Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

NEW TOWN

All this week fresh discussions have been going on about the most controversial issue facing this constituency: the proposed new town at Sherford.

A quick recap. The government says that there must be 6,500 extra homes in our part of the South Hams and most of them must be in a new settlement close to Plymouth. The South Hams Council doesn’t want to build them, but it has no choice. It has brought forward imaginative proposals for four villages stretching from the Deep land junction on the A38 all the way down to Sherford and Brixton on the A379. The people have been consulted and the council is pondering what to do next.

Hardly anybody wants to see a new town carved out of green fields. At the same time we all know that there is a need for more affordable housing for local people. So what is to be done?

This week, the much-respected Princes Foundation is consulting widely with local opinion formers especially about quality and design issues.

That is important, but I think that the big picture first needs to be settled. Where should it be? How many houses? What sort of settlement and how will it plug into the existing infrastructure? In the end all these will be decisions for our excellent South hams councillors. I wish them well.

In the meantime, let me take a stab at what I think the least worst solution is (bearing in mind I don’t want it either).

As many homes as possible should be built in the centre of Plymouth to bring it alive.
But if that is not possible and we have to have a new town it should be clustered on the south side of the A38 around the Deep Lane junction. This will enable new residents to use the existing road structures that work fairly well rather than clog up the already choked A379. It would also leave the villages of Sherford and Brixton in peace and gobble up much less prime farmland.

The idea of four villages is great in theory but unrealistic. The new town should be modelled on Chaddlewood, which has been a very successful development, although more community facilities are required. There should be plenty of affordable housing just for locals, but some of this should be sprinkled throughout the existing villages as well to keep them alive.

posted by Nigel on Monday, July 12, 2004