BUILDING houses and flats on land close to Crediton Road, Okehampton, would contravene an existing covenant to prevent any development on the site, claims the town council.

Stonelodge Developments Ltd from Newton Abbot, has applied to build nine houses and three flats on a narrow parcel of land at Link Road, near to the hospital.

But the town council says it would be contrary to an original covenant that said the land must be retained 'as a landscape area' when the site was transferred from the then owner to Devon County Council in 1998.

The town council wishes to retain the land as an open space, landscaped and planted with trees.

It had previously objected to the plans on the grounds that the parcel of land was not included in the District Local Plan as an infill site and that it would be a loss of a green space in the town centre. It said it would have a visual impact on the area and neighbouring properties as regards overlooking/privacy and it also had concerns over road safety in the busy Crediton Road/Link Road area.

An appeal was lodged on November 13, 2008 against a decision by West Devon Borough Council to refuse the application. The Planning Inspectorate made a decision in favour of the developer on December 10 last year.

Inspector Mike Robins noted that the site had a restrictive covenant associated with it.

He wrote in the appeal decision: 'This is a legal matter and not one that is before me for consideration. I have considered the matter on its planning merits and nothing in this decision takes away the legal rights or responsibilities that any party may have in respect of this legal agreement.'

But those opposing the scheme say that to build on the site would be totally to ignore the expressed directive of the covenant.

Kay Bickley, the mayor of Okehampton, told the Times, that it was the duty of the council to protect the green spaces in the town from such development.

She said: 'I think there is a very high level of annoyance among the town council that the covenant has been ignored. Why bother putting in a covenant on land at all if it is just totally ignored?'

Cllr Bickley said the town council wanted a 'straight answer' from the county council as to why it appeared not to be objecting to the lifting of the covenant. 'So far we have not had a satisfactory answer,' she added.

The county council was asked for its recommendations on the impact of the development on highway grounds.

In a letter to the town council, Joe Deasy, the county's area engineer north for highway management, said: 'The advice I have concurs with the view of the planning inspector in that the covenant is a legal matter rather than a planning one.

'I am advised that the planning appeal decision to permit the use of the land for development, together with the current local plan designation of the land use for mixed development, supersedes earlier planning decisions associated with this land.

'Further, I am advised that an order for the county council to uphold the covenant would undoubtedly be challenged as unreasonable in view of the planning appeal outcome.

'The cost of seeking to enforce the covenant would exceed any damages to Devon County Council and as such would not be seen as a good use of council resources.'

West Devon's planning committee will be making a complaint to the Planning Inspectorate following the appeal decision to allow the development.

The plans came before its committee on May 15 last year and were refused.

Councillors turned down the application because the site was an existing open space that they said should be retained. The scheme, they said, was overly dense and cramped and the development would be detrimental to neighbours and to the character of the area.

At the committee's last meeting, councillors said they were 'aghast' at the appeal decision and took the exceptional step of instructing officers formally to complain to the Planning Inspectorate.