A PLAN to build four large homes on land originally intended for almshouses for the poor and elderly in Whitchurch has been thrown out by a planning inspector.

Local residents, who hired a planning consultant to fight the appeal by Marshall and Browne Memorial Homes Trust against the refusal of planning permission, were celebrating a victory this week.

West Devon Borough Council's planning committee refused the application for Churchill Road last November, against the officers' recommendations, on the grounds of over-dominance, the detrimental effect on neighbours' amenity and for being out of character with neighbouring development. That decision has now been upheld by planning inspector Neil Pope.

Resident Catherine Forde said she was overjoyed by the news.

'It means so much to myself and the other residents surrounding the site but it also meant a lot of many other people in Tavistock,' she said.

'The proposal for large, detached executive houses with balconies on land intended as bungalows for the elderly, was nothing short of an outrage.'

She praised local councillors Ted Sherrell and Mandy Govier for their support and Stephen Gill, who was employed by the residents to fight the appeal.

'There is no doubt that it was Stephen's efforts which led to this magnificent victory against what seemed like insurmountable odds,' she said.

The land at Churchill Road was the last piece of the 11 acre site donated by local man John Marshall in memory of his wife 117 years ago.

Members of the memorial homes trust said the application was necessary to raise investment income to produce funds to maintain its 16 existing almshouses and complete another development nearby.

Although it was considered that the homes proposed were contrary to the purpose for which the benefactors meant the land to be used, members of the planning committee were informed last November that moral issues were not material planning considerations and the proposal could not be turned down on this basis.

It was the inspector' s view that the proposed development would pay 'scant regard to the local distinctive qualities of the area' in terms of the Victorian terraced houses in Whitchurch Road and the adjacent late Victorian semi-detached memorial cottages.

He also said it would result in a harmful outlook and loss of privacy for the occupiers of 5 Marshall Close.

Stephen Gill said he was thrilled with the outcome on behalf of the local residents, but also for the wider public interest.

'This is a massive victory against a poorly conceived and unsympathetic proposal by the trust,' he said.

He added that it was not a case of nimbyism, because local people were not against the site being developed in the right way.

Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'This is excellent news. One hopes that this land will in the future be used for the purpose envisaged by Mr Marshall — provision of homes for those many elderly folk who do not have the means to buy their own homes.'

Russell Woolcock of the Marshall and Browne Memorial Homes Trust said: 'Obviously we are disappointed — we will have to consult the architect and the trustees will be meeting next month — until then, I can't say what will happen next.'