Jackie Hook

Liberal Democrat District Councillor Bushell Ward Learn more

Bakers Park Proposals – Have Your Say

by Jackie Hook on 22 April, 2019

Bakers Park Planning Application

A planning application has been submitted by Teignbridge District Council for changes to be made at Bakers Park.

The details of the application can be viewed on TDC’s website. The application details are below.

19/00511/FUL

Bakers Park, Totnes Road, Newton Abbot, Devon,

College

Proposal:

Construction of a new pavilion, replacement fencing, extension to car park, new fencing around the tennis courts and resurfacing, and creation of two footpaths and installation of one lighting column for the Devon Air Ambulance Trust

I would urge you to take a look at these proposals for change, since they are significant, and if you are a regular user of the park, or overlooking it, I want to make sure your views are heard. The consultation deadline is May 8th, and the application will come to Planning Committee, most probably in June.

Some of the main details are an expansion in the size of the car park from 19 to 72 spaces, removal of trees, a new pavilion at the entrance to the park, a car park height barrier and a fence behind the pitch goal area.

I would be very happy to meet with any resident who would like to discuss these proposals in more detail. I have my concerns about many of them, but want to hear your views too. Email me on jackie.hook@teignbridge.gov.uk , or tel 01626 362070

   22 Comments

22 Responses

  1. Linda Purdy says:

    Not happy about destruction of nature trees

    Coffee to Go will be affected by these changes. This is a small local business which is a real asset to bakers park and it will be a real shame if these plans put it out of business.

  2. Jean hayman says:

    Don’t agree with extension of car park, not if trees are cut down don’t see the need for it, it’s a beautiful park as it is.

  3. Louise Cooke says:

    It is ridiculous to make a car park so large. No one will use it to go into town and there is no need for it. This park is in continual us3 and is an important green area. Research shows that these areas are vital for health and well being of residents. There is a pavilion there that needs renovating only.

  4. Nick Evans says:

    As soon as they make a big car park there will be a ticket machine for sure. What is the light for DAAT about?

    • Chris Coyle-moore says:

      Nick Devon Air ambulance are looking for sites around Newton abbot( and other towns) where they can land at night in an emergency, I think as a community we should welcome and support these applications. A presentation was made to town council recently.

  5. Jackie Hook says:

    Details re the DAAT Community Landing Site and need for lighting are detailed in link
    https://www.daat.org/about-community-landing-sites
    The lighting would be activated remotely by DAAT on the hopefully very rare occasions they may need to land at the park. There would be just one lighting column. No other works are required at Bakers Park to accomodate this.

  6. Nigel says:

    Yes this is what is needed at Bakers Park will make a massive difference. But would recommend that a full ccctv system is installed too

  7. Michael says:

    As mentioned by others, the extension to the car park is just another money grabbing exercise by Teignbridge Council and will almost certain have a ticket machine installed, the car park is adequate as it is.

    How about they spend some money on clearing weeds in and around Newton Abbot instead of wasting money on these hair brained schemes, the place looks an utter tip compared to other towns.

    • Jackie Hook says:

      Thanks for your comments Michael.
      Re. our untidy town in the town, I couldn’t agree more. I have lost count of the number of times I tackled the existing Council on htis issue, and I’m often sending in pics of litter strewn areas of town asking them to be cleared asap. On Thursday evening last week I was at the bottom end of Courtenay Park Road which was covered in litter which presumbly stayed there for the whole of the Easter weekend. What an appalling welcome to our town for anyone arriving by train. Other areas of town are regular litter hotspots. We proposed another litter hit squad at the last budget but the Tories turned it down. I run regular community ltter picks but I’m afraid we can’t keep up with the scale of the problem. Flip side of coin however, is that it isn’t the Council that drops the litter , it is the public, and we could save the Council the job if nobody dropped litter in he first place! Weeding used to be a County job, now due to budget cuts they don’t do this any more. As I’ve said many times before there is no need for austerity, it is a political decision, we are after all the 5th richest country in the world, and can afford quality public services, including mending potholes, and weeding pavements.

  8. Sammi Compton says:

    Bigger car park? Just another great space for the travellers to pitch up on or used by people working in town all day meaning no spaces for genuine park visitors. Removing trees not acceptable our environment is suffering enough! Revovate the old building that is already there and just put toilets in,these are what are needed. Leave the coffee and snacks to the established snack van that is already enjoyed by many.

  9. D Potter says:

    I agree with most of the others, that the trees should be left alone. The car park does not need to be bigger. There are already a toilet block available to be refurnished (rather than build a new one) and unless you put cctv up any pavilion is likely to be a target for hooligans. I think the council should stop fiddling with all our green spaces, as ultimately they ruin them rather than enhance them.

