THREE major housing developments now threaten to take over the town.

Wellparks, with 184 houses has been agreed, Pedlarspool with 326 houses and Chapel Downs with 120 houses are looming.

A total of 650 houses so far and around 2,000 additional people – a 20 per cent increase in the population will change the face of Crediton for ever.

Crediton has never seen so much large development in its history, and these are just the proposals in the short-term – there are more sites and even more houses likely in the longer-term.

Large swathes of new houses will adorn the town, and the charm of a rural market town will be lost for ever.

While some (affordable) housing may be needed for local people, there is certainly not local employment for more than 1,000 new people, so Crediton will become a dormitory town for commuters driving to Exeter or Tiverton or even further afield, adding to increased traffic congestion and pollution along the A377 or A3072.

These houses are not being built for local people with local jobs.

Everyone will be affected in one way or another by this mass influx of new residents.

Parking problems in the town now may pale into insignificance once hundred’s more people are trying to park or drive along the High Street.

It seems Crediton is set to become a “new” town with new housing estates on every side.

Take a look at Tiverton, Okehampton or Newton Abbot to see just how “well” their new houses have been integrated into the landscape.

Concreting over the countryside amounts to legalised vandalism, especially when it is agricultural land, but once it’s gone it’s gone for ever. Once houses are built, it will be too late to object.

I do not doubt that more housing is needed for an ever-increasing population, but why pick Crediton which does not have the infrastructure to support this explosive growth and certainly not the local employment?

Current government policy on dictating we must build more new homes, regardless of where they are does not make sense. How much more countryside will be concreted over?

While there is a need for more houses, the developers have no interest in our local environment or the people; they are purely driven by profit and are happy to desecrate the rural environment and destroy what many cherish in order to fulfil this aim.

If you are opposed to the proposed housing at Pedlarspool, act now and send in your objection to Mid Devon District Council (planning department) before it’s too late.

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