J WHITE, chairman of KREAG, of Kingsteignton, writes: The MDA editorial comment on September 1 suggests the government should come clean regarding its plans for development around Newton Abbot. Based on the following facts I, as Kreag's chairman – not Ken Tuckett as reported – had submitted comments to the MDA arguing it was Devon County, Teignbridge and Kingsteignton councils that needed to come clean. In 2001 county Cllr John Smith disclosed in writing that land at Kingsteignton was to be considered for the storage, recycling and reprocessing of waste materials, a development Kreag has always claimed would be to serve the south west region which, hitherto, councils and councillors had consistently denied. The land is now included within the proposed Kingsteignton development, its use described as being 'a strategic matter – a new Strategic Employment Centre'. The Regional Spatial Strategy lists Strategically Significant Cities and Towns as locations for 'strategic development in the south west'. Cllr Austen, chairman of Teignbridge Council, has commented on the county council's belated representations to have Newton Abbot Sub-Regional Centre included in that list, a DCC action which substantiates Kreag's claim for the Kingsteignton development. It is, however, incongruous for TDC and KPC to plan a strategic development for the south west within the Newton Abbot SRC while opposing the necessary elevation of the town's planning status to accommodate it. Newton Abbot SRC with a planning role for the south west would greatly increase development. The AWE/WBBM developments at Kingsteignton and Ilford Park could simply be the forerunners. The Regional Spatial Strategy contains no proposals to elevate the planning status of the Newton Abbot SRC above that to serve Teignbridge as defined within the adopted DCC Structure Plan. If that status is to change, my message was that local communities within the Newton Abbot SRC should be consulted and briefed by their councillors on the likely impact the change would have upon them.
