It will be the first new settlement in Devon since the Middle Ages, the council says.
Approval for the project, off Honiton Road in Rockbeare unlocks a 拢16.6m investment in the project from the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA). HCA is supporting 300 affordable homes and infrastructure work which will support the wider development of a further 700 private homes to be sold on the open market. The decision takes the total amount of money invested by the HCA in the wider Cranbrook development to more than 拢33.5m and the level of public sector funding in the scheme to around 拢56m.
Phase one of Cranbrook will create 300 affordable homes, to be jointly managed by Sovereign Housing Group and Devon and Cornwall Housing Association.
Steve Jackson, HCA area manager, who has worked closely with the consortium of housebuilders and East Devon District Council on developing the investment package, said: "Cranbrook is one of the most important housing and employment projects in the southwest and is rightly recognised as a top priority by the council.
"It has taken a number of years and a huge amount of effort from all of the partners to get to this stage. During that time, no-one has lost sight of the importance of this project and its potential to deliver much-needed new and affordable homes. Cranbrook will be a high quality mixed-use settlement, close to new employment opportunities and will support local economic growth.鈥�
Councillor Pete Edwards, leader of Exeter City Council and chairman of the Exeter and East Devon Growth Point Partnership, said: "The vision for Cranbrook is to create a self-sufficient, low-carbon new community close to skilled employment opportunities, encouraging people to use sustainable forms of transport and to reduce the need for them to travel between work and home by car.
鈥淭he challenge is to create an attractive and vibrant town, which combines the rich urban fabric of an historic Devon market town with the needs of a 21st century lifestyle; a town that responds to its setting and landscape and can be said to be 'of Devon'. The development of a free-standing new settlement has not been attempted in Devon since the Middle Ages."
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