Dawlish News

The large trees in the surgery car park seem to be being cut down to the ground. Dont know how many and they look healthy. I assume its Teignbridge doing their usual deforestation to save on sweeping the leaves up.

Surely the £35k a year climate change officer at teignbridge  council could enlighten you.

Council votes  to allow  felling of a 300 year old oak tree  to allow the construction of 20 houses in Starcross........................wonder how this sits with he £35k a year climate change officer at teignbridge  council

From what I've read it seems the council's hand was forced on this issue in Starcross because the only other way of accessing this site was by way of land owned by someone else. What is known as Ransom Land. So......the tree at Starcross is needing be felled either because the owner of the Ransom Land does not wish to sell or wishes to sell but only at some ridiculously extortionate price.   

So who is it who owns the Ransom Land?    
 

I've just been reading the report on Devonlive about this Starcross oak tree issue. At the bottom of the article are several comments. Here is one of them:

"So a self serving landowner would prefer to see a 300 year old tree cut down rather than permit access through their land? Or are they open to access but at an opportunistic greed price?

This is an unacceptable loss due to one human's belligerence and/or greed. Why are the counil allowing themselves to be bullied by greed? Other people have had compulsory purchase orders made on land they own. Why not this individual?

We urgently need to review the primacy of land property rights in this country because all too often, the interests of an entire community are trumped by one individual landowners 'rights'. In the case of felling an ancient tree, it is not only a sad and unnecessary loss for the community today, but also that of future generations. Councils should stop propping up this behaviour by bending to it at the first opportunity."

why blame the landowner ? if its his land then its his right to do what he will with it. The more serious issue is probably the council want money from the developer but couch it in terms of needing more houses built for the community.

True - whoever owns the land can sell it or not (although they do not necessarily have the right to do with it whatever they want). But by not selling it, or not being agreeable to selling it at a reasonable price, then the consequence is that the only other way to access the land in question is to cut down a 300 year old tree. 

So some might well say that the tree having to be cut down is as a result of not being able to buy the ransom land. 

"money from the developer" - which developer is that?   

Some might also say they should look elsewhere to build the houses.

That presupposes that there is alternative land available.

On the subject of who it is who owns the ransom land. I found this . So it seems it is not an individual who owns the ransom land but a developer.  Who took over Broseley? Find that out and it seems we might find out who owns the ransom land.

‘We had hoped to access the site from Parkers Road, where there is already an access point to the field boundary,’ Cllr Connett added.

‘However, the developer which took over Broseley, which built the Parkers Road development, have a “ransom strip” on the hedge.

‘Unfortunately, as I understand it, satisfactory terms could not be reached with the house builder to access across their ransom strip.’

http://www.dawlishnewspapers.co.uk/article.cfm?id=109167&headline=Praise from councillor for housing scheme&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2018

And a quick online search reveals the following: Broseley was sold to Trafalgar House in 1987 and integrated into Ideal Homes.

Ideal Homes was sold to Persimmon in 1996.

Ergo.......?

What has happened to the proposals to convert the old job centre in newton abbot into accomidation?

Perhaps the council should  get the finger out on this issue rather than whinging about  access to land to build flats.?

And oh wouldn't it be such a delicious irony if the value (quite literally) of the ransom strip was effectively wiped out by this recently approved housing scheme going ahead (being built by Templar Homebuild Ltd I believe) and achieving access from a different aspect (albeit at the cost of a 300 year old oak tree.)