25 signatures reached
To: District Councils of Devon and Devon County Council
Affordable Houses for the People of Devon
We want the District and County Councils of Devon to only approve new housing planning applications if they have a restrictive covenant on each house which limits the occupancy to people who have been living in Devon for at least five years.
Why is this important?
Local people cannot afford the new houses being built because the price is set by national demand.
A restrictive covenant with the District Council would limit the new build houses to local people only. It will reduce the Sale Price of the new properties and the rent they can achieve (As an example a house local to me with one of these restrictive covenants sold for a third less than neighbouring houses).
District Councils claim that the houses are going to local people and they have the statistics to prove it. Teignbridge Council Post Occupancy Report 2018 is based on a survey where only one in four people to be sent surveys responded. They freely admit in their opening paragraph "the sample size is too small to be statistically significant"!!!
A restrictive covenant will not stop people from outside of Devon from moving here but houses will not be built for them.
This will reduce the demand for new houses and the devastation of our beautiful Devon countryside.
The only losers will be the Planners and Developers who are making obscene amounts of money with the current house building program (Persimmon's CEO received a £75 million bonus).
Lots of Devon's beautiful countryside is being destroyed.
The photo of the field above is just one under threat by a Planning Application. It is a winter feeding ground for large flocks of Exe Estuary Wading Birds.
See my other petition to ask the RSPB not to Accept Money for Loss of Birds and their Habitat :-
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/rspb-to-stop-accepting-money-for-loss-of-bird-habitats
