5,000 new homes, a relief road and help with flooding could all be coming to Cullompton.

Mid Devon Council has submitted a bid to the Government for support in delivering a new garden village development.

The development would be built on land to the east of Cullompton. 

Garden Village status will assist in the delivery of the town centre relief road and J28 improvements badly needed in the Cullompton area.

The bid seeks a package of financial assistance, opening up the potential to deliver these highway improvements earlier.

It also seeks additional support for funding a feasibility study into a new railway station for Cullompton. If successful, the Government indicates that access could be granted to wider road and rail capital funding programmes.

The bid identifies opportunity on land to the east of Cullompton for a garden village development of a scale up to 5,000 dwellings in two phases.

It envisages an initial phase in line with the Council’s Local Plan Review and the emerging neighbourhood plan.

The council’s Local Plan Review identifies land to the east of Cullompton as a suitable location for strategic growth and includes a draft policy for the allocation of mixed use development, including 2,100 dwellings with at least a further 500 post 2033.

In addition, a neighbourhood planning exercise for Cullompton is well underway and is considering further growth on land to the east of Cullompton in order to support community infrastructure.

A second phase over the much longer term could be considered within the context of future policies, with the potential to bring the total number of dwellings to 5,000.

The bid recognises that there is potential within that part of the district for growth beyond the council’s current plans and that of the neighbourhood planning group.

The bid also provides an opportunity to consider water management on a larger scale in order to help address existing flooding in the Cullompton area.

This would be to the benefit of existing and future residents of Cullompton and the surrounding area.

Councillor Richard Chesterton, Cabinet Member of Planning and Regeneration, said: “If we are successful in our bid, it makes the likelihood of delivering the Cullompton town centre relief road and improve junction 28 of the M5 more certain within a shorter timeframe.

"This bid is in line with the Council’s Local Plan Review and the emerging neighbourhood plan and will support growth in the Cullompton area and bring much needed new housing for local residents and workers”.

In making the bid, Mid Devon District Council received support from Cullompton Town Council, Cullompton Neighbourhood Plan Group and the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Cullompton Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group said: “We believe that obtain Garden Village status would help us ensure that the new development within the Parish will deliver the environment and housing appropriate to our needs and setting and help to match infrastructure needs to the rapid growth of our community”.