AN EXCLUSIVE healthy living and therapy centre at South Tawton has been given the go-ahead by planners but restrictions have been put on the level of therapy that can be offered.

In order to address concerns from local residents planners agreed that no more than 25 per cent of people attending the centre at the former Wood Country House Hotel in one year will be there for the purposes of receiving therapy or counselling.

West Devon Borough Council's planning committee has granted approval on the condition that the principal use will be as a 'healthy living centre' which comes under a C1 classification covering hotels.

Local people feared that if the centre was given a C2 classification, which covers all residential institutions from old people's homes to bail hostels, a very different kind of operation could be run there in the future.

At a recent parish council meeting concerned residents requested an ancillary use of C2 so if anyone wanted to alter the level of care, therapy or counselling in the future they would have to return to the planning authority for further consent. At the planning committee's meeting on Monday this was made a condition of the permission.

Applicant Sue Woodford, who is a member of the group behind the proposals, explained that the centre would be very high quality and exclusive and clients would be coming from Europe and The States.

'The people who come here will all face some kind of life-crisis and it is about renewing their lives,' she said.

A variety of treatments would be on offer from aromatherapy and massage to equine therapy, workshops and training.

Miss Woodford said this was a long-term project and Wood House would be the first of a group of healthy living and therapy centres throughout Europe. Devon had been chosen because it was 'extremely beautiful' and the Grade 2* listed property and gardens would both be restored to a very high standard.

Miss Woodford told the committee the project group would have preferred to have greater flexibility regarding the classification so they did not have to turn people away who were asking for help.

'It is not going to be easy — we will have to turn people away or put them on a waiting list. We will have to monitor the situation,' she said.

Cllr John Darch said the parish council had arranged to discuss the implications of C1 and C2 that evening (Monday) and had invited a planning officer to speak on the subject.

He proposed that the application be deferred for a month to allow further comment from the parish council, which had supported the plan in principal, and comments from Devon Highways, but this was lost.

Cllr Noel Cartwright said all the authorities had had the statutory amount of time to submit comments and he did not believe there was a strong enough case to defer it.

'I would like it to go forward as soon as possible — it is a very good scheme which is going to preserve this house and gardens,' he said.