The S.W.I.M.B.Y. event went tremendously well at Dartington Village Hall on Saturday 8th October. The evening of entertainment focussed on theme of 'Something Wonderful in My Backyard' (SWIMBY) and was packed with up to 80 people, and with an auction of promises raised almost £2k for the Heart of Dartington campaign.

This is actually a good moment to thank Susan Ring and her team of solicitors for Hodge Jones & Allen, who were able to waive some of the fees due them from the community when we were unable to progress the Judicial Review. A huge thankyou for their support and also to the local resident who risked everything, on a low family income, to challenge what is still felt to have been poor planning process by South Hams District Council and very poor consultation by Baker Estates. Development is about to start very soon with work starting on Monday 17th October on the Sawmills site.

This is also a good moment to thank everyone who pledged and donated via the CrowdJustice platform for your substanitial support. During the last 3 months a sum of £5,444 was raised and paid to cover the cost of the barrister and a proportion of the solicitors costs. On Monday 17th we will formally close the Crowdjustice fundraising page, and we would invite you to join us in continuing to challenge insentive planning and development in the Heart of Dartington by joining us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426298301148686 or our email list at [email protected]. We have many community events to come and will continue to hold people and organisations to account with your help.

The SWIMBY evening was nimbly facilitated by poet Matt Harvey, who wore many hats, 'compere', 'poet', 'auctioneer'. We had wonderful poetry from Beryl the Feral and Tom Hirons. All three are local to Dartington. Mark Jeffreys then sang us two fabulous songs. One he recently for 'Heart of Dartington' and he also shared a song about a young boy's relationship with nature.The community wrote this wonderful poem together on the theme of "In my backyard..." which was put together and read by Beryl the Feral (her performance of this poem we hope will soon be on our facebook page)

"On the rocky road to Dartington" (A Community Poem)

In my back yard
A flurry of friends, a world of wild, the laughter of my children
No concrete in my back yard, but mice and bats and hedgehogs
I want to see the moon and the stars
Sweet trusting hedgehogs visit every night,
So timid that I only dare to listen, not go close
In my back yard walnuts wobble off their tree
Weeds pleasing to my eyes
The robin waits for me to open the kitchen door
So s/he can fly indoors for breakfast?
Who pooed, is it fox?
Its not squeaky squelchy hedge hogs!
In my backyard..
The hedgehogs are humping,
The noise is quite scarey and sets my heart thumping
In my back yard a river runs through
And bats
And owls
They Twit and Twoo
Swollen berries, bursting fruit, hedgehogs merry, owls hoot
3 lovely dogs doss in my back yard
And there in my back yard is an apple tree
The weeds grow tall, to feed the small (insects!)
The spider sups a cup of dead bee soup
Blue tits chirping sweetly
Layers of years of growth and fecund fungus,
Warm and soft
Ramshorn snails in the little pond play hide and seek
A sunflower reaches for the sky
Wild, wonderful, wicked, western winds… and weeds
Infinite ever green edibles cascading through communal kitchens
In my back yard… I want elvin shelving
Happy times making beer in my garage…
Children hunting for Easter eggs
A washing line full of frilly pants
Somewhere to eat in the sunshine
I sing and swim
There are lots of lovely people, trees, and other beings
In my back yard there is peace and time to ponder
A hammock between two trees
In my backyard of my dreams there will be no FENCES, just Wildlife. Full of Heart and Joy
Affordable housing for the locals in need
Community owned wind turbines producing electricity in my backyard
I long for a compost toilet
In my backyard I can talk as much as I like!
Moon rising over a precious land
Betwixt and between
Caring, looking out, drawing in
Darkness and Silence

There is a lot of heart in this community, and we hope you will join the Heart of Dartington in standing for the values of community, biodiversity, heritage etc.. and in in heartfully but strongly challenging Dartington Hall Trust, South Hams District Council, and us all, to be more aligned with the needs and dreams of the area.

