WEST Devon Borough councillors last week rejected an application to site six luxury homes on partly wooded land in the Upcott Valley on the north western fringe of Okehampton. The applicants had wanted to build six detached dwellings and two detached triple garages on a strip of land across the stream from the Herons Brook housing development. The revised application by Pearce Construction Ltd, of Barnstaple, was for two two-storey and four three-storey properties, each with five bedrooms. Local residents wrote to oppose the application, citing risk of flooding, effect on wildlife and the loss of a number of mature trees protected under Tree Preservation Orders among their reasons. Members of the planning and licensing committee held a site meeting earlier last month, and at last week?s committee meeting in Okehampton, they voted against the officer?s recommendation that the application be delegated to the head of planning to grant on receipt of a formal comfirmation of acceptability of flood risk assessment from the Environment Agency. Councillors refused the application on the grounds that the scheme extended beyond the development boundary and there was inadequate information available to them relating to the risk of flooding.
