A LANDOWNER has described his frustration at the latest stalemate over an affordable housing scheme for his village, saying his offer of land is still on the table.

Tim Cunningham offered a two-acre plot at Hammer Park in Brentor at a lower than market rate to build affordable housing more than 20 years ago. The scheme came closest to being built in the past few years when housing authority West Devon Borough Council decided to build the 12 homes themselves.

Now though, WDBC is considering abandoning the scheme, which had proposed to borrow £4.5 million to fund, along with another scheme at Lamerton.

This comes after £250,0000 in Government grant to West Devon, and a further £85,000 of borough council funds, which was used to draw up architects ‘ plans for the scheme

WDBC claims that the latest housing needs survey conducted in the Brentor parish in March showed that there was not a need for housing in the parish.

This is disputed by Mary Tavy ward borough councillor Cllr Terry Pearce and Brentor Parish Council, however. Tim, who runs a holiday and bed and breakfast business at his farm in the village, said his offer of the land at Hammer Park was still on the table.He offered the land because after arriving in the village back in 1987 because ‘it dawned on me that there was a problem for young working people finding housing’. ‘The fight has been consistent for 25 years,’ he said. ‘It is a very simply problem that everbody seems to be making so difficult to solve. It is incredibly frustrating.’ The holiday cottage owner and farmer claims he has not been contacted by WDBC since a meeting with its assets team in 2021, when it was put to him that the scheme would need to include four houses to be sold at market prices to allow it to go ahead.

He says he was not prepared to do it on that basis, as he wanted the properties to be affordable rented homes, specifically for people who work locally.

‘The problem is acute for young local people to live close to where they work.’

His site was one of nine sites in the village put forward when the Dartmoor National Park Authority put out a call for sites in Brentor back in 2014 to be considered as ‘exception sites’, where house building would usually not be allowed, to provide affordable housing for deserving locals. Four of these sites, among them Hammer Park, were considered suitable at the time.

Both Dartmoor National Park Authority and West Devon Borough Council are involved, the DNPA being the planning authority and WDBC the housing authority. Cllr Pearce said: ‘Originally only one of them was going to be open market with 11 rental properties and shared ownership, because at the time there had to one to cover the cost. That is going back to 2009 or 2010. He said he was mystified as to why WDBC had got cold feet about the scheme now, given the tens of thousands of pounds of public money had been spent in coming up with detailed designs. ‘I was expecting a planning application to be put into Dartmoor National Park Authority [the planning authority] any day now,’ he added.

Brentor Parish Council chairman Gary Hunt said: ‘Tim really is trying to do a lot for the benefit of the people of this village. He isn’t trying to profit from it. He has got a genuine desire to provide some sort of help to youngsters. It stems from someone who was working for him who had to move out of the village to find somewhere to live. I find it heartbreaking that we have got somebody who is genuinely trying to do something good in this day and age and he is being foiled every step of the way.’ A decision is due to be taken by WDBC’s hub committee on whether to continue with the scheme at their meeting on December 13.