HUGE thanks go to the HoD team who worked tirelessly to put on the event. Thankyou for all the creative artists who contributed to the evening, thankyou to the community who gave generously through attending, through some extra donations, and through the auction itself. Thanyou to Dartington Village Hall for helping us have a great venue, And thankyou also to Dartington Parish Council which contributed to expenses.

And with this last email from the Heart of Dartington Crowd Justice platform, we would like to thankyou in particular for your financial support which kept us going when we felt under considerable pressure.

It is a while since there has been an update, and we are still in need of financial support to pay our debts to solicitors, South Hams District Council and Baker Estates. And there is a little reprieve as it seems the Judge didn't receive SHDC responses in time and therefore there are things to sort out on the repayment front. 

But thanks to your support and the input of many local people the Heart of Dartington is taking on a wider remit and new inspiration. It would seem that the common impulse is for custodianship for community and the land, and so people are becoming activated in all kinds of ways. Quite a number have felt motivated to join the Parish Council and some to become involved in the neighbourhood plan which is an important avenue to engage Dartington Trust who are also part of the Dartington community and yet are not acting 'communally'. 

If you don't do social media then do get involved by contacting us via [email protected] and let us know your interests.

There is an upskilling and increase in knowledge of local issues and how planning and local government work. There is a strong wish for things to be done better and to a much higher standard and for people and organisations such as SHDC, Baker Estates and Dartington Trust to be firmly held to account around their impact on Dartington. 

Heart of Dartington Events are being planned, in part to raise funds, but actually these are becoming inspiring community building events:

1. 'Something Wonderful in My Backyard' and evening of Poetry and an auction of promoises with Matt Harvey at Dartington Village Hall - 8th October - Please send any promises we can auction to [email protected]
2. Young Peoples 'Heart of Dartington' Design Event - with Katie Jurgens and permacultural friends - Date TBC
3. Curry Night - Planned for November Date TBC
4. An evening on Horshoe Bats - Date TBC
5. Community Conversations about Dartington - Various dates to be confirmed
6. Open Forum around the Heart of Dartington - This will be a facilitated open forum welcoming all views and voices from the community, local organisations and the land itself. This is currently being planned and worked on.
7. Local Heritage event
8. Bioblitz
9. Open Gardens Event - Planned for May 2023

Do watch our 'What If...' film which challenges Dartington Trust on living according to it's ethos. This can be found on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426298301148686/permalink/1462255817552934/?sfnsn=scwspmo&ref=share. Do join us on our Facebook group if you use Facebook.

( or by direct link here https://www.wevideo.com/view/2768348778)

(Special thanks to Chris Edwards for these photographs of Week Village)

Please help us by donating via our CrowdJustice fundraiser - OR by forwarding this message to others who may be able to help. We still need to raise £8k to cover costs.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/heart-of-dartington/

@heartofdartington (instagram)

www.heartofdartington.com

The Heart of Dartington is developing the community conversation about the Heart of Dartington, and holding Dartington Trust, South Hams District Council, and Baker Estates to account around their impact upon the area.

#heartcentered #heritage #design #sustainabledesign #sustainabledevelopment #community #transition #somethingwonderful #landrights #learning #arts #ecology #progressive #newideas #socialjustice  #natureconnection #villagebuilding #values #holisticbuilding #devon #dartington #symbiosis #directaction #story #multigenerational #innovation #climateemergency #support #heartofdartington

The Heart of Dartington has not lost heart, 

We were not able to progress to the Judicial Review, and that now means we have approximately £8,000 to raise to cover the costs of our Solicitors/Barrister, South Hams District Council and Baker Estates (for their responses). Baker Estates by the way wanted to bill our complainant £15k for their response!!

On this Crowdjustice fundraising it would be fantastic if you could help us raise another £3,000k as this will pay off the claimants legal fees. We stand behind him and his family fully as a community campaign. The other £5k we will try to raise through community events and other fundraisers. 

