ROBIN Lavery of Crediton has sent the following comments to Mid Devon District Council, specifically in response to the application re Chapel Downs but also more generally:

I HAVE lived in the area of this application for 40 years and consider there are several reasons for this application to be rejected.

The first and most obvious of these is the access to Higher Road which will be dangerous (this is a fast-traffic "rat-run", part of the route to by-pass the town centre.

The stream/small river "Chiddenbrook" already floods in severe rain storms and cannot cope with more run-off.

There is also the severe "pinch-point" at Forches Cross meaning that traffic will inevitably use George Hill to access the A377 and the junction of George Hill with Alexandra Road is already very dangerous at peak times.

Of great concern is the multiplicity of applications in and around Crediton.  Of direct relevance to this application are the applications for Pitt Hill and for Higher Road itself, both of which would exaggerate the above problems.

Taken together with the Pedlarspool application and the Tarka View development, already being built, there is a real danger of Crediton being swamped.

Neither schools nor surgeries are adequate to cope with such huge increase in population.

The fact that most of these applications are for areas lying outside the Crediton boundary, i.e. in the "Hamlets" simply adds insult to injury.  Crediton would be swamped, traffic become even more horrific, pollution increased yet further and yet the community charge for these developments would not come to Crediton.

There is a real danger that the planning committee will look at each application individually and not take an "overview".

Some of the proposals are for areas not included in the last local plan and the fact that the new local plan has been delayed for reasons totally out of the control of the population of Crediton is not a reason to allow unconfined development.

Who needs all these houses anyway?  Where is the work for the increased population?  Certainly not in Crediton, probably Exeter, thus increasing commuter traffic.

These applications are riding on the back of a) Government edict and b) lack of local plan.  It is time for the planners to stand up and be counted as representing the people of the Council’s resident area, not some Government policy that bears no relationship to local needs.

Robin Lavery

Crediton

by email