  10. Ian Russell says:

    Hi Jackie,
    Thanks for giving me the opportunity to have my say. Please leave things as they are. I totally agree with previous comments re the car park. There is no reason to extend the car park, vehicles regularly come and go with visitors/dog walkers. Unless people are inundating the council with problems about parking I doubt that it is a big an issue. I respect that it isn’t the biggest car park but I don’t believe it needs to be. I would imagine the only day the car park becomes an issue would be a Saturday when there are football matches. The whole park area does not need to change because of that.
    As we all know there is far too much development going on and with the green spaces disappearing we desperately don’t want to lose any more. The thought of trees being cut down is unbelievable, for a car park.
    The pavilion just needs renovating, for goodness sake the amount that it is used. This council must have money to burn with this hair brain idea.
    Good luck Jackie, I know you will passionately fight this ridiculous proposal. As for litter, please don’t get me started. Please let me know when the next litter pick is.
    Thanks
    Ian Russell

  11. Kathy horne says:

    myselve and family have lived in Newton abbot for years and it would be such a shame to see a well loved area of Newton abbot developed when it does not need it. I agree with other comments that it does not need a pavillion just re do the toilet block that our there and they took away, ref ended the tennis courts if really needed this is where my gran taught all her grandchildren to playand family has used the park for exercise for many years. I worked in a local school for years bringing children here for school outings and enjoying the safe wide area for games and learning. A large car park is not needed as a compermise perhaps make existing one a bit longer thus not taken away the green area and keeping this lovely quite area for locals to meet and enjoy

  12. kirk field says:

    For the fifth day running, the Council’s planning portal is not allowing people to reach the Bakers Park planning application to comment/object.
    The ‘search by name’ and ‘search by map’ facilities are not working.

    Furthermore this planning application is strangely absent from TDC’s own Facebook page. Surely this channel ought to be used by the council in the light of the website gremlins? They are keen to know our thoughts on dog walking numbers but not the destruction of beautiful Bakers Park. As a serving councillor can you look into this please?

    I did spot one sentence on the TDC facebook page which appears to contradict these so called improvements (turning grass into tarmac and chopping down trees = improvement???): are you ready….

    “As part of the Council’s ten year strategy, we’re committed to doing our bit to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint”.

    How does installing floodlights, creating a car park for 4 x as many cars and cutting down mature trees fit in this 10 year strategy?

    • Jackie Hook says:

      Hi Kirk,
      I’ve just managed to get on to the planning portal, but I can see that there have been issues re access, since there is a note from the Planning Dept, apologising. It is the case that the planning portal is unreliable, frustratingly it often seems to be “down” just before Planning Committee when Cllrs and others want to look at planning application details. It needs an overhaul for sure. Anyway it seems all is OK at the moment. The consultation deadline is now May 9th (1 day later than it was previously!!). I will suggest that they put details out on their facebook page as well. Given the level of objections coming in, I think there needs to be a major rethink of these “improvements”. If it is a Lib Dem run Council from May 2nd, we will withdraw the planning application and consult more widely. The idea of spending S106 monies in the park is a good one, but we need to spend the money to achieve real improvements. I was appalled to see a large increase in car parking but no cycle parking provision even though the new extended cycle route up to Ogwell, will pass through the park. My proposals at Full Council as you know, had been to approve the spending of the money but reconsult on how we spent the money. My suggestion was narrowly voted down.

  13. Karen Jenks says:

    I feel quite strongly that the DAA need a night landing site and know that this will not involve the cutting down of any trees. This amounts to life and death.

    • Jackie Hook says:

      Hi Karen,

      Yes I agree, I can’t see an issue with that, indeed agree it is much needed. Hopefully propoals for that can be progressed separately, and promptly.

  14. Holly Stephenson says:

    We have been fortunate to live very close to Bakers Park for over 25 years and the planned proposals will destroy the natural beauty of the iconic park. Parking can be an issue when there are football matches but if the plans go ahead and the pitch size is reduced, senior football clubs will be forced to play elsewhere and therefore the enlarged car park and pavilion will be redundant. It is interesting that Sports England have also objected to the reduced size of the football pitch and the pavilion. Concerns have also been raised by TDC’s agricultural expert concerning the removal of the 3 mature lime trees to facilitate the extension of the larger car park. At this time of great environmental concerns it is disappointing that TDC wish to spend over £700 000 on destroying green areas, existing trees and encouraging greater car use.

  15. Peter Kneebone says:

    There is absolutely no need for this massive alteration of the existing landscape at such expense.

    TDC should concentrate on refurbishment of existing facilities, along with introduction of a safe landing area for the Air Ambulance which the application suggests will be very infrequent and also ensure that the existing park is made more secure to prevent the illegal occupation of the park which has happened at times over the last 12 months.

    The proposed new pavilion, kiosk & toilet block will be an eyesore and block the view across the park as one enters Steppes Meadow. It will also give rise more anti-social behavior in a much closer vicinity to nearby residents.

    The 280% increase in parking spaces will lead to a very substantial increase in traffic movements along the single-track Steppes Meadow lane and there will no doubt be many more traffic incidents at the junction with the A381 especially with traffic from town turning right into Steppes Meadow.

    There are ample parking facilities within town within easy walking distance of the park and thus no need to increase the car parking capacity at Bakers Park.

    Bakers Park is a fantastic green area and your application as it stands threatens severe damage to it’s facilities.

  16. Diane Inci says:

    Renovation of pavilion and toilet facilities would be welcome, no need to spend money on new buildings, especially a kiosk that is only to be open for 3 months of the year. We already have a wonderful coffee and snack facility with Coffee to go. This small business is being threatened by the new proposals. I for one use Bakers Park 4 – 5 times a week along with many other dog walkers. It has become a great community at Bakers Park all due to Coffee to Go, Ly Ann has worked hard to build up her business and the community here and many people will be sad and angered if she is forced to leave

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