How it Started

How did we come together as a group?

A resident of Dartington called local residents together. A space was created for local voices, and it was clear there were still unresolved feelings about the plans to build in the neighbourhood.

There is a heart-felt wish to be able to welcome people into an expanding community, alongside a strong sense of anger that we have not been fully and properly listened to. We wish to strongly challenge this development with heart, and the term 'Heart of Dartington' was coined.

What are we trying to achieve?

We wish to send a signal to SHDC, Dartington Trust, and Developers that we will hold them to account for not listening to the needs of the local community and environmental concerns. We wish to challenge Dartington Trust on the impact of selling off greenfield sites in the heart of Dartington.

There was a hope that SHDC and Baker Estates would meet us prior to Judicial Review, alongside heritage and design experts who should have been properly consulted in the first place, to mediate a better outcome. There was a hope that the case went to Judicial Review and potentially quashed the final planning decision, so the unresolved design aspects could be properly addressed.

We wish to create community events, in community spaces, that celebrate this area, that we are all custodians of and responsible for.

To engage in conversation.

To engage in collaboration.

To model a more authentic community consultation.

When, as a community, we are clear what it is that we value most, when we speak, our voice must be finally be heard.

The Broom Park Field/ St Mary's Development that Started it All