Buckfastleigh Town

Fore Street in winter

Fore Street in winter

The historic mill town of Buckfastleigh and the neighbouring abbey village of Buckfast, can be found nestling on the southern edge of eastern Dartmoor in Devon just off the A38, midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth.

The name "Buckfast" means "stronghold" – traditionally a place where deer and buck were held, and "Leigh" would have been the pasture belonging to Buckfast – hence the meaning deer held in a pasture (buck-fast-leigh). Buckfast probably existed before Buckfastleigh as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book and in 1018 a Benedictine Abbey was founded and endorsed by King Canute at Buckfast.

Read more about the town here...

New SOUP Fundraising Event in January

On January 24th, a third SOUP will take place in the Town Hall.  The Town Council is inviting local groups or individuals to apply to pitch their idea on that evening.   Read more here.

RHS Britain in Bloom Results

Buckfast and Buckfastleigh achieved great success in this year's Britain in Bloom Awards.  Read the full results here.

Electronic Community Noticeboards coming to town

Buckfastleigh's first trial electronic community noticeboard can be seen in Searle's window.  More will be on the way....  Read all about it here

The second noticeboard can now be seen in the window of 'The Living Room' - the community hub of 'Be Buckfastleigh' at 55 Fore St.

Keep an eye on these to stay up-to-date with news and events around town.

Devon Climate Emergency

Devon County Council has set up a Net-Zero Task Force to develop a Devon Carbon Plan.  It is asking Devon residents to submit their ideas about how Devon can reduce its carbon emissions as quickly as possible.  Find out more and submit your suggestions here.

Climate Emergency

Teignbridge District Council (TDC) declared a Climate Emergency in April this year.  They are working with other councils on what this means and how Zero Carbon can be implemented by 2025 for the whole of Teignbridge.  Find out more about the meeting here.

Buckfastleigh Town Council has passed a 'Climate Emergency' motion aiming for our community to be carbon neutral by 2030.

As a first step we will set up a Citizens Assembly - a working group to recommend actions that will do three things:

  • Enable the Council to achieve this goal within its own activities
  • Inform, promote, support, encourage and resource our local community to implement actions to achieve this goal
  • Promote and campaign for action and legislation at all levels of government locally, nationally and beyond to achieve this goal

We cannot achieve this goal on our own and we will need to get our community and government on-side to have any hope of achieving it, but by committing to the process in this proposal we can make a start and show the way.

The group will have the support of the Town Council and they will attempt to implement its recommendations.  

If you are interested in joining the group, email:  <clerk@nullbuckfastleigh.gov.uk>

The motion can be found here

Walking for Health

Buckfastleigh Walking for Health is offering free easy guided walks every second Wednesday this year. Walking is the lowest risk of all physical activities, yet produces massive benefits to physical fitness and mental wellbeing. It is a great way to explore your local area, make new friends and learn more about your immediate community. The next walk is on November 20th and will go to Fore Stoke on Dartmoor (or Venford Reservoir in bad weather).  More info here

New Trustees Wanted for Buckfastleigh Town Hall

Do you have the time, passion, skills and commitment to become a new Trustee of the Town Hall? We are looking to set up a new board of independent trustees to work with the Management Committee and staff and wish to invite enquiries from people who can bring the following skills:

  • Design, development and improvement of community facilities
  • Fundraising
  • Marketing, promotion and event management
  • or do you just love the Town Hall?

Please contact Judith Hart the Town Clerk for an informal chat on 01364 642576 or email: clerk@nullbuckfastleigh.gov.uk for further information.

Be Buckfastleigh

Be Buckfastleigh is a new community project encouraging wellbeing to help create a happier and healthier place for all townspeople, based on developing activities for all ages to enjoy.  Ben Bryant from The Active Wellbeing Society will be running the project from "The Living Room" on Fore Street (Number 55), an access point for information about community initiatives.  It will provide a meeting space and place for workshops and skill shares, whilst giving opportunity for people to bring ideas and start up new active groups.  it will be open initially (from October onwards) from Monday to Friday between 12 and 4 pm.

To get involved or find out more about Be Buckfastleigh, please email ben.bryant@nulltheaws.org or drop into The Living Room for a chat.

Nominate your Recycling Hero

Revised Planning Application for Barn Park

A revised planning application for the site at Barn Park has been produced.  It includes changes to dwelling design and site drainage.  The revised documents can be viewed on the DNPA website here.  A summary of the Town Council’s reasons for objecting to the original planning application can be found here.  The Town Council discussed the application at its meeting on October 9th and has produced a new response objecting to the revised planning application, which can be read here.

Planning application for proposed care village at Buckfast Abbey

Buckfast Abbey submitted a planning application for a mixed use development through the conversion of existing buildings and new build of a care village with a communal facilities hub, extended retail provision, open space, landscaping and car parking at the Lower Mills site, Buckfast Road, Buckfast - further information can be found here. The response of the Town Council to this application is here

Proposed New Housing Developments

You can read here a current summary of the major housing developments in our town that are either currently being considered by Dartmoor National Park planners or are proposed.