Don’t concrete over precious Green Belt
I LIVE in Newton Abbot, which used to be a nice little market town, slightly sleepy, with good shops. Alas, no more. Over the past few years, too many houses have been built with little thought to the infrastructure of the town, which can hardly cope with the influx of people and cars. Most of the decent small shops have gone — but we do have lots of phone shops, betting shops, nail bars, tattoo parlours and charity shops. A massive new project, which has been under discussion for years, is in the pipeline: 1,200 houses, a school, hotel, industrial units and a care home on a beautiful area of farmland, rolling hills and lovely woods that comprises the pocket of land between Newton Abbot and the village of Abbotskerswell two miles away. Locals are trying to fight this dreadful development, but i fear it is a losing battle with the powers that be. The biggest argument that can be put forward seems to be to preserve bats and newts! The authorities seem to have little concern for the lives of the people in our already overcrowded community, where there is a lot of unemployment, or for the ruination of our countryside. Where are all these new residents coming from and where are they going to work? PENNY HARRIES, Newton-Abbot, Devon.
LIZ TRUSS, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has said there should be more houses built on the green Belt (Mail). My village does not have a shop or a GP surgery, the primary school is oversubscribed and there is only a part-time post office, but planning permission has been granted for more than 100 houses, with the usual token nod to ‘affordable’ homes for local people. Part of the development will be on a meadow at the heart of a conservation area. Meanwhile, i was read the riot act by the county council enforcement officer for pulling down a dangerously crumbling wall without permission. Mrs JOSÉ H. O’WARE, Methwold,
IF LIZ Truss cares to come down to Kent, the garden of England, she will find the green Belt is already being built on. Four large farms near my home are being developed, despite two of them being on narrow lanes. The local council ignores concerns raised by residents and will not answer any queries. The result is that a lot of people, like me, have to endure continual noise and dirt, pile drivers making the house shake and endless articulated lorries delivering supplies. When i bought my home, it was in a country area, but is now surrounded by houses. And with no change in the infrastructure, it takes twice as long to get anywhere.
MAUREEN JOPSON, Maidstone, Kent.