the proposed new town, what we have again is a developer-led project.

The developers have specified the location and have been working on their proposal for many years, having already invested a very large amount of effort in planning it and lobbying for it.

EDDC's primary justification for the new town is the number of new dwellings required by the government; however, as with many other local councils, EDDC is pausing some of its work on the new plan and keeping a watchful eye on the much-heralded changes to national planning policy regulations that may change the rules.

At the same time, EDDC's initial reports on the recent feedback process for the new plan show that the proposals for a new town only have around 20 per cent public support so it will be very interesting to see whether any notice is taken of this.

SEE ALSO: Council seeks views on second new town for East Devon