Cranbrook appears to have won some sort of award for “planning excellence” from the Royal Town Planning Institute.
However, in its monthly newspaper, four couples who have moved to the town are asked what they would like to see there and their answers are all the same: shops and a pub. Many mention that they have to go to Sainsbury stores in Exeter or Ottery St Mary to do their daily, weekly or monthly shops.
How can you get an award for “planning excellence” when you design a town that doesn’t start off with shops?
There are towns smaller than Cranbrook with massive superstores put in because EDDC planners said they were “essential”. Planning excellence? Hmmm.
Oh, and they don’t have dog bins either it seems according to locals, though it does have quite a few dogs.
East Devon Watch 
When I went to Cranbrook, children were playing in the street, so it seems there is nowhere for them to play in safety and the gardens are too small to swing the proverbial cat. Abysmmal in my opinion.
And have you seen the number of houses they have crammed in? Looks more like a slum in the making…
Combine this with the lack of GP surgeries, etc. which has put additional pressure on resources all round. It would, therefore, be interesting to see the criteria used to judge this so-called “planning excellence”.
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