Housing developer spends £400,000 on new home for 10 rare birds in Torbay

Developers have to carry out measures to make up for wildlife habitat loss under planning rules

By

Edward Oldfield

14:31, 10 MAR 2020

Councillors have approved plans for a new housing estate in Devon which include the developer paying more than £400,000 to create an alternative home for rare birds.

Torbay Council’s planning committee voted in favour of the detailed plans for 187 homes on a site on the edge of Paignton at Yannon’s Farm, south of Yalberton Road off Brixham Road, which already had outline permission.

As part of the scheme, the developer Barratt Homes (Exeter) Ltd is paying £437,500 to provide an alternative breeding habitat for five pairs of cirl buntings, a rare finch-like bird once common in the south of England but now only found in south Devon.

There will also be an area of 2.5 hectares of open land to the south of the housing site to provide a habitat for one pair of the birds, with the developer contributing towards monitoring the land for 25 years.

Developers have to carry out measures to make up for wildlife habitat loss under planning rules.

Continued