Totnes and the Liberal Democrat Legacy of Neglect

This isn't greening; it's neglect dressed up as progress

I recently treated myself to a weekend in Totnes, Devon; a liberal, eco-conscious market town that proudly proclaims its progressive values. I stayed at The Bull Inn, a beautiful, ethically-run pub serving exquisite, high-end food (their scallop plate, a single scallop, their whole plaice with herb and caper butter and hazelnuts with signature salad with pangratinata were worth every indulgent bite). They change the menu at every meal based on what's locally available and use the whole animal (or, in this case, fish). The town itself sparkles on the surface: independent shops, Saturday markets, bunting strung across the high street; everything you’d expect from a Liberal Democrat stronghold.

Totnes sits within South Hams District, which the Lib Dems took control of in 2023. The branding of the town screams progressive optimism; but scratch beneath the surface, and signs of mismanagement begin to show.

Directly opposite The Bull is Rotherfold Square, a once-functional ancient cattle market now posing as a public park. What I encountered was not a symbol of eco-sensitive regeneration, but a square in slow decay. Graffiti covers walls and junction boxes. Weeds crack through every pavement edge. Faded bunting droops over old, worn furniture. A local hacked at tree branches with no council in sight to maintain the place; and chucked the branches into the bushes. A bored jackdaw dropped a snail on my head. It was, quite literally, lifeless: no birdsong, no bees, one solitary struggling hydrangea.

This is not greening; it’s dereliction dressed up as sustainability. The supposed ‘rewilding’ is little more than abandonment. It mirrors what I see daily in Bath; community garden projects and ‘parklets’ full of litter, dying plants, and zero upkeep. I suspect the same hands-off approach is creeping into other towns like Stratford-upon-Avon.

In Totnes, the Lib Dems quite possibly inherited a thriving tourist spot as the shops seem to be almost all still open, and a highly photogenic town centre. But their version of stewardship; neglect disguised as eco-friendliness, is already turning civic spaces into ghost gardens. Rotherfold Square is their legacy in miniature: a town square that could bloom, left instead to wither.

Totnes or Havana? Faded bunting, cracked paving and overgrown foliage in Rotherfold Square. Residents, and the superbly optimistic Bull Inn (behind the trees) deserve better than this.

A bold coat of paint can't disguise the mess; cluttered junction boxes, graffiti and cracked paving define the square's reality.

Neglect creeps in quietly; weeds in the paving, peeling posters on the information board and a pile of decaying foliage left by a resident gardener.