SO it seems that West Devon Borough Council will have its way and lay tarmac and concrete all over our beautiful Crowndale Valley while we, Tavistock's residents slump in front of our TV sets, assuming that wiser heads have prevailed, that it's all for the best and that we have no say in the matter.

And in a way, that is true. It wouldn't have mattered a jot if every single Tavistock resident had been against this ill-conceived nonsense. Why? Because Tavistock (and Okehampton) who are to take the lion's share of this new housing are woefully under-represented on West Devon Borough Council.

We have to sit by and watch while the majority on the council, presiding over their sparsely populated rural wards rub their hands together safe in the knowledge that no new housing will impinge on their tranquil fiefdoms.

They are perfectly happy to see all of the development focussed on the two main towns and not to have to disturb the easy flow of life in their idyllic pastoral backwaters. Why would they vote any differently?  Would turkeys vote in favour of more Christmas?

As a result we are to get an urban ghetto crudely appended to our town with no additional provision for road transport to get its residents in and out.

The promise of a railway line but no guarantee it will ever be built (by a developer with no track record in delivering such schemes) the promise of further infrastructure but again with no guarantees.  

You can bet your bottom dollar we'll get the 750 houses and doubtless more (north of Callington Road) when they realise those too are needed to pay for the proposed white elephants. They just have neglected to tell you all of this yet.

Nobody is disputing the need for more houses (particularly affordable houses) in the borough. What has always been disputed was the need to place our allocation all in one lump on one side of our town.  

But don't have any regrets or wish that you could have done more to resist this. While the majority on the council comprises rurally based councillors, resistance was always likely to be futile.

Guy Sergeant

Whitchurch Road,?Tavistock