Former industrial sites on Dartmoor could provide new affordable housing

Research by countryside charity CPRE has revealed that several previously developed sites within Dartmoor National Park could help meet local housing needs without encroaching on the area’s protected landscape.

According to new data from Devon CPRE, seven brownfield sites within Dartmoor were identified in national figures compiled up to the end of 2024, with potential to deliver around 19 new homes. 

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In the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s latest 2025 Brownfield Register, now published on its website, there is updated information including active and permissioned sites that could support dozens of new dwellings.

The Dartmoor register highlights several brownfield locations, such as:

• The former Edwin Tucker & Sons site, where 23 new homes have already been built under a full planning permission granted in 2018.
• Land north and south of Station Road, Moretonhampstead, a redeveloped depot area now approved for 35 residential dwellings.
• The former Axminster Carpets site at Buckfast Mill, where future development potential remains, though previous permissions have now expired.

Other brownfield opportunities are noted in Buckfastleigh, Chuley Road in Ashburton, and parts of Moretonhampstead, showing that several once-industrial or underused plots are being reconsidered for sustainable housing.

Dartmoor’s Local Plan aims to deliver around 65 new homes per year, focusing on affordable and local housing to sustain communities within the protected landscape.

Penny Mills, Director of Devon CPRE, told The Moorlander: “The local plan for Dartmoor indicates they want to deliver 65 new homes yearly for local and affordable housing. Our data shows that almost a third of these rural homes could be delivered in the next couple of years using a ‘brownfield-first’ approach, some of them on land which already has some form of planning permission.

“This would ensure that more new homes are built closer to established communities and services, and would spare unnecessary construction on Dartmoor's precious green space, which is rightly under the highest level of protection in terms of planning.”

The CPRE report argues that prioritising brownfield land could regenerate underused sites, support existing infrastructure, and reduce the pressure on Dartmoor’s moorland and farmland which remain untouched. 

Nationally, the charity estimates that 16,706 new homes could be built in Devon on brownfield land alone, including 76,000 across the South West.

For Dartmoor residents, the findings may contribute to the ongoing debate about balancing housing needs with conservation of the National Park.

The National Park’s own policies encourage development within existing settlements, and the brownfield register, updated annually, provides transparency about which sites could be suitable for reuse.

The full 2025 Dartmoor Brownfield Register, including an interactive map of all identified sites, can be viewed on the National Park Authority’s website:

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/living-and-working/planning/planning-policy/background-evidence/background-evidence-and-research/towns,-villages-and-development-sites