CALSTOCK Parish Council has been told to hang fire on its neighbourhood plan at the eleventh hour to look again at affordable housing for local people.

Resident Steve Matcham told councillors many in the parish had never heard of the plan, which has been in development since 2015. He said housing need figures were out of date, and people should be consulted again. In just a few weeks, the blueprint for development up until 2030 is due to go to a final vote in the parish. Mr Matcham said they were ‘sleepwalking’ into approving it.

He told parish councillors on Tuesday last week: ‘The plan should be fully and openly presented to the parish and they should then be given the opportunity to question the data and the councillors by means of a public meeting and exhibition. At the moment the response from the parish clerk to such a direct question is that it is now too late to make any changes at this late stage. This does not represent democracy to my mind. This is one of the most important issues, which over time will directly affect many aspects of life for many residents. One has to question why the parish is not prepared to put the evidence back to the residents before they embark on voting in a referendum.’

Parish council chairman Cllr Jim Wakem, reponded: ‘There is no reason why members of the public should not be aware of this because we held consultations held in every ward in the parish.’

Cllr Alastair Tinto, chair of the neighbourhood plan group, said: ‘If we halt the neighbourhood plan now we have to start the process back at the beginning.

‘I am confident that we consulted more than we actually needed to. We have thought this through carefully and any delay would undermine the status of the neighbourhood plan.’

He said Calstock had taken more of its fair share over the past decade, including affordable housing in the new developments in St Ann’s Chapel and at the Market Garden development.

He said: ‘There are 3,000 houses in the parish and in the last decade there have been over 400 permissions granted. That is an increase of 10 per cent in the housing stock, and the neighbourhood plan decided that the pressure on the housing infrastructure was such that we would not be allocated any more market housing.’

However, he added: ‘The neighbourhood plan isn’t saying no to any future development. It has created development boundaries around the settlements and is saying outside the development boundaries this will not be supported. I understand that people who own land in the open countryside might want to build on it but the neighbourhood plan is trying to strike a balance.’

Cllr Mike Greenwood said: ‘Several years ago we were invited to take part in a call for sites. Most of the sites that have been built on in the last few years have come forward through the call for land. It is through that we have got the land at St Ann’s Chapel and the Market Garden for the houses that are being built now. Some people didn’t want anything done but we supported this development because there was such a demand (for more housing). We will support suitable sites when they come up and when they are in the right place.’