We are a community in Devon taking South Hams District Council to a Judicial Review, for granting planning permission to a developer bent on destroying wildlife. The scheme also forces social tenants, against their wishes, from bungalows with gardens into flats.
Our Council won’t protect us, so we’re doing it for ourselves. Help us set a vitally- needed national precedent and stand up for the rights of wildlife, for local people and our kids future.
Our campaign is for Brimhay; a close of small bungalows set around a green adjoining a wild stream valley, in the heart of Dartington village, near Totnes, Devon. The valley is home to dormice and five species of bats- all endangered and which should be protected by European legislation.
In granting permission for the redevelopment of the site in the face of hundreds of objections, our council ignored wildlife legislation, the Localism Bill, the community’s rights to established open space and footpaths. Owners of the site, South Devon Rural Housing Association, ignoredBrimhay’s community of elderly and less able people and intend to bulldoze their bungalows and rehouse them in flats against their wishes.
We need your help to enable our Judicial Review case, which will be heard in the Royal Courts in London on 19th July. Mrs Justice Lang gave permission for the case to proceed on all grounds by order dated 7th March. Accomplishing this significant hurdle has meant that there will be a substantive hearing on the merits of our case in court. If successful, this will result in a quashing of the planning consent granted for this site. We have already raised over £2500 through local fundraising events.
Winning will support Brimhay’s residents, strengthen European wildlife legislation, save a community garden and give local people a real voice in the future of their place. Together we can fight for justice.
This campaign is championed by ‘Don’t Bury Dartington Under Concrete’ . Our community led alternative plans for Brimhay have received support from Jonathon Porritt, Lord Matthew Taylor, Molly Scott Cato (MEP) and Kevin Mc Cloud- Channel 4’s Grand Designs.
South Devon Rural staff have been consulting with Brimhay tenants for around three years on the future of Brimhay and have been offered alternative accommodation. All residents were offered the chance to have a new, better insulated, more environmentally efficient apartment and many have chosen to stay and do just that. It is ridiculous to suggest that a responsible landlord would continue to house people in accommodation no longer meeting basic standards without giving them options. Get your facts right