In 2021, the Neighbourhood Plan Group (NPG) commissioned an independent organisation, Devon Communities Together (DCT) to conduct a questionnaire survey of residents’ opinions in respect of 6 potential sites for housing development. The aim of the questionnaire was for the NPG to get an indication from the community as to which sites were preferred for future development and how many houses should be built on those sites.
The Survey took place between the 12th April and 3rd May 2021 and DCT published their report on the 15th of June 2021. The documents are available below:
Exbourne Site Development Survey Report Final
Appendix A Introduction to Survey Final
Appendix B Exbourne Site Development Survey Questionnaire
Appendix C Survey Monkey Analysis
Next Steps:
We will use the results of the survey to help guide our work in considering potential development sites to include in the Neighbourhood Plan. Next Steps will include discussing options with West Devon Borough Council (WDBC), who will want to ensure compliance with their Local Development Plan Policies and, ultimately will need to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan. We will also need to engage landowners to work constructively to achieve our Neighbourhood Plans objectives, whilst maintaining development viability.
Background to the Purpose of the Survey.
Plymouth and South West Devon’s Joint Local Plan (JLP) classifies Exbourne as a “Sustainable Village” and makes an indicative assessment that it is able to accommodate about 30 new homes in the period from 2014 to 2034. West Devon Borough Council (WDBC) have recently acknowledged that the development under construction at Wood Close should now count towards this total. The residual is therefore around 21 dwellings.
The NPG has decided to “allocate” specific housing sites to deliver the required level of new homes the the Neighbourhod Plan, so that the community can have a say in their location, type, tenure, design and so on. The alternative is that housing alloications would be deternmined by WDBC through the JLP in due course. From previous consultation, the community indicated that the future housing development in Exbourne should cater for a range of needs, be generally smaller 2-3 bedrrom properties, in a range of types, and in smaller (15 or 6-10 house) developments.
With this in mind, the NPG carried out a “Call for Sites” in 2019 to help ensure that all land which might be suitable for this kind of development had been identified. Independent external consultant, AECOM, were the asked to carry out an assessment of the sites identified in this exercise for their development potential. Their report considered whether the sites are potentially appropriate to allocate for housing in the Neighbourhood Plan in terms of conformity with national and local planning policy and scored the sites as green, amber or red, depending on their suitability.
The report can be read via the following link: AECOM Site Optional Assessment – Final.
In summary, the site assessment scored on site green (Site A – Meadows Edge), meaning it is suitable in principle for housing allocation in the Neighbourhood Plan, subject to viability considerations. A further 6 sites were scored amber, meaning they are potentially suitable and available either in full or in part, but have constraint – some significant – which mean they are less likely to be suitable for development. If these constraints are not able to be resolved or mitigated the affected sites may not be appropriate for allocation.
The sites are shown on this map which can be downloaded via this link or seen below:
The amber sites are:
Site B – Land off North Road to east and north of Copper Beeches.
Site F – Land north of Stowe Lane.
Site G – Great Rookery Orchard.
Site L – Land off Holebrook Lane to south east of Hayes.
Site M – Land of Hayfield Road to north of Stone Farm.
Site O – Land opposite The Downes behind Avenue House
In order to better understand the community’s view on the 6 potential sites for housing development, the NPG commissioned DCT to carry out the site consultation survey which is reported on above.