Villagers in the historic rural settlement of Westleigh in North Devon are facing a planning appeal brought by the Christie Estate, which wants to build a cluster of new houses in the village on a site that locals say is highly unsuitable for numerous environmental and heritage reasons.
With the backing of Devon CPRE, the local charity that campaigns to protect Devon from inappropriate development, last year residents successfully opposed an outline planning application to construct nine houses just outside Westleigh’s conservation area. Residents made well-argued objections to North Devon District Council, saying that the construction phase alone would ‘cause havoc’ in the settlement of just 69 homes, threatening the precarious existence of the community’s WWI village hall, as well as the Grade-II-listed thatched dwelling known as Rock Cottage. They also said it would result in the destruction of an established Devon Bank hedge, a habitat frequented by ten species of bat, four of them endangered.
Last August villagers organised their own traffic survey of the narrow lane leading to the proposed development site because the applicant had not submitted traffic details with the initial outline planning proposal.
To the delight of villagers and Devon CPRE, North Devon District Council resoundingly refused the planning application, deeming it an unsuitable location for new open-market residential development that would not meet local housing need and would cause harm to the character and appearance of the area.
Now Westleigh is once again steeling itself for battle after the Christie Estate lodged an appeal against NDDC’s decision and submitted slightly modified plans, including reducing the house at the entrance of the development to a single-storey to make it less overbearing and to mitigate the impact on Rock Cottage. The matter was discussed at last week’s Parish Council meeting. It was resolved that the new plans would be examined closely so that parish councillors and residents can start to prepare their responses. All comments must be submitted by 4th March 2026.
Former North Devon MP Selaine Saxby spoke at the meeting. She said, “Our MP is now in the same building as Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who will consider the appeal. We should contact Ian Roome asking him to write a letter of support to express the strength of feeling within the local community, backed by CPRE.”
Concerns were voiced about the amount of green land that is being swallowed up locally for housing, and the possibility that the site could be taken on by a developer who would seek greater housing density. One resident asked, “Why should our village be desecrated because big developers aren’t putting in enough affordable housing on big greenfield developments?”
Devon CPRE Director Penny Mills says, “Westleigh is a very attractive little settlement that overlooks the Taw-Torridge estuary and is mentioned in the Doomsday book. Much of the village is designated a conservation area. Last year residents made it very clear that they think the proposed development of houses is inappropriate because of the location and the road layout. We agreed with them and so did North Devon District Council. It’s so difficult for small rural communities to make their voices heard because of their population size. We hope the Planning Inspector will listen to them as NDDC did, and the appeal will be turned down.”
