Exminster country park scaled back

Lib Dems say decision taken behind closed doors

A country park that is due to be created near Exeter as part of a huge new housing development is being scaled back according to the leader of the local opposition Liberal Democrats.

The 173 acre site near the Devon Hotel was supposed to serve the 2,500 new homes that will be built nearby as part of the South West of Exeter Development.

But local councillor Alan Connett says Teignbridge District Council's planned park is now two-thirds the original planned size.

He said:  “Teignbridge’s own Local Plan, which sets out how the district will develop over the next 20 years, promises a ‘ridge top park of approximately 70 hectares’.

“However, we see yet again how the council promises the earth and then quietly changes the plan.”

In a confidential report going to Teignbridge Council’s Executive committee on Tuesday evening, Mr Connett said it was understood the ruling Conservative councillors would be asked to back a new, smaller countryside park for the South West of Exeter development.

Cllr Connett, a Liberal Democrat, said: “Teignbridge now wants to concentrate on a country park that is over a third smaller than it promised residents.

“Much of the development at South West Exeter is, in fact, in the parish of Exminster, which will see an extra 2,000 houses within the community, and just 500 ‘over the border’ in Exeter.