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

SHERFORD AGAIN

So now we know. The new town at Sherford will be on the site earmarked for it by the South Hams council, not the last minute Co-op option. An independent planning inspector has so decided.


To recap: few of us wanted this new settlement and campaigned against it; it has been forced on us by government. Councillors in Totnes had no choice but to provide for it in their local plan and Plymouth had no choice but to deal with the transport implications in their own plan. Vigorous campaigns were fought by local groups and councillors all trying to persuade the decision makers that the settlement should be shifted somewhere else. Battle lines were drawn and everybody had their say.


That is now all over. The law of the land is that the inspector’s decision is binding. Unless the Co-op can persuade a court that the process of making this decision was somehow flawed, the matter is now resolved. The South Hams Council has no choice but to approve this plan at its next meeting. Plymouth Council has no choice but to adopt this plan at its next full council on 6th August 2007.


What would happen if they did not approve it? The government would intervene to make it happen anyway and the local council tax payers would be saddled with hundreds of thousands of pounds of extra costs, all to no avail. No thank you.


None of us wanted it, we fought a good fight, but it is over. I congratulate all those who fought so hard.


Now we must work with the planners and the developers and local community groups to make it the best new town in the history of the British Isles and to ensure that impact on existing communities is minimised, especially traffic.


That is what I and local councillors will be doing from now on. Now the hard work starts. There is some wriggle room on the precise location of the road from Sherford to the A379 and we will seek to make sure the voice of local people is heard. We will do our utmost to protect St Maurice from unwanted traffic. We will make sure the transport links suit local people.


We must make sure that the affordable housing on site – to buy and to rent – is available primarily to our local youngsters who cannot afford today’s house prices. This cloud may have a silver lining yet.

posted by Nigel on Tuesday, August 21, 2007