Compulsory land powers could be used to unlock Crediton’s 750-home Parks Farm development

Plans for a major new housing development on the south-western edge of Crediton appear to have taken another significant step forward.

Devon County Council has added a new item to its forthcoming decisions list concerning the “compulsory acquisition of land and rights at Parks Farm to facilitate the Parks Farm Residential Development.”

The notice was published on the 6th October and says a decision is expected on the 10th November.

No compulsory acquisition has yet been approved, and the publicly available notice does not yet identify precisely which land or rights could be affected.

But its appearance is significant.

This is a development which Devon County Council’s own procurement documents say is expected to bring forward more than 750 homes.

From farmland to a major new development

Parks Farm sits to the south-west of Crediton.

Devon County Council and the Symes family have been working together since 2020 to bring the land forward for development, according to the council’s own procurement documents.

Those documents describe approximately 56.52 hectares of Devon County Council land, alongside a further 6.675 hectares belonging to the Symes family, and say the development is expected to deliver in excess of 750 residential homes.

This is therefore not a small development. At more than 750 homes, Parks Farm would represent a substantial expansion of Crediton.

And the project has already moved considerably beyond somebody simply drawing a boundary around fields on a map.

Devon County Council has already agreed to dispose of the land

In April, Devon County Council’s Cabinet declared 152 acres at Parks Farm surplus to its operational requirements and authorised its disposal for future residential development, subject to planning permission.

Officers were also authorised to negotiate agreements with neighbouring landowners, including collaboration arrangements, joint planning arrangements and eventual sale agreements needed to bring forward a coordinated Parks Farm development.

The council simultaneously increased its 2026/27 capital programme by £1.7 million, funded through borrowing, for costs associated with obtaining planning permission and bringing Parks Farm and another development site at Markham’s Farm near Exeter to market.

Now comes the prospect of compulsory land powers.

What does “compulsory acquisition” actually mean?

It does not mean Devon County Council has decided to compulsorily purchase somebody’s property.

At this stage, the council has published notice that a decision will be considered concerning the compulsory acquisition of “land and rights” required to facilitate the development.

Major developments can require land or legal rights beyond the main development site – potentially for things such as access, roads, drainage or other infrastructure.

Exactly what Devon County Council wants the powers for should become clearer when the report supporting November’s decision is published.

But it’s notable that compulsory acquisition is now formally part of the project’s decision-making process.

The professional team is already being assembled

Devon County Council has also been spending money assembling the team needed to prepare an outline planning application.

A planning consultancy contract was awarded to Planning Potential, with the public contracts register recording an awarded value of £83,350.

Separate procurement notices show a £160,000 master planning contract awarded to Lacey Hickie & Caley and a £125,000 engineering consultancy contract awarded to Ridge and Partners. Both explicitly relate to supporting an outline planning application for Parks Farm.

In other words, this is no longer merely being assessed as somewhere houses might theoretically eventually be built.

Work is being commissioned specifically to get it towards an outline planning application.

There are some fairly large questions to answer

Mid Devon’s latest Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment already identifies some of them.

The council’s assessment says access through Barns Park has capacity problems and would not be suitable for development on this scale.

Alternative access around Fordton is possible, but concerns have been identified around the level crossing.

Mid Devon says a site of this size would require a full transport assessment and master planning exercise. The latest information supplied by the site’s promoter suggests up to 750 homes could be accommodated based on an assessment of the junction improvements required.

There are environmental considerations too, including hedgerows, woodland, priority habitats, wildlife and public rights of way across or around the land.

So 750 homes on a plan is one thing, but getting 750 homes, their residents and their cars successfully connected to Crediton is another.

And the timing is interesting

Only this week we reported that Mid Devon is about to formally begin preparing Plan Mid Devon, the new Local Plan intended to shape development across the district towards 2046.

Parks Farm already appears in Mid Devon’s 2026 land assessment.

But inclusion in that assessment does not itself allocate the site for housing or grant planning permission. The HELAA is evidence about whether land may be available, suitable and achievable for development; decisions about which sites should actually be allocated come through the Local Plan process.

That leaves an interesting situation.

While Mid Devon is only just beginning to write its new long-term planning rulebook, Devon County Council is already spending money preparing an outline application for one of Crediton’s largest potential housing sites – and is now preparing to consider compulsory land powers to help deliver it.

What to watch next

The date to put in the diary is the 10th November. That is when Devon County Council currently expects the compulsory acquisition decision to be made.

Before then, a fuller report should reveal the important thing: what land or rights the council believes it needs to acquire, and why.

For a development capable of adding more than 750 homes to Crediton, that is worth watching rather closely.