All is not lost though. The huge efforts that have gone into this campaign has made many of us realise how important it is for the community to have a voice. This voice is overidden by poor planning processes, poor consultation, lack of community cohesiveness, the POWER of money and institutions, and government policies. We are now moving towards; more community involvement in local government, considering a Citizens Assembly for the area, helping to bring the Neighbourhood Plan to completion as this can be critical to shaping the future of Dartington, and organising events for community relationships and interactions. 

We still wish for dialogue and collaboration with Baker Estates and Dartington Trust. We also plan to hold them to account. Dartington Trust on it's stated ethos and principles, and Baker Estates on it's business model and practice. 

Please help us relieve the financial yoke and move on by contributing to this crowdfundraiser, and/or forwarding it to friends, supporters and social media. Everything makes a difference. Thankyou

Our website is: heartofdartington.com , Instagram @heartofdartington, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426298301148686/

CrowdJustic crowdfunder https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/heart-of-dartington/

Email us with your ideas, questions, or to offer support [email protected]

Dear supporters, 

It was dissappointing to receive the news this week that the Judge has not granted a judicial review after reviewing the claim and responses from South Hams District Council and Baker Estates. We are not clear that the judge actually received the full and detailed further response from our barrister as the detailed points raised are not referred to in the judges ruling. 

Our community campaign team spent some time deliberating about whether to appeal this decision which would have been possible, however we are unable to take the financial risks to do so. The claimant then made the decision to no longer pursue the claim. The claimant is fortunately protected by what is known as 'Aarhus' which caps the liability to cover the costs of the defendants to £5k. These costs were stated as £15k by Baker Estates and £4k by South Hams District Council. The judge found the Baker Estates costs to be excessive. 

This means that the campaign will continue to support the claimant to cover the costs of £5k and there are further costs incurred which we will work to repay to the solicitor firm and the barrister. 

So... fundraising continues, and if you are able to support financially or in any other way, we are grateful. Even your messages of support are very helpful to us.

Our target is now £8k. We hope to raise this through a mixture of Crowdjustic pledges, and then we will soon be announcing a programme of fundraising activities based around 'The Heart of DArtington'. 

The campaign continues and remains focussed upon looking after the Heart of Dartington. This 'heart' might represent the heart of any community and bioregion, as it resonates with so many other community concerns around development across the country at this time. 

We intend to continue to challenge what we consider to be poor practice within the local authority around planning, and to promote positive and inspirational approaches to development and planning. We also share concerns about the incongruence of Dartington Trust's values and how they are not reflected in land sales impacting the wider community. 

Thankyou for your support so far,

Mark O'Connell for Heart of Dartington

Dear Supporters,

Firstly, let us express our gratitude for the amazing support which has been given in this campaign. We are 93% to the £5k target, with just £350 to raise by friday midday in order for the funds to be released. If we don't reach the target all the pledges will be lost, but we are confident we will get there of course. After this friday the fundraising continues as we in fact need to raise £13k , so there will follow community activities in the Dartington area for months to come. Exciting things and we will message soon about what is planned...

It is probably worth explaining again what you are contributing to and what stage we are at. In April we gathered as a community campaign called 'Heart of Dartington' to support one local resident who was raising a claim (for us all) against the South Hams District Council challenging how the planning and consultation process had been followed. This is a legal challenge for a Judicial Review and the decision will be taken by a Judge by 25th July (so very soon). We gathered many facts and legal information for the Judge to review. Information was first sent to SHDC and Baker Estates, who responded, we then provided a great deal more information in response to this response, and the Barrister last weekend compiled a very impressive response from the claimant with our support. By the way there has been huge effort put in by the team scrutinising videos of the Reserved Matters committe meeting, and also examing the flow of planning activities and how SHDC and the Planning Officer followed (or didn't follow) the due process.  The Barristers response was impressive and there is a positive feeling at the moment about the likelihood of being granted a JR. 

