Further development around the edge of Newton Abbot, and a regional sports hub are among the proposals for major development in the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan, for which a draft policies and site options document has been produced.

It will provide the overall spatial strategy and level of housing and employment land required across Exeter, East Devon, Mid Devon and Teignbridge in the period to 2040.

A minimum target of 2,663 homes per year, or 53,260 homes over the 20 year period of the plan, is required to be built, with the overall need for development sites equating to 63,912 homes.

Existing planning commitments – either unbuilt homes with planning permission or sites in local plans – amount to about 33,390 homes, with the GESP proposing that about 18,500 of the homes are provided on strategic scale GESP allocations, with 12,000 to be allocated on smaller sites via local plan reviews and also potentially in neighbourhood development plans.

The document takes forward a scenario of allocating the majority of the 18,500 new homes in the region near to public transport infrastructure corridors and hubs to maximise opportunities to encourage more sustainable forms of travel by giving the highest proportion of residents a choice of transport mode to the key service and job locations.

A total of 39 strategic site options are considered to have potential for allocation in the GESP, although following consultation to inform the final version of the GESP, not all sites will be taken forward for development.

Among the proposals in the GESP include relocating the J30 motorway services in Exeter and the J28 Cullompton services to a ‘super service station’ near Poltimore in order to unlock the land at both sites for development.

Newton Abbot could see further expansion of the Houghton Barton site to the west of the town with an additional 1,750 homes, while a further 500 homes could be built on land to the south of the NA3 allocation.

A comprehensive pedestrian and cycle network within identified towns, including in Newton Abbot, Cranbrook, Crediton, Cullompton, Dawlish, Exmouth, Honiton, Teignmouth, Tiverton and the GESP allocations, will come forward at a later date.

Each council will be holding meetings to ask councillors to agree to the ‘draft policies and site options’ document and that a public consultation should begin in September. Exeter City Council will be first to decide at its Executive meeting on 7 July. Teignbridge’s Executive will consider the proposals and decide on 21 July followed by East Devon on 23 July and Mid-Devon on 6 August.