Save the Blackdown Vale

Clare Marsden

The value of farmland in times of climate change cannot be disputed when we only have arable….acres? per person ( figure that is hard to find ) I would guess at less than 1/2 acre. The East side of Taunton has not been ‘levelled up’ compared with the west side with regard to green spaces. Central government promises this levelling up policy. Walkers like myself on an East of Taunton estates ( many which are council estates) I enjoy a countryside walk over to the EDW footpath to the SE of town

Joanne Hibbitt

We don't need anymore buildings as it floods around there a lot. Too much traffic etc

Jenny Joslin

I fully accept that new homes are needed, but development should first make proper use of available brownfield sites and then allow proportionate growth within our existing towns and villages. What I cannot support is concentrating development on this enormous scale in one rural area, particularly at the expense of productive farmland. Once this land is lost, it is lost forever, along with its contribution to our countryside and increasingly important food security.

Philip Joslin

We need new homes, but there has to be some common sense about where they are built and on what scale. Building a new town on productive farmland while putting thousands more people into a rural area is not sensible long-term planning. Food security matters, particularly in an uncertain world. Somerset's existing towns and villages should be allowed to grow gradually and sustainably instead.

James Joslin

The proposed scale of development feels completely disproportionate to the needs of the existing communities. Losing prime agricultural land at a time when food security is becoming increasingly important makes little sense. Housing should be delivered through measured, organic growth of existing settlements, not by imposing an entirely new population of this size on a rural area.

Sarah Butler

We’ve got to stop building on agricultural land. We need food security. Develop brown field sites, empty inner city housing and warehouses. There’s whole developments in Cornwall that have just stopped due to legalities …. It’s utter madness!

James Eady

This new development will destroy much of the beautiful countryside surrounding my home which should be protected, and also create chaos on the roads surrounding my home through many more road users using the roads that are already struggling with the current traffic.

Lesley Pollard

To keep some areas in Taunton Dean Green and keep villages not to join every thing as a huge town

Helen Underhill

The scale of the proposed development would be detrimental to this AONB, and have a huge negative impact on local communities,

janice stoker

I want the blackdown hills saved because once this beautiful landscape is built on it can never be replaced it provides vital habits for wildlife,clean air ,flood protection ,and a peaceful place where where people can walk enjoy nature and support their mental and physical wellbeing .Building another housing estate may solve a short term needs ,but destroying precious countryside is a permanent loss . Future generations deserve the chance to experience he same natural beauty and wildlife that w

Shelley Chase

The infrastructure is no where near enough for the amount of houses you are talking about. Where is our country side going? What about the people already living in these areas? The local council cannot cope with the population of Taunton, let alone another 7,000 families

Fred Drakeford

Absolutely ludicrous that they want to build on this land at all let alone this amount of houses. The town can’t cope with the number of houses and people living in it as it is. Destroying another portion of the remaining countryside surrounding Taunton.

Toby Powell

‘Garden village’ is a misnomer. Birth rates are plummeting, we simply do not need this or have the jobs to sustain such an increase in population. Summers are getting a hotter & the solution to extend urban areas is insane, especially whilst viable sites like the old market, in the middle of Taunton have sat empty for nearly 20 years. The concept is farcical, we need to fight this.

Lucie Bond

We don’t believe Somerset needs any new towns or settlements. Instead, we think new housing should happen through smaller, organic developments that grow alongside the communities we already have. We strongly object to Taylor Wimpey’s proposal for a new town in the Blackdown Vale, east of the M5. This would effectively create a settlement the size of Wellington, putting huge additional pressure on Taunton’s roads, schools, healthcare and other facilities. Taunton shouldn’t be split by the M5.

Ritu Adhvaryu

To save the countryside

Stuart Kitchen

Too many houses roads carnt cope

Pat Rose

To save the countryside

John Allen

This will change Taunton forever and not for the better!

Justin Cornall

Our countryside should be protected.

P Smith

Building over this farm land would be an act of national self harm while Taunton has already reached its infrastructure limit in all regards.