Bid for 800 new homes
Exeter Express, 25 Jun 2005
A city landowner has unveiled details of an ambitious bid to put up hundreds of new homes on the outskirts of Exeter.
Simon Lloyd is in talks with developers to build up to 800 new homes on farmland in Exwick.
And he has pledged to fund a £20m road bridge to ease one of the city's worst traffic-jam blackspots if the bid is successful.
Mr Lloyd and his family own 90 acres of land stretching from Exwick to Nadderwater.
He wants to sell 60 acres in a multi-million pound deal with housebuilder Westbury Homes.
Mr Lloyd told the Echo there would be a stipulation that 10 acres would be used for social housing.
And 30 acres would be set aside to be enjoyed in perpetuity by the residents of Exwick.
Mr Lloyd said he would provide funds for a road crossing over the Red Cow railway crossing at St David's, a well-known traffic bottleneck.
Land at Exwick, together with a site in Alphington, are among a list of locations currently being considered by Teignbridge District Council as possible sites to create up to 1,550 new homes on Exeter's outskirts.
Mr Lloyd, 40, a former pupil of Exeter Cathedral School, said by offering to provide for a road bridge he was hoping to allay residents' fears about the development.
He said: "This is the last chance to solve the Exwick traffic problems.
"It is inevitable that this land will be developed - I would think in the next five years - as the Government has decided how many houses Teignbridge have to be build.
"What we are trying to do is the best thing we can for residents. We have an option with Westbury Homes and have agreed to seek planning permission with them.
"I am trying to calm the situation down. There is not prospect of building in the near future - there has to be a long consultation."
Attwell's Farm is currently being run by Mr Lloyd's brother John, for arable use and keeping horses.
A spokesperson for Westbury South West said: "I can confirm that Westbury has an option to promote land at Attwells Farm, Nadderwater, through the local development framework.
"The site has not been allocated for any form of development in the current local development framework, and build on the land is not expected to take place in the near future."
Residents today expressed concern at the proposal.
Trish McCue, of the Farm Hill Area Residents' Association, said: "With a development this size you are talking about almost another ward of Exeter, and then there are the schools, shops and all the other stuff that has to be in place for that.
"There are not the services and amenities to cope as everything is full already."
She added: "A bridge over the railway at Red Cow would simply fast-track traffic to the bottle necks around the Village Inn, and that is a problem that you are never going to solve."
Exwick county councillor Rob Hannaford said it was important the views of the hills on the outskirts of the city are preserved.
He said: "At the end of the day Exwick is not for sale. Either a development is viable or it is not.
"We are not going to be bribed by some ridiculous amounts of money.
"We have to think of the residents that are there now and the problems that they have got.
"I don't accept that this development is inevitable."
A resident of Cornflower Hill, who did not want to be named, said a road bridge would not end the area's traffic problems. She said: "The traffic problem is not at Red Cow but at St Andrew's Road's junction with Station Road by the pub and the church."
Ten acres of Mr Lloyd's land falls within Exeter City Council's boundaries, the rest is in Teignbridge.
A city council working party of has has recommended that the east of the city should be developed before land to the west.
A spokeswoman for Devon County Council said: "We have no plans at present to build a bridge at Red Cow.
"The allocation of land for development is determined through the development of the local plan, which is the district council's responsibility."
A spokesman for Teignbridge said the Exwick site is one of 124 being considered for development.
Residents have until July 11 to send their comments to Teignbridge District Council.
