D-day in fight over massive Plymouth housing estate's last bit of green space

The fate of the last green space on a huge Plymouth housing estate will be decided this week with fears that it will end up being built on. Officers have recommended Plymouth City Council ’s planning committee approve an application to put five houses and parking spaces on a 1,347sq m council-owned site in the Wilmot Gardens area of Crownhill.

It would mean trees being cut down and the loss of land used by children and dog-walkers. The council has received 45 letters of objection bemoaning the loss of trees and greenspace used “extensively” by the community, and highlighting a huge loss in biodiversity and the extra traffic and noise that will be created.

Earlier this year the Crownhill Local Area Residents Association (Clara) was successful in campaigning to have the matter decided by councillors and not officers. But now the elected members are being advised to approve the building plans even though officers admit they “do not fully comply” with the council’s own policies.

A report to the committee said building houses on the land does not fully adhere to its policies on delivering sustainable development and for green and play spaces. But it said that although the land is green space it can still be built on and the plans retain some “limited character” of its current use, with the houses having back gardens and there being some new planting, and stressed developing the plot was important to hit house-building targets.

The report said: “Given the wider public benefits of the scheme and due consideration of local and national housing targets, officers are of the opinion that the proposal is on-balance acceptable. Moreover, officers have acknowledged that the scheme accords with other local policies in a variety of areas discussed throughout this report and therefore has applied planning balance to the overall recommendation. The proposal is therefore recommended for conditional approval for the reasons outlined.”

A Clara representative is due to address the meeting on Thursday and the group stressed it is not satisfied with the officers’ reasoning and claimed the community had not been property consulted. The organisation said it had not been demonstrated that the land was “surplus to requirements” and said: “The green is in fact used daily, by young people playing and elderly, disabled and vulnerable people who use it daily for dog walking, exercise and social activities.”

The Clara spokesperson said: “We are set to lose mature trees in an ancient hedgerow should this development go ahead — more mature trees unnecessarily felled following what happened in Armada Way not too long ago. There’s still time to save them.”

The spokesperson also decried the “wild west-style” Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) assessment - which actually shows a 47% biodiversity net loss. The council countered this by saying it didn’t take into account the amount of time it would take for “habitats to establish” and that ash trees are likely to die in the next 15 years anyway.

The Clara spokesperson said: “If we lose this green, it will hit our community hard with children left with nowhere safe to play and the elderly and vulnerable left to stay at home rather than exercise as they simply can’t get to the next nearest green space. The health and wellbeing of many, many people will be impacted for the sake of just five properties.”

Clara is calling for people to support it at the 4pm meeting at the Council House and said: “This is a small area in a big community.”

The spokesperson added: “We don’t want an urban jungle in Plymouth – we must keep green spaces for current and future residents. Once they are gone they are gone.

“If this application is granted, it sets a dangerous precedent. Other vital green community spaces will suffer too. Green spaces are vital and must be protected. This is about the future of trees and all green areas in Plymouth’s communities.”

Residents have been fighting plans to build on the land for more than three years now. An initial planning application was withdrawn after protests in 2021. But earlier this year developer Darren Wills, of Classic Builders (SW) Ltd, submitted proposals to construct five “affordable” homes on the patch of land.

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