OPPONENTS of rampant and unnecessary housing developments in Teignbridge are being urged to send ugly protest postcards of the building sprawl to the Government minister responsible.

Devon’s branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is urging crowded-out residents to swamp the mailbag of housing minister Kit Malthouse in the hope he’ll pick up public outrage over the building blitz.

The countryside charity’s ‘Postcard from Devon’ campaign has taken off with 12,000 people visiting its Facebook page in the first week alone.

Members, delighted by the ‘phenomenal response,’ say the aim of the enterprise is to expose the UK’s dubious planning regime and the effect thoughtless over-development is having on the treasured tourist delights of the county.

‘FLAWED’

They have even quoted Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris who has criticised elements of the ‘flawed’ planning system.

The specially devised postcard replaces the usual images of green and pleasant locations with ones blighted by landscape-wrecking bulldozers.

A study commissioned by CPRE last year revealed the number of new homes being planned in the county far exceeded the real need.

Just last month, Mr Malthouse announced a major new scheme for what he called ‘20,000 much-needed properties’ as part of a garden community across Teignbridge, Exeter and East Devon.

CPRE’s Devon director, Penny Mills, complained: ‘Those of us who value Devon’s beautiful countryside and green spaces look on in horror at the Government’s “urgent push to build more, better, faster”.’

She argued: ‘More houses are needed, but nowhere near as many as the Government claims – and they need to be the right kind of homes at prices local people can afford.

‘Balancing local development and a vibrant economy with a tranquil and beautiful environment is doubly important in a county that’s so dependent on income from tourism. It is precisely why we started our Postcard from Devon campaign.’

CPRE Devon’s Dr Philip Bratby chipped in: ‘Following our Sandy Park housing seminar in Exeter, Kit Malthouse promised he would read our independent report, Devon Housing Needs Evidence.

‘If he did subsequently read our report, he obviously did not understand it. He is still planning to build 300,000 new homes per year in England by the mid-2020s, although there is no evidence to support this figure. Even the minister himself has described it as a ‘mythical’ number.

WASTING

‘Since mythical actually means untrue, made-up or invented, one has to wonder why the Government is wasting taxpayers’ money on planning for the building of huge numbers of houses in Devon. The evidence shows they are not needed.’

CPRE Devon said it welcomed comments last week from Newton Abbot MP Anne Marie Morris who reckoned the formula used to determine the number of new houses set out in Local Plans was flawed. She felt the current planning system was not robust enough to ensure new homes were affordable and suited the needs of the local population.

Two versions of the Postcard from Devon have been produced – one for people to send directly to Mr Malthouse summarising their views... the other asking them to join the charity to support its campaign work in Devon to challenge ‘unnecessary and inappropriate development.’