Brentor Parish Council released the following statement on 18th July 2019:
PROPOSED HOUSING
Figures have now been collated from the Housing Needs Survey conducted in July 2018 and the 2 public presentation days.
The presentations were very well attended and figures show that the development is oversubscribed by local people who will be eligible to live there.
The latest data indicates a need for 11 affordable homes and 6 open market homes, which meet the criteria for an affordable development as required by WDBC and DNPA. The planned development remains fixed at 12 properties.
Further progress has been slightly delayed due to the recent elections, but it is understood that the plans will be submitted to DNPA shortly with a planning decision expected in September. Construction should then commence late Autumn or early next year.
Further information will be published as and when it is received.
West Devon Borough Council issued the following news release on 4th June 2019, signalling their strong support for the construction of 12 new community houses in Brentor, at the Hammer Park site. This is part of a £4.3 million project, the other part being 17 new community houses in Lamerton.
Two community housing schemes have today been agreed by West Devon Borough Council’s Hub Committee.
The Community Housing Strategy was put in place to support the development of homes available to those people who have a local connection, but the homes are beyond their reach. The lack of such housing is having a huge impact on the vitality and sustainability of local communities, with many locals having to relocate due to increasing housing costs. Councillors have agreed to create a fund of £4.3 million by borrowing from the Public Works Loan Board with some internal funding, to build the first two community housing schemes which will deliver 29 residential homes. Cllr Debo Sellis, West Devon Borough Council’s Lead Member for Homes, said: “I am delighted that the Council is taking direct action to help reduce the housing affordability challenges that the Borough faces.” This represents the first direct delivery of new homes by the Council in a generation and will lead to the reintroduction of some Council-held housing stock. The construction of the first two community housing projects will start with 12 homes in Brentor and a further 17 in Lamerton, subject to Parish Council Support. These projects benefit from reduced land value by using exception site planning policy and are being delivered where the community has shown that there is a need for affordable housing and therefore they have the support of the community, Parish Council and Neighbourhood Plan. The properties will be available as a mix of different affordable options, to ensure that housing is truly affordable to rent or buy for local people. Some will be available to buy at a discount, some as affordable rented, and some available on the open market to make the projects financially viable. Design and planning work is being met through a Government grant of £250,000 paid to West Devon in 2017 to help with the delivery of community housing schemes across the Borough.
Update March 2019 Written by Colin Dawes, Editor of the website, who attended the Local Needs Housing presentation at Brentor Village Hall on 2nd March 2019.
The Local Needs Housing presentation and discussion session held after the Brentor coffee morning on 2nd March 2019 was attended by about 30 residents. Members of the Parish Council were joined by Alex Rehaag and Tom Morris (from the West Devon Borough Council housing team) and Mike Hope (an Architect and Managing Partner from Roderick James Architects of Totnes, who are designing the scheme).
It was explained that there has been an identified need for local housing in Brentor, so West Devon BC must provide it, otherwise private developers will attempt to build it, possibly with less affordable content. It is also clear that DNPA will not allow speculative building. Currently there are eight people with the required attachment to Brentor who are interested in the houses, and more are coming forward as the scheme becomes more widely publicised. There could be a waiting list by the time the scheme is built. In response to a question from the audience, Brentor PC agreed to publish the results of the housing survey as soon as possible on the Village Website.
The Hammer Park Local Needs Housing Scheme is now at the design stage, and alterations to the scheme can still be made referencing the views of local people.
In response to questions, Alex Rehaag said that profit from the three open market houses will avoid having to obtain a grant from Homes England, (the government’s ‘housing accelerator’). The planning and design costs were being covered from existing funds and grants, but grants would be sought for infrastructure costs. It was possible that funding would be needed for sewage works improvements, although SW Water has an obligation to upgrade local sewage works as this becomes necessary. The reason for planning refusal last time included that it was for 12 not 10 houses, which was the identified need at that time. Tom Morris explained that the Hammer Park site is only one that is viable due to services being nearby. Therefore the scheme can be built with less open market houses than on other sites. The two other sites are not suitable due to the high price asked for the land or high building costs due to springs etc. The owner of the Hammer Park site is willing to sell the land at a very low price. The other sites owners have not come forward with any alternative proposals since the last scheme for Hammer Park was shelved.
A member of the audience asked whether it could be said that the building would be detrimental to the National Park. It was explained that the Hammer Park site has been listed on the ‘Land Availability Assessment‘ survey by DNPA for some years. Previous reasons for the failure to obtain planning permission at this site were unlikely to be relevant now, since rules have been relaxed. For example, a ‘sustainable location’ could now be up to one mile from a village centre.
Mike Hope, the scheme architect, made a presentation on the overall scheme and the design of individual houses. The plans and illustrations from this presentation are available below.
The new layout has been designed to have as low an impact on adjacent houses as possible. The new housing will be high quality sustainable houses, using natural materials. The project is at early design stage, so he welcomed comments and provided forms where they could be written. The opportunity to make formal comments to the architects closed on 22nd March 2019.
The key things about the plan were that:
1) It should not look like a mini housing estate (the last design was simply a row).
2) It should be sensitively designed, respect the location, and provide a sense of place.
3) The houses should be efficient to build but be generous and practical houses.
4) The scheme should minimise impact on trees and hedgerows.
5) There should be only one access from the road.
