Local environmental charity aims to protect county landscape
Devon CPRE, the local branch of the countryside charity CPRE, is launching a campaign at a series of county shows with the aim of encouraging people to become Devon Defenders.
The charity’s goal is to defend the countryside and the team took its rallying cry to Dartmoor’s Chagford Show earlier this week. They’ve been on hand at the Yealmpton Show in the South Hams and at last week’s North Devon show.
Defend Devon is an overarching campaign by the local charity to protect the county’s unique landscape. It’ll run alongside Devon CPRE’s long-standing ‘Grass not Glass’ campaign which is against solar farms on agricultural land.
The charity’s is further focused on combating the Rural Housing Crisis by campaigning ‘for the right kind of homes in the right places at prices our children and grandchildren can genuinely afford.’
Devon CPRE’s Steve Crowther talking to visitors to the stand at the North Devon Show. Image: Sharon Goble.
‘We’re taking our Defend Devon campaign out to county shows this summer because the kind of people who will back us flock to events like these,’ says Steve Crowther, Devon CPRE Chair.
‘It’s very clear from the hundreds of people we have talked to on our stand in recent weeks, and the new members we have recruited, that there’s widespread agreement that Devon needs protecting.’
‘Every year Devon CPRE fights more than 100 unsuitable planning applications to preserve our precious landscapes and farmland. Why? For several reasons.’
Use ‘world leading pasture land’ to produce food
‘We want our county’s world-leading pasture land used to produce food. It makes sense to put solar panels on rooftops and brownfield sites rather than on productive farmland.’
‘We also know there’s a need for new homes in Devon, but not just any new builds. What Devon needs are homes our young people can afford to live in, not more luxury boltholes that put real communities further and further out of the reach of the younger generation.’
‘If you care about these issues, love Devon’s incredible landscapes and want to protect them from inappropriate development of one kind or another, join Devon CPRE and become a Devon Defender.’
‘We need you alongside us to defend Devon and everything that makes it a wonderful place to live.’
Devon CPRE is making sure it stands out from the crowd with a bright new branded gazebo and eye-catching pull-up banners to encourage people to become Devon Defenders.
