FURTHER to letters in the "Courier" recently regarding the proposed Barratt development of 120 houses on land at Chapel Downs Farm (next to Queen Elizabeth Drive), I would like to agree with all of the points made by your correspondents.

I would urge any residents of Crediton who feel strongly about selling off our countryside for the benefit of the property developer’s profit margins to send their objections to Mid Devon District Council Planning Department by November 28 (application reference 17/01511/MOUT).

It is not a foregone conclusion that the planning application will be successful, planning permission has been previously turned down for this site and the more objections that are received, the more likely it is to be turned down again.

I agree with Lee Kinnon’s observation ("Courier", October 27) that the proposed development (and those proposed on land at Threshers, Pedlarspool and Higher Road) will do little to address housing need in the area.

He gives homeless veterans as examples of those deserving a roof over their head.

I would take his point further and say that no-one deserves to be homeless in modern Britain; young-people unable to move out of their parent’s home, single people, couples on low-incomes, families with children, those who have lost their jobs, people who struggle with mental health issues, or older people, many of whom cannot afford the high rents of the private rental sector, nor the deposits required to secure a mortgage.

People may see all the proposed housing developments as a positive, thinking that they will address these housing needs.

However, a recent publication by CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England), “Needless Demand”, analyses the current method that councils use to plan for local housing, and what is being built as a result.

The report finds that, especially in the case of large developers, where social and affordable housing is needed, executive homes are built instead.

The homes that will be built will not be any more accessible to those in need than homes currently on the market in and around Crediton.

The developers will offer a relatively small percentage of “affordable” homes as a sweetener to cash-strapped councils, and may even throw in a sprinkling of desperately-needed social housing, but the majority of the developments will be property at full market value, which does nothing to address the need of those who have no hope of getting onto the housing ladder.

The report concludes that the housing crisis will be perpetuated if developers are allowed to build according to market demand (e.g. for larger homes and second homes) rather than what the community actually needs to house its citizens, and that “the housing delivered will continue to benefit developers rather than communities… At the same time, precious countryside is lost to unnecessary demand-led development”.

Barratt’s application does not address the shortage of social housing in Mid Devon, and does not therefore even begin to provide adequate justification for the loss of a beautiful greenfield site, which would permanently alter the character of our area.

I attach a photograph putting this into the perspective of our rural surroundings. The proposed development field is clearly identified by the marks left after a recent ploughing competition, criss-crossed by the trenches dug and filled in again during the archaeological survey carried out recently as part of the planning application process.

You can clearly see how invasive a development on such an elevated site would be, and would appear quite separate to the remainder of Crediton town.

In contrast, Queen Elizabeth Drive is virtually invisible, even though it runs directly alongside the proposed development, due to it lying low in a valley next to Chapel Downs Farm.

In comments widely reported in the press recently, Business Secretary Sajid Javid reiterated the Government’s commitment to protecting Green Belt land, stating “There’s no need to build on the green belt…there’s plenty of land that’s not green belt that we can build on that is suitable for housing”. One can only hope that MDDC will take this into account when considering developments on Crediton’s green fields.

Mandy Manning

Queen Elizabeth Drive

Crediton