Thorverton Community Action
Thorverton Community Action Group is here to help residents in our village
It’s time for Thorverton to make its voice heard.
Wain Homes have submitted their planning application (Planning Ref. No: 26/01201/MFUL - Land at NGR 292110 102080 Lynch Road, Thorverton, Devon) to build 66 houses on the Lynch Farm site and time is very short for all the necessary and effective comments and objections this project so richly deserves. These need to be submitted to the MDDC planning portal by 13th November. We know this full application for 66 houses relates only to part of the land. Part has been retained which might allow for another 30+ houses in the future.
Let’s do everything we can to ensure this application is rejected. Not because we do not want new housing in our village, but because we don’t want what we love about it spoilt by the large-scale and unsustainable development proposed.
What motivates us is not what motivates the developer. They do not have our interests at heart.
66
Proposed houses
13.11.26
Objection closing date
200+
Objections needed
The number of objections count, short or long! Just object and say why, even if others have said a similar thing. Objections can be submitted online via the MDDC planning portal or by post at Development Management, Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Phoenix Lane, Tiverton, EX16 6PP. Every adult in a household can object.
Please note, filing an objection through the MDDC planning portal is the only official way to make sure your voice is heard. If you previously submitted a response to the online consultation, please do so again through the official channel.
Suggested considerations to add to your objection. Draw on these, don't just copy.
MDDC LOCAL PLAN
There are a number of significant conflicts between the Wain Homes application and the current Local Plan in particular affordable housing allocations, settlement boundaries, countryside and landscape policies. The site lies outside the defined settlement boundary and represents an unjustified and unsustainable expansion into open countryside. The Wain Homes development is a profit driven speculative scheme putting profit before people.
EXCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT
66 homes is a large-scale development in a small rural village and inconsistent with Thorverton’s traditional character and constrained infrastructure. The scale conflicts with MDDC Policy S13 in the Local Plan. It will increase the number of households in the built-up area from approx. 350 to 416 - a 19% increase and a 20% population increase from approx. 1,000 to 1,200. There is disproportionate visual and physical harm with this development including the negative impact on the historic landscape, the iconic Raddon Hills and ridgelines, open rural countryside, archaeological features and the village’s unique character and setting, including listed buildings and conservation areas.
UNSUSTAINABLE LOCATION
The site is car dependent due the distance from rail stations, shops, colleges, employment, health services, cinema, sport, theatre and limited public transport. There will be considerable additional pressure on local schools, doctors, roads, utilities, public open space and other services. Fundamentally, Wain Homes have failed to provide any adequate mitigation. Thorverton Primary and Pre School is at full capacity with no room to expand and the branch of Redlands Primary Care provides limited services on a part-time basis. There is no village shop and the Exe Valley Farm Shop is a 1.4-mile car journey away. Thorverton is an isolated rural location with very limited bus services making nearly every resident dependent on a car. Car mileage will be substantial. The average number of vehicles per household in the Southwest is 1.4. Allowing, say 1.5 for this development due to the need for a car to reach virtually every basic need (supermarket, health, leisure, shopping etc.) and we are a 16 miles round trip from these amenities (at least). Then 66 x 1.5 x 16 x 365 = 578,160 p.a. A village survey evidenced an even higher daily mileage which, if replicated, would add 785,000 miles p.a.
AFFORDABLE HOMES ALREADY IN THE PIPELINE
Land for an affordable housing development of 15 homes has already been allocated. It will be delivered in Silver Street by Thorverton Community Land Trust in partnership with MDDC, Hastoe Housing Association and The Church Commissioners. This follows a full Housing Needs Survey and evaluation by Devon Homes Choice, commissioned by MDDC.
HIGHWAY SAFETY
There is significantly increased danger to pedestrians and cyclists, as it is impossible to walk or cycle safely to any part of the village from the development, due to no pavements or cycle paths to the narrow junction of Lynch Road and Bullen Street. Vehicle capacity and visibility at this splay is extremely poor. There is daily congestion along Bullen Street due to the inadequate width of the highway and increase in vehicle movements in recent years, including vans, large delivery lorries, buses, tractors and trailers as well as the Leonard Close development. This designated conservation zone with its listed traditional cob and thatched cottages, cobbled pavements and resident’s parked cars is totally inadequate to meet the increase in modern day traffic. Bullen Street simply cannot accommodate this unsustainable development, vehicle movements and emissions, made much worse by heavy construction traffic in a 2-year build. Wain Homes have not provided the results of the traffic survey undertaken in July 2026 specifically including highway pinch points, choosing to use their January 2026 survey deliberately to distort their planning report.
LOSS OF PRODUCTIVE AGRICULTURAL LAND & BIODIVERSITY
A green field site, it has been classified as Grade 1 agricultural land and comes within the classification Best & Most Versatile land. To protect this from irreversible loss, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), does not permit BMV land to be used for housing development and does not meet statutory consultee, Natural England criteria. There will be loss and damage to hedgerows, mature trees, ponds, wildlife corridors and protected species or habitats. Wain Homes have failed to provide a suitable biodiversity net gain or adequate ecological surveys which properly address the rich habitats and hedgerows, bats, dormice, nesting birds and protected species.
SEWAGE, FLOODING & SURFACE WATER DRAINAGE
South West Water Sewage Treatment Works on Silver Street, constructed 70 years ago in 1956, is already at full capacity due to Court Barton and Leonard Close housing developments. In recent years, there has been an increase in discharges totaling 150 hours into the River Exe in 2025 and 17 recorded sewage spills. Residents have also reported raw sewage coming up the drains in their homes including Bullen Street. With increasingly prolonged periods of heavy rainfall and surface water run-off due to Climate Change, the antiquated SWW village sewage and drainage system to the treatment works cannot cope. There is frequent flooding on Lynch Road next to the development site due to excessive downpours and poor drainage. The proposed development sewage pipe crosses the Recreation Field (owned by the Thorverton Parish Council) before joining the village infrastructure from which there will be a real risk of significant river pollution with raw sewage entering the River Jordon (village stream) and Exe as Wain Homes have neither provided sufficient evidence nor demonstrated remedial mitigation to prevent this negative impact from happening.
Have your say!
Submit your objections via the MDDC Planning Portal
To view all documents relating to the proposed development Application Summary
To view MDDC Local Plan
Download our posters
Make a donation
Your continued support is a real boost to the volunteer team. If you can contribute time, knowledge or money, please reach out tcagroup55@gmail.com
If you would like to donate to Thorverton Community Action to help fund the campaign
Thorfest C.I.C
Sort code: 08-92-99
Account number: 67539556
Reference: TCA
