Letter HE - Bob Wyatt

Dear Editor,

The decision to refuse Bob Wyatt change of use planning permission for his house near Buckastleigh is perverse in the extreme.

Bob is a successful local businessman who has used these premises as a home and a base for his expanding business employing local people. We are not talking here about a conversion project - planning permission for that was granted years ago. We are talking about providing affordable housing and business premises for a local family in a rural community in which they have been active for years. We constantly hear about the desperate need for housing for local people - here was an opportunity to act which has been thrown away.

The irony is that Bob could buy a cheap flat elsewhere, declare it as his permanent home and then live in the barn all year round 'on holiday'! Where is the sense in that. This is a property that can be used 365 days a year by holiday makers, but not 365 days a year by a local family. To argue that 'lights can be seen from the A38' is one of the most spurious reasons I have ever heard for refusing permission.

I have been involved in this case since Bob's first application was refused, and I am disgusted with what has happened. Amongst the statutory duties of the Dartmoor National Parks Authority is one 'to foster the economic and social well-being of the communities within the National Park'. I hardly think that making a local family and businessman homeless is carrying out that duty.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Treleaven