The Dawlish MCTI Plan Area

Dawlish Market and Coastal Towns Initiative (MCTI) Plan area comprises the electoral wards of Dawlish Central, North East and South West and includes the town of Dawlish and the villages of Holcombe, Dawlish Warren and Cockwood. The Dawlish MCTI 'Healthcheck' contains a vast amount of information about the area and is available from the DCT office and on the web site. Some of the key statistics are set out below.

Dawlish is only twenty minutes from central Exeter by train, thirty five minutes from Exeter by car and forty five minutes by bus. In 2001 the resident population of the area was 12,546 a ten percent increase since 1991. One third of the population is over sixty years old and seventeen percent is under sixteen. Five thousand residents are employed, many outside the area. The main employment sectors are the public sector (35%), service industries (29%), manufacturing (8%) and hotels and catering (8%). There are no large employers, employing two hundred or more, in the area. Unemployment is 4%, but hardly any new full time jobs have been created in the area over the last few years. The average house price in Teignbridge has risen by 70% over the last three years and now stands at £222,000. (8/07)

Although Dawlish town centre has a good range of shops, rents for retail and industrial premises are static and no new retail or industrial floorspace has been built for some time. There are around five vacant shop units at any one time in the town centre, and Dawlish has recently lost a number of local independent traders and two major banks have closed. There have also been conversions of shop premises to residential use. There is a shortage of car parking in Dawlish town centre and traffic congestion on town centre roads is a particular problem, especially in the tourist season. Dawlish has a museum, library and the Shaftesbury theatre but no central community centre.

The Plan area contains three areas of distinct landscape character, the River Exe estuary, the Haldon Ridge and Ashcombe Valley, and the coastal red sandstone belt. These provide considerable variety and interest for those visiting the area. The River Exe estuary and Dawlish Warren Sand Spit are wetlands of international importance.

The Plan area contains five conservation areas - Cockwood Harbour, central Dawlish, Oaklands, Holcombe and Luscombe estate and there are seven County Wildlife Sites - Church Hall grounds, East Down, Langdon Fields, The Old Beach Huts, The Parson and Clerk, Roundhills and Smallacombe Heath. There are 150 listed buildings or structures in the Plan area and the South West Coast Path passes through the area.

Download a map of the Dawlish MCTI Plan Area (in PDF format)

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Dawlish Community Trust, Room 7, The Manor House, Old Town Street, Dawlish, Devon, EX7 9AP :: Telephone (01626) 866803