A very rough summary of findings

At the Ockment Centre

The overwhelming majority of people talked about Hog’s Wood as a habitat for nature. They wanted to maintain, preserve and cherish it as a natural, untouched wilderness for the future. They talked about its rich biodiversity and the wild space which has grown up as nature has reclaimed it. Everyone talked about protecting the site and wanting to mitigate the proposed development. The importance of protecting the existing trees (both mature and smaller) was also high on the agenda.

Any potential development would need to maintain its importance as a wildlife corridor, and to enable access to people’s gardens for wildlife.

Many people also mentioned its importance for children, through being a wild play area, camps or activities for kids, the potential for a playground, and education about biodiversity and access to green spaces, as well as it being a ‘secret garden’.

People also felt strongly about maintaining the existing access to parking, both the informal and council-owned parking spaces.

They talked about it being (and the potential for it becoming more of) an alternative green space in town to Simmonds Park, and it ‘keeping Dartmoor close’.

The local community wanted to have a voice and potentially maintain ownership of the site, and professed interest in cleaning it up and maintaining it. They also talked about the history of the space as allotments, and potentially reinstating this, or having community growing within the site.

They supported developing a small area of the site for social housing as long as it was very sensitively done, and with clear community involvement in the entire process.

There was also talk about wanting influence over the planning process, and talk of how the groups will manage this. There was mention of how this will fit with the Neighbourhood Plan.

People were concerned about why this site should be developed when there is so much other development around Okehampton, especially when this site is so rich in biodiversity.

For the planning, people raised issues such as having runoff problems with water if the developer doesn’t take account of the nature of the existing site; that it would be expensive to develop as it’s been found as unsuitable for development in the past (Bovis homes failed to develop it previously); there are underground streams/aquifers; the site is wetland (very boggy) in parts; its impact on nature and biodiversity; not wanting a ‘concrete jungle’