Teignbridge Council has successfully been awarded £414,000 to ensure the local communities continue to be closely involved over the next two years in developing the Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton Garden Community Programme.
The award will see the concept of the Garden Community vision of creating a healthier, happier and greener future turn into a reality.
Over the past couple of years Teignbridge Council have been working with award winning architects DHUD and Hilton Barnfield to involve local residents in developing their vision for the area.
Across the region it is thought more than 4,000 low carbon homes will be built in the coming years, the Garden Community programme is focused on working with local people to ensure new housing developments create communities which are great places to live, provide easy access to diverse natural habitats, have a thriving economy and are carbon neutral. Its status as a Garden Community will help deliver a more diverse and affordable range of housing as well as an improved local road network, better public transport routes, jobs and community facilities.
The Garden Communities programme was launched in 2019 and since then it has focused on identifying brownfield development sites which can be used for local housing. They have worked with Devon County Council to build new cycling and walking paths, supported the Teign Estuary Trail extension and improvements to the A382 Bovey Tracey Road corridor, worked with the Environment Agency to reduce flood risks in the priority town centre sites and through Connecting to Nature project has identified accessible, quality coastal and countryside spaces for people to enjoy.
The new funding, it is thought, will enable this work to be expanded capturing more local views and ensuring the Garden Community aims underpin housing development as well as funding important initiatives such as the Bradley Lane Bus Link scheme, which will provider a quicker and more reliable bus route to and from Houghton Barton; investigating the feasibility of specific flood resilience schemes; and looking at how brownfield sites like the former cattle market in Newton Abbot can be be enhance and redeveloped.
Executive Member for Planning, Councillor Gary Taylor said:
“Attracting more than £400,000 funding will make a huge difference to the way future housing developments will be delivered. It will enable us to build on the discussions we have had with local people to establish priority projects for the area, defining what building and environmental standards have to be met and ensuring that our Garden Community is a great place to live, work and visit.”
