Community fights for village green space, but is it a done deal?

The old school playing field in Loddiswell is earmarked for housing but the community is fighting to keep it as a common green space. 

The old school playing field in Loddiswell has been left to its own devices since the new school opened in 2018, meaning it has become a haven for wildlife in the centre of a busy working village. 

When the school building was sold, the plan was for the field to be used for housing. It is currently an area of green space in the centre of the village, with housing on four sides. 

Devon County Council are now putting the land up for tender. 

Since that development got the go-ahead, however, thanks to the building of the new estate at the top of the village and the redevelopment of the old school site on the one-way system at the bottom, as well as pockets of new housing elsewhere, Loddiswell now has a large number of new houses and villagers argue that no more is needed and wild space is more important. 

The new school site and the new development of Beechwood Park and Chestnut Way at the top of the village - Google Maps

Liz Montague, Wild About Loddiswell, said: "The field was the playing field for the original primary school and many in the village have fond memories of playing there and school sports days. The small copse of trees was planted by some of the school children, including my own.  

"Because it has not been ploughed, had chemical sprays or fertilisers applied for at least 50 years it is a fine example of unimproved grassland which is a rarity these days. Since the school moved to its new site in 2018 the field has been left largely untouched and the wildlife has flourished. 

"The grass has become tussocky, an ideal habitat for voles and other small mammals, making it a perfect larder for barn owls and one has been seen hunting there. There are hazel dormice living in the hedges and hedgehogs and slow worms have been found there too.

"Greater and lesser horseshoe and barbastelle bats have also been recorded there – all these species are rare or endangered. It has a rich diversity of wildflowers too."

Alarm bells went off in the village after it was incorrectly asserted at a recent parish council meeting that the field had already been sold, but despite this information being corrected, it has encouraged local people to start a petition to prevent the field from being built on in the future. 

Speaking after the Loddiswell Parish Council meeting, Liz posted on the Wild About Loddiswell Facebook page, saying: "People should also not be hoodwinked by the proposal that some of the houses would be 'affordable and self build' or the area of 'public open space'. I doubt whether such a development would be a viable proposition to a developer.

"A development of 10 houses or fewer is exempt from the requirement for affordable housing and how many so called 'affordable' houses built in the area have been truly affordable for local people? The developer could easily submit this application, possibly getting some local support, be granted permission and then at a later date amend it so it no longer has the affordable housing or self build option.

"This happened at Sherford where the original proposal of 45 percent affordable homes was reduced down to 20 percent. 10 houses may not take up the whole site, but in the course of construction the whole field would be trashed, destroying the valuable wildlife habitats.

"There is already too much pressure on the village road infrastructure and sewage system. Having had the recent additions of Beechwood Park and Redwood Park does the village really need more housing?