ANGRY Okehampton residents gave an emphatic thumbs down last week when developers gave them the first chance to view plans for hundreds of new homes for the town. Concerns about increased traffic and the need for affordable housing were raised by nearby residents at a public exhibition of the plans. Councillors were also given a presentation outlining the scheme to provide 505 new homes on land between Exeter Road and Crediton Road, plus reserve land for a second primary school for the town. The development land falls within Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council, whose chairman, Derek Webber, said: 'We are disappointed not to see a relief road between Crediton Road and Exeter Road. 'We have got to give some serious thought to infrastructure and the road network. It is busy enough now. There are already rat-runs that people are cutting through to avoid going through the town.' Mr Webber said traffic was currently often backed up to the top of Exeter Road. He said the council would be raising the issue of traffic with West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council and local people should also make their views on such a large development known. He said: 'It is very important that if people went to see the plans last week and they have comments, that they register them. 'People should stand up and be counted. It is no good shouting about it afterwards.' County councillor for Okehampton Rural Christine Marsh said although she would also like to see a distributor road between Exeter and Crediton Road, it was a case of what could be 'reasonably asked for' from a land developer. She said: 'It is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Each development in the next 25 years will put in a piece of the puzzle, and when it is completed hopefully we will have what we want in terms of our playing fields, our roads, our housing and industry.' She said councillors for the area would be pushing with each new parcel of land identified for housing to ensure Okehampton got as much of a community contribution as it could from each development. The 15.4-hectare site has been allocated for development in the West Devon Local Plan, and, in view of its size, a supplementary development brief was put together. As well as identifying land for a second primary school, the scheme also reserves land for public open spaces and the first section of a future eastern distributor road for Okehampton. Residents of Baldwin Drive were also unhappy about the plans unveiled last week, which would see their road used as an access route to the new development. Robert Herbert, who lives in the road, said the public exhibition had been a 'farce' lacking in 'sensible discussion' with the views of residents which had been put forward at a previous meeting in May having been completely ignored. The format of the exhibition, held in the Charter Hall last Thursday to let the public see the plans, did not escape criticism either. Former Okehampton councillor Joan Pauley said the exhibition had been a 'waste of time' and demanded that given the scale of these proposals a public meeting be held. 'We should have a public meeting to tell people what we think,' she said. Bob Dunnett was one of a group of local people who helped put together a town design statement for Okehampton, which was recently recognised by West Devon Borough Council. The document sets out local people's key principles for the sustainable future development of the town. Mr Dunnett said he was surprised that when he presented a copy of the document to the organisers of the public exhibition, they confessed it was the first time they had seen a copy. Mark Crosby, from Consensus, who organised the event on behalf of the developers, said he had been surprised by how well attended it had been. He said: 'We have had 250 to 300 people. In our experience, that is a much higher than average attendance for a consultation event.' Mr Crosby said: 'There were two issues that local people raised above any other: concern about the impact the new development would have on existing traffic flows into the town, and the type of affordable housing that the scheme would generate. People particularly wanted to see a mix of uses, some rental accommodation and some shared equity.' Mr Crosby said the next part of the process was to take the feedback received on the day and report it to the developer Persimmon. An outline planning application is likely to be submitted at the start of next year.