The local planning authority has formally rejected the resubmitted application for the Green Fields site. We successfully argued that the proposal violated the protected status of the AONB and the specific policies of our Neighbourhood Plan. I am now filing the final administrative responses to close this case file permanently.
March 5, 2022
Final supporters
- A planning application for this development has been resubmitted. The original application, submitted earlier in 2021, received many objections (over 200) and the application was withdrawn. The newly submitted application includes the same plans for 5 large luxury houses, with some additional planting on site. There are many reasons why this development should not go ahead, including, and not limited to, the following; it does not address the housing needs in the area, it puts the green fields and AONB in Croyde at risk of irreversible damage, it does not comply with several policies outlined in the newly adopted Neighbourhood Plan (including HE3: Rural Exception Sites, and BE5: applications outside the development boundaries. The Neighbourhood Plan can be found here: https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/media/381009/georgeh..
Please sign the petition by 2nd January. We really need your support. There is also a link further down the page to submit objections to the application. The closing date for objections is 3rd January 2022.
Read on for more details regarding the application and why it should not be allowed to go ahead.
Georgeham Parish is in the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its villages have more than exceeded the minimum provision for new houses specified in the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan 2011 – 2031; the number granted permission in Croyde is over 70, nearly double the minimum number specified for Croyde in the Local Plan and there is still a long time to go before 2031.
More applications for new houses in the Parish are going through the planning system. The latest planning application (ref. 74488) is to put 5 market value, principal residence occupancy houses on the agricultural field next to Langsfield. None of these houses meets identified housing needs of the local community, which is overwhelmingly for social rented housing. They are all essentially substantial 4 bed houses. 3 x 4 beds and 2 x 3 beds with another room designated as a study but which can be a bedroom. People who will be able to afford these houses are people who can already afford to buy the existing housing stock that comes up for sale.
This proposed housing would eat up more of the AONB’s finite agricultural land to provide housing that is not needed as there is already sufficient existing housing stock of this type to meet this market. See for example the new houses marketed months ago and still for sale, being built on the field in front of Somerthing Lane and the remaining home for sale at Serenity more than a year after it was marketed. Local people living and working in the area cannot compete with the prices these houses are marketed for. Green agricultural fields are therefore being built on to the detriment of the local community, the beautiful landscape and natural environment and habitats. People cannot afford to live and work here doing the jobs that the tourist industry requires. Agricultural land is being priced out of the reach of those farming the land and adversely affecting their businesses. This is harming the balance and the effectiveness of the local economy. Whilst the Neighbourhood Plan that was voted for by the community in November 2021 provides that all new housing be for principal residence occupancy, building market value houses on green agricultural land goes against the Neighbourhood Plan and all that it stands for.
Developers are trying to get around statutory protections and planning provisions for AONB’s that only permit the building of houses on green field areas in extremely limited circumstances. Developers are using the current inadequate 5 year housing supply for the whole of North Devon to build houses located on green sites in the AONB, profiting individual businesses at the expense of escalating harm to the natural landscape and local communities. The worrying effect of this government policy is its untold permanent harm to AONB’s and the natural environment and the long term sustainability of their local communities. Please sign this petition to object to the planning application 74488 and better still also lodge your own objection with North Devon District Council here:
The time limit for representations is 3rd January 2022. The petition will be forwarded to NDDC and local District Councillors.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
December 30, 2021
December 29, 2021
We are approaching 500 signatures which gives us the required scale to trigger a formal review by the planning committee. Direct your objections to the council portal immediately as the window for official feedback closes shortly.
Reached 100 supporters
December 29, 2021
194 Comments
These will create light pollution in an AONB and do not help with the shortages of affordable housing for locals. They set a dangerous precedent for slowly eating up the green fields of Croyde and over developing a unique area putting more pressure on limited resources.
I live and work in croyde year round and my only options for living are a caravan or a horrible cramped 8 person house share we need affordable housing or the business we all love won’t have any staff
The AONB is incredibly beautiful and special, home to a wide range of species, and also a pride and joy for locals and visitors alike. We neither need nor want further development here. Nothing is as healing as nature, or as special.
Is this development necessary? Will it provide housing that is actually lived in? Or yet more opportuniity for wealthy people from who knows where to become more wealthy. This will contravene the Neighbourhood Plan voted for by the residents of Croyde and Georgeham.
This proposal does not meet the housing needs for local residents as identified in the Neighbourhood Plan recently agreed by the local community. It is also outside the Development Boundary set out in the Neighbour Plan and should not therefore be approved.
Ruining croyde
It is not in the best interests of Croyde village and community or the environment to build holiday homes on greenfield sites. Croyde does not need more second homes, instead it needs affordable housing for people who live in the area and work in local businesses. Building on greenfield sites is not only bad for the environment but is ruining the natural beauty of the area.
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The local planning authority has formally rejected the resubmitted application for the Green Fields site. We successfully argued that the proposal violated the protected status of the AONB and the specific policies of our Neighbourhood Plan. I am now filing the final administrative responses to close this case file permanently.
