A REPLACEMENT community hall at Meldon, which received opposition in the village, has won planning approval from Dartmoor National Park.
The project was awarded a lottery grant of more than £230,000 in April to replace the 70-year-old dilapidated building for the Okehampton Hamlets community but some locals were concerned about the increase in size and the lack of parking spaces.
Following a site inspection by members of Dartmoor National Park, the authority approved the application with a condition that a tree preservation order be made on the adjacent mature beech trees.
Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council raised concerns about the car parking facilities which would accommodate only 37 vehicles. The relationship of the site to the majority of the parish on the other side of Okehampton was also highlighted.
Villagers said that with only a handful of residents in Meldon, most people would use their cars to get to the site and narrow country lanes did not mix with a busy community hall.
Planning officer Colin Jarvis said although the building was bigger by 60 square metres to include toilets, storage and a kitchen, the actual hall area was virtually the same size.
He said members accepted this was purely a replacement hall for one that already existed. On the basis of that and the availability of extra car parking area on land immediately adjacent to the building, if needed, it was granted permission.
Chairman of the Meldon Village Hall Committee said on a previous occasion that the building had to be bigger to meet health and safety standards and most events would attract around 20 to 30 people.
'Everybody has worked so hard to get a new hall and hours and hours have been spent doing business assessments so we can run the hall after it is built,' he said.