Alongside all this legal process it is important to say something about the deeper reason for this campaign. We want it to be a powerful challenge but also with HEART, thus it's callled 'Heart of Dartington' . There are deep and strong feelings and relationships amongst us with the land, within community, and also many or most of us live in this area with a long standing tie to the history and legacy of the area, including the innovative approach of Dartington Hall Trust, although many of us feel it has lost it's way and is putting finance ahead of it's true ethos. One notable factor is that Dartington Hall Trust has a very differnt approache to sustainability and social justice within it's immediate boundary than it demonstrates towards the wider community and the land it owns (i.e. Broom Park). So there are strong concerns about how the land came to be sold to Baker Estates in the first place. We are therefore concerned to hold Dartington Trust to account on it's own principles and the spirit of Dartington and the Elmhirsts legacy. 

There then follows the concerns about the planning and development process. Baker Estates desciribes itself as a local organisation focussed on creating 'homes' for people, however we have strong concerns that they are driven by profit, and that their approach is minimally responsive to the real issues of the time. There is a great need for really affordable and sustainable housing in the area. There will be an argument from Baker Estates that this campaign is frustrating their wish to create affordable housing, however lets examine what this really means in practice, a small proportion of houses rentable through a trust and mostly crowded around the busy road. The 70% remaining houses, who are these for? Who will be able to buy them? What does this mean for the local community. 

Those of us who have attended the site consultation and planning committee meetings with SHDC and the planning officer have been greatly disturbed by the lack of real concern for community and environment. Our local authority needs some challenge to hold it to account. Is it not there to represent the interests of the local people and environment?

We have already achieved community relationships and cohesion. WE will have many community events upcoming. And hopefully we will challenge SHDC at court. 

Thanks for your support so far, and if you can help us get this over the line and further that would be great. Please pledge if you can or pass this to friends or others who may be able to contribute. And just come along and get involved. 

The Heart of Dartington Team

Dear Supporters 

We have been going a bit slow recently with the funding. Maybe everyone is out enjoying the sunshine and getting into the summer. But nevertheless we have already had 48 pledges for £3,700 towards the target of £5k. We must reach that target or all the pledges are lost in one go. 

So we are 74% there, and need a further £1,300 to reach the target. At this point the pledges automatically go towards the solicitors and barrister who have been working on this case, and that will be a great relief to us all. 

There are  9 Days left to reach this target.

So what has been happening? Well the claim was sent originally and now South Hams District Council and Baker Estates have both responded to the claim. We don't think that their responses sufficiently counteract the claim made that the proper levels of expert consultation around heritage was sufficiently carried out at the Reserved Matters Committee meeting at SHDC. There was a very informal attitude around heritage reports at this final meeting and a lack of rigour at the Site Visit witness by the community. But a judge will be making this decision by 25th July. Our fingers are crossed...

But we want to put also the wider picture. This claim has brought the community together. There are very strong feelings within the Heart of Dartington about how land sales and planning applications and the planning process takes place. There are strong feelings of anger, and grief, but there is also apathy and hopeless locally. Alot of people feel worn out in challenging and stating objections and not feeling they are heard or are effective. And a few have felt heard. So this campaign is really also about bringing the community together to look after the heart of Dartington. In this respect it links strongly with other local iniatives such as Save Dartington, Don't Bury Dartington Under Concrete, and the Atmos Project. All of which seem to wish for something better for the local community. Indeed this creeping urbanisation and building on greenfield sites is taking place throughout the UK at this time. We are keen to concentrate on inspiring ideas for how the community can work together with Dartington, with the local authorities and even with developers for much higher standards and more inspired approaches to affordable housing and creating community. This is a big ASK, but also why not make it. We would welcome coming together with other local campaigns and finding the common ground in raising the bar for the area.

So we are setting up a bunch of inspiring local events under the heading of 'Something Wonderful in My Backyard'. Open garden events, Poetry with Matt Harvey, music from Skidaddle Jazz Ensemble, a BioBlitz, Apple Pressing, and Children's Permaculture Design event (this coming weekend at Meadowbrooks). Please look out for leafets and join our facebook page or instagram - Heart of Dartington.