The scheme would use high quality materials and keep views from the road to the moor. There would be two parking spaces per house, extra visitor parking and a children’s play area.
The houses would have rooms upstairs under the roof, since this is efficient to build and reduces heat loss and hence running costs. All are one storey to the rear, so from the moor we will just see slate roofs behind Devon banks. From a distance we will not be presented with just a row of houses, and the site will look more like a group of farm buildings. The exterior finish will be rendered, with some stone walls and some hung slate on gable ends. There will be no timber cladding but they will be of timber framed construction, fabricated offsite.
Each of the four terraces and the houses within them will be subtly different, some with garages in addition to their parking spaces . They will have two and three bedrooms, some for up to five people. Bedrooms will be big enough to be shared by two occupants.
The scheme will try to create good housing, all with halls for the staircase, with kitchen, utility room, large doors to exterior, built-in storage and wardrobes. Externally there will be bin storage, electric car charge points etc. Where houses have no garages, there will be external stores provided, to prevent a proliferation of sheds.
Solar panels or ground source heat pump will be used to keep down running costs. There will be a need for a maintenance plan for the public areas of the site, but who would pay for this is not clear. A report will be done on the need for better broadband coverage for the new site.
The audience expressed a concern about where the residents will come from. It was explained that in first instance the occupants will be from Brentor. Later, if a house becomes vacant and no one from Brentor requires it, then the new occupant could come from the surrounding parishes, then the DNPA area. This ‘occupancy cascade’ will be set out in a document that is tailored to Brentor. All this is subject to a Section 106 agreement. For changes to me made to this the proposals would have to be countersigned by WDBC, Devon CC, Brentor PC and DNPA. It was thought that it would be very unlikely that abandonment of this policy could happen.
No more houses could be built at the Hammer Park site since the remaining part of the field is poorly drained and subject to waterlogging. Elsewhere in Brentor it is possible that more houses could eventually be built, since the DNPA plan sets the maximum number of new homes for Brentor at 30.
Colin Dawes, Editor
Click on the illustrations below to view in more detail
Walking around Brentor you may have noticed that many of our roadside ditches and watercourses have been cleared of debris that has been building up during the summer and autumn.
Water can now drain off the roads onto adjacent land and into ditches more easily, avoiding the formation of puddles that can be a danger to traffic and pedestrians. This is thanks to the work of the local Parish lengthsman, whose recent work has been funded by a grant obtained by the Parish Council. Occasionally landowners have been known to block drains created by the lengthsman, but if you own open land next to the highway you are required by law to allow drainage from the road onto your land.
A cleared ditch in Burn Lane
Devon County Council also employs their own lengthsmen who are scheduled to work for four days a year in Brentor. In addition if there is flooding or large puddles on a road the County Council will, 24 hours after the rain has stopped, take action if:
the road is impassable
the water is forcing vehicles, cyclists or pedestrians away from the nearside of the road by more than one metre
vehicles have to cross the centreline marking
They undertake to attempt to clear the standing water if appropriate. If unable to clear the water, they will set up a flood sign, guard the area or close the road to make the location safe and then investigate a permanent solution. To find out more click here to visit the County Council’s highways website.
The parish lengthsman can only do a limited amount of clearing in the time he has, so it’s worth watching out for blocked gullies and drains and helping by keeping them clear of debris!
There are many people in Brentor who remember happy times in the Brentor Inn when it was open – a real meeting place for the community. Do you have any photographs that could be made into a gallery about the pub on this website? Here’s a good one as a starter…….
The Brentor Inn (named Brentor Hotel) in its heydaySale poster of the Herrings Inn, 1838
Did you know that the Brentor Inn used to be called The Herrings Arms – no doubt because for many years the Herring family owned Langstone and local land, including some alongside Burn Lane.
What a shame that Brentor no longer has a pub that is open. Back in May 2005 Brentor News carried the following article:-
‘ Brentor Inn Update The new owners of the Brentor Inn – Cynthia and Dudley Smith, daughter Emma Harcourt- Smith and partner Andy Stone – are hoping to open by Christmas. Since buying The Brentor Inn last June, they have needed several re-thinks on structure, design and layout but now feel they have an achievable scheme and “will be applying for planning permission for the changes within the next two weeks”. Changes will include a new kitchen, toilets and a cellar. The intention is to open initially as a pub with a range of beers and simple but goodbar food. The function room will open later – hopefully with restaurant facilities. Sharp-eyed passers-by will have noticed the recent appearance in the car park of a JCB, which has been purchased for the construction. The family has engineering experience in varying forms – which should help. We are happy to report that they all categorically deny any rumours about applying for change of use! ‘
Do you have an interesting photo, an informative item about the village or an event that you need to promote? We want to keep this website topical, local and up-to-date, so please send your potential contributions to the Editor at brentorvillage@btinternet.com .
This website now has a recipes page, but there’s only a few recipes on it!
As we all know, lot of Brentor’s social life revolves around cooking and eating with family and friends. The recipes on the new page have been provided by Brentor residents past and present. No doubt some have been adapted and improved as the years pass – and they are reminders of residents past and present and of many good times around the table, as well as being household favourites. WE NEED LOTS MORE RECIPES! So please email your contributions – a recipe with a small introductory text – to the editor, Colin Dawes, at brentorvillage@btinternet.com .