March 5, 2022
Final supporters
- A planning application for this development has been resubmitted. The original application, submitted earlier in 2021, received many objections (over 200) and the application was withdrawn. The newly submitted application includes the same plans for 5 large luxury houses, with some additional planting on site. There are many reasons why this development should not go ahead, including, and not limited to, the following; it does not address the housing needs in the area, it puts the green fields and AONB in Croyde at risk of irreversible damage, it does not comply with several policies outlined in the newly adopted Neighbourhood Plan (including HE3: Rural Exception Sites, and BE5: applications outside the development boundaries. The Neighbourhood Plan can be found here: https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/media/381009/georgeh..
Please sign the petition by 2nd January. We really need your support. There is also a link further down the page to submit objections to the application. The closing date for objections is 3rd January 2022.
Read on for more details regarding the application and why it should not be allowed to go ahead.
Georgeham Parish is in the North Devon Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its villages have more than exceeded the minimum provision for new houses specified in the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan 2011 – 2031; the number granted permission in Croyde is over 70, nearly double the minimum number specified for Croyde in the Local Plan and there is still a long time to go before 2031.
More applications for new houses in the Parish are going through the planning system. The latest planning application (ref. 74488) is to put 5 market value, principal residence occupancy houses on the agricultural field next to Langsfield. None of these houses meets identified housing needs of the local community, which is overwhelmingly for social rented housing. They are all essentially substantial 4 bed houses. 3 x 4 beds and 2 x 3 beds with another room designated as a study but which can be a bedroom. People who will be able to afford these houses are people who can already afford to buy the existing housing stock that comes up for sale.
This proposed housing would eat up more of the AONB’s finite agricultural land to provide housing that is not needed as there is already sufficient existing housing stock of this type to meet this market. See for example the new houses marketed months ago and still for sale, being built on the field in front of Somerthing Lane and the remaining home for sale at Serenity more than a year after it was marketed. Local people living and working in the area cannot compete with the prices these houses are marketed for. Green agricultural fields are therefore being built on to the detriment of the local community, the beautiful landscape and natural environment and habitats. People cannot afford to live and work here doing the jobs that the tourist industry requires. Agricultural land is being priced out of the reach of those farming the land and adversely affecting their businesses. This is harming the balance and the effectiveness of the local economy. Whilst the Neighbourhood Plan that was voted for by the community in November 2021 provides that all new housing be for principal residence occupancy, building market value houses on green agricultural land goes against the Neighbourhood Plan and all that it stands for.
Developers are trying to get around statutory protections and planning provisions for AONB’s that only permit the building of houses on green field areas in extremely limited circumstances. Developers are using the current inadequate 5 year housing supply for the whole of North Devon to build houses located on green sites in the AONB, profiting individual businesses at the expense of escalating harm to the natural landscape and local communities. The worrying effect of this government policy is its untold permanent harm to AONB’s and the natural environment and the long term sustainability of their local communities. Please sign this petition to object to the planning application 74488 and better still also lodge your own objection with North Devon District Council here:
The time limit for representations is 3rd January 2022. The petition will be forwarded to NDDC and local District Councillors.
Updates
Reached 500 supporters
December 30, 2021
December 29, 2021
We are approaching 500 signatures which gives us the required scale to trigger a formal review by the planning committee. Direct your objections to the council portal immediately as the window for official feedback closes shortly.
Reached 100 supporters
December 29, 2021
194 Comments
The area needs housing for local people not people moving here from other areas. the hospital is on red alert today ie staffing levels are dangerously low partly because nurses can’t afford to live in the area on the wages they are paid
These will create light pollution in an AONB and do not help with the shortages of affordable housing for locals. They set a dangerous precedent for slowly eating up the green fields of Croyde and over developing a unique area putting more pressure on limited resources.
I live and work in croyde year round and my only options for living are a caravan or a horrible cramped 8 person house share we need affordable housing or the business we all love won’t have any staff
The AONB is incredibly beautiful and special, home to a wide range of species, and also a pride and joy for locals and visitors alike. We neither need nor want further development here. Nothing is as healing as nature, or as special.
Is this development necessary? Will it provide housing that is actually lived in? Or yet more opportuniity for wealthy people from who knows where to become more wealthy. This will contravene the Neighbourhood Plan voted for by the residents of Croyde and Georgeham.
This proposal does not meet the housing needs for local residents as identified in the Neighbourhood Plan recently agreed by the local community. It is also outside the Development Boundary set out in the Neighbour Plan and should not therefore be approved.
Ruining croyde
It is not in the best interests of Croyde village and community or the environment to build holiday homes on greenfield sites. Croyde does not need more second homes, instead it needs affordable housing for people who live in the area and work in local businesses. Building on greenfield sites is not only bad for the environment but is ruining the natural beauty of the area.
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The area needs housing for local people not people moving here from other areas. the hospital is on red alert today ie staffing levels are dangerously low partly because nurses can’t afford to live in the area on the wages they are paid