A CHANCE for people to see ideas for Crediton and Mid Devon up to 2043 was available when Mid Devon District Council brought its ideas and display to Crediton for the first of three such face-to-face meetings for at least two years.

This was all about the new Local Plan, Plan Mid Devon, beginning its long road to being a legal document.

Five members of the district council’s Forward Planning Team were there to answer questions on Thursday morning, March 3 at Lords Meadow Leisure Centre.

Tristan Peat, Forward Planning Team Leader, said it was good to be able to hold such drop-ins again so that the consultation is accessible for everyone, although many people had got used to doing this on-line.

Following Crediton two more drop-ins were held at Tiverton and Cullompton.  All the documents are on-line on the district council website: www.middevon.gov.uk .

At a cost of £10 people can also buy the whole document which includes the sustainability and equality appraisals.  This can also be seen at Libraries or people can telephone the district council (01884 255255) to ask for a copy to be posted to them.

There have been four on-line public Zoom events for people to find out more about Plan Mid Devon and two of these will be published soon.

“We are trying to reach all parts of the community to think about how we should plan for the future,” said Tristan Peat.  “We have to review the Local Plan every five years and need to start this work now so that we will continue to have an up-to-date local plan bringing many benefits to Mid Devon, including new homes, jobs, schools, shops, transport and other infrastructure to meet our needs, while protecting the countryside and high quality landscapes from un-planned development.”

One of the questions many people asked at Crediton was climate change, and what the new local plan will do to help address this.

The consultation has said that a recent survey of people living in newly-completed homes in Mid Devon found that 63 per cent of those moving to new homes were from within the district and 88 per cent were from either within the district or from council areas adjoining Mid Devon, proving that most new homes being built were helping to meet the housing needs of local people.