I AM a keen supporter of quality public transport but I cannot support the proposed new rail link to Tavistock, due to the method of funding the development.
Kilbride is prepared to pay £18.5-milliom in exchange for permission to build an extra 500 houses. This equates to a minimum profit requirement of £37,000 per house in addition to profits sought by Kilbride's shareholders.
The people who live and work in the Tavistock area need affordable housing for our community to be sustainable in the long term. With our young people earning an average of around £20,000 per year (and many less) they can only afford homes under £50,000 for singles and under £80,000 for couples. (Prudent mortgage borrowing being two and a half times first wage, plus one and a half times second wage).
This could be achieved: but only if landowners and property developers are not greedy and the buildings are not saddled with a £37,000 surcharge for a railway to compete with the existing regular and frequent bus services to Derriford and Plymouth.
Devon County Council needs to concentrate first on the dominant need of our communities — a significant quantity of easily affordable housing for our young people.
Nigel Tigwell
Wheal Lucky House
Rundlestone
Princetown