What can you do to help now?

If you have any means to pledge more. That would be fantastic

If you can't pledge more but want to support in any way then please write to our team at [email protected]

Also you can write comments in our FB and Instagram posts and forward these to friends and people who maybe be able to contribute. Help us widen the scope of this campaign and bring in more energy. We know there are many people who feel connected to the Heart of Dartington and have been inspired by the area..

Thankyou

Mark O'Connell

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1426298301148686/permalink/1426460197799163

Instagram: @heartofdartington

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your pledge. We now only have 15 days left to raise the remaining target for the case to challenge South Hams District Council and Baker Estates.  Also to send a message to Dartington Trust that we wish for more accountability to the community in selling off land. We want more accountable and inspired approaches to the land and more relationship with the community.  We are triggering this through a claim for a Judicial Review from a member of the community who we wish to support.

We can't do it without your help!

It would be amazing if you could:

• Send this email to anyone you think might support our case, and
• Share our link on Facebook: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/heart-of-dartington/.
• If you use social media then please join the conversation at the NEW and PUBLIC Heart of Dartington Facebook group.  https://tinyurl.com/4bnc3h9c or instagram page @heartofdartington . Liking, sharing and commenting on these pages builds the interest and conversation.
• If you don't do social media, then please talk with your neighbours and come to events. We would love to see you.
  .

Best wishes,

Mark O'Connell from the Heart of Dartington

Dear supporters 

Within less than a week of setting up the crowdjustice funder there have been 33 pledges and £2,360 raised. There are 24 days to go. We hope to hit the baselie target of £5k within another week and then we need to keep raising funds in order to get this the proper attention it deserves. 

Please rest assured that your pledges go straight to paying for the legals services to move this case towards Judicial review. 

Also to let you know that this campaign is generating wonderful community interactions and many of us are getting to know one another better, which is great. 

In the meantime there will be events and much conversation online if you are partial to social media at all (some of us arent). 

Please join the conversation at the NEW and PUBLIC Heart of Dartington Facebook group.  https://tinyurl.com/4bnc3h9c

#heartofdartington challenging South Hams District Council Planning decision by Judicial Review (we hope), and having a community conversation about the Heart of Dartington

Also if you are more of a visual person do follow us on:
@heartofdartington (instagram)

The website: www.heartofdartington.com

(Image: H Jacoby)

Thankyou from the Heart of Dartington Team

We wish to thank everyone for the great support coming in. And incredible conversations in the local community about how people were inspired by Dartington to live here in the first place, and concerns that the Heart of Dartington is being ransacked by poor consultation and planning process. Consider development over the last 50 years. Consider the difference in design and buildings from 50 years ago until now.... We think there is worsening trend ... 

Sherwood Close in Staverton - Read about 'Sustainable Staverton' https://www.staverton.org/neighbourhoodplan/housing-type-definitions/ - This close is nestled more sensitively in the heart of Staverton.

Hunters Moon in Dartington - Hunters Moon was designed by Dartington Trust founders the Elmhirst and the houses have shared play and community spaces. Community composing continues to happen. HM residents challenged Dartington Trust to give them charge of the land. 

Cavanna Homes have now built in the heart of dartington 

And now Broom Park/ St Marys development by Baker Estates in the Heart of Dartington - use your imagination on this one...

If you would like to help us in any other way or receive a newsletter please let us know at.

[email protected]

Thankyou at this early stage of the campaign and raising of funds for your quick support. To help us further can you let people you know and think may be supportive know what we are working on. 

To protect the Heart of Dartington, by challenging the poor planning processes by South Hams District Council, and then to push for much improved plans that would lead to better outcomes for people and the environment. This is the plan as it stands. There are many concerns about how the public and experts have been, or not been properly consulted.