Warren farm at Dawlish Town Council – 1st July

by Martin Wrigley on 28 June, 2015

I have at last managed to get the issues surrounding Warren Farm onto the agenda for Dawlish Town Council!

The motion I have put forward says that Dawlish Town Council has no confidence in the timely delivery of the required SANGS by the pursuit of Compulsory Purchase of Warren farm, and that Teignbridge should look at other alternatives.

There is no getting away from the large amount of housing in the local plan, even though some of us may still harbour doubts about the quantity, type of housing, where it is and the infrastructure to provide for it.  However, given that level of housing we clearly do  need the extra amount of Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (or SANGS) to prevent the extra population upsetting the wildlife and natural balance of the Exe Estuary and the Warren in particular.

However, we do still have options as to where that SANGS is and how it is provided.  The argument that the developers should provide it close to the new housing is a strong one, and it sounds like a much better option.

The aspect that I really object to is the compusory taking of a farmers land, at low ‘agricultural’ values, to enable his ‘neighbours’ to sell farmland to developers at development prices (something like a hundred times more).

Lots of people in Dawlish agree, as you can see from the crowds we had signing the petition to save warren farm (which now has over 5,000 names)

save warren farm

I am looking forward to the debate at the council meeting…