Protests as council sells farmland for housing

ADEVON council has agreed to sell more than 40 acres of farmland for housing in a deal worth more than £9 million.

Torbay Council has entered into an agreement with housing developer Taylor Wimpey for the land at Little Blagdon Farm, Collaton St Mary, near Paignton.

The price of £9,217,000 for the 18.42 hectares (45.5 acres) was revealed in a contract award notice.

The council has agreed a two-year deal for the sale which will only see full payment if the developer gets planning permission.

The farmland has been zoned for around 180 homes in the Collaton St Mary Masterplan agreed in 2016, which sets out sites for around 460 homes to be built around the village over four phases by 2030.

Villagers have opposed housing schemes which they say have been brought forward in a ‘piecemeal’ way ahead of a proposed new village centre and improvements to the sewerage and drainage system. They fear the hundreds of new homes will increase the risk of flooding and there have been warnings that health services in Torbay are already overstretched.

Objectors also argue that the extra traffic will cause pollution, congestion and hazards on the A385 Totnes Road, one of the main routes from the west into Torbay.

Roger Bristow, chair of the Collaton St Mary Residents’ Association, said: “It is a total disgrace that Torbay Council is being allowed to give planning permission on a piece of land previously owned by them, and which they have sold for a profit.

“We are pretty devastated by the way it is moving. To my way of thinking, they are going to go ahead with it, no matter what is right or what is wrong. Money is the be all and end all.”

Planning decisions have to be made by local authorities within a legal framework of national and local policies and should not be influenced by other factors.

Torbay Council leader Steve Darling said the current administration of Liberal Democrats and Independents which took control of the council in 2019 had inherited the housing scheme. He said any application would be judged on its merits by the planning committee in an independent process.

Cllr Darling said a deposit of £900,000 under the terms of the deal was available for the council to invest. Options would be considered for funding including affordable housing in Paignton, work at Oldway Mansion, projects in Paignton town centre supporting the Future High Streets programme, and improving events infrastructure on Paignton and Torquay seafronts.

In 2018, Torbay Council was given around £2 million of Government funding for the Little Blagdon Farm site and £1 million for land off Preston Down Road, Paignton, from the Land Release Fund. The scheme is designed to fund work to bring forward surplus council-owned land for housing. A deadline for the money to be committed was initially set at March, 2020, but has since been extended.

It has cost the council £2.4 million to regain control of the two housing sites which were leased to Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust. That outlay would be recovered from future capital receipts from the land deal. The trust, which manages land on behalf of the council, received a settlement worth £2.25 million.