RESIDENTS at Mount Ford in Tavistock are up in arms over plans to develop a wooded patch of ground next to their houses.

The threequarter acre site between Tavistock Hospital and Ford Street is owned by Plymouth Community Health Trust, which bought the land around five years ago.

It now wants to sell the land with planning permission for a dwelling. The Trust says the move is necessary as the Government requires it to get 'value for money'.

But the only access to the steeply-sloping site is via narrow Maudlins Lane and a right of way across Mount Ford Cottage's gardens.

Resident Sara Batten said: 'I am incensed about it — I am so concerned about the safety of the children and old people that use Maudlins Lane which has no pavements and comes out onto a dangerous junction.

'There are a lot of people coming down Maudlins Lane with buggies — what are they going to do if they meet an articulated lorry? It's actually quite a busy pedestrian lane.'

She and her neighbour, Theresa Lawson, have drawn up a protest petition, totting up 250 signatures in the first week of their planning battle — she said they are also being supported by the Council for the Protection of Rural England.

Mrs Batten said she could not understand why the health authority had bought the site in the first place, given the difficult access to the land.

'Didn't they do any sort of feasibility study?' she asked.

Mrs Batten said the land had important environmental and historical value. Owls and bats roost in the spot once used as a graveyard for a leper hospital which stood on the site of Mount Ford cottages, she said.

'Once that land is gone it's gone forever — we would like to keep it as a conservation area — there are so few green spaces left in Tavistock,' she said.

A previous planning application was rejected because of access and 'a proliferation' of septic tanks. But in a report for next Tuesday's planning committee, officers are recommending approval of the latest plan.

They say any development would be connected to mains drainage and there are garages on site which invalidate highway objections.

Mrs Batten said the garages are derelict and have never been used — they were there when the last application was turned down.

'Access has not changed,' she said.

Theresa Lawson said: 'I just feel it's going to cause so much danger to the children who use the lane — it's going to be chaos.'

Mrs Lawson was also concerned elderly people who live in the Browne Memorial Almshouses on Launceston Road could be exposed to danger as they use the lane to get to the Spar shop and post office on Ford Street.

Jim Tyler, of Plymouth Community Health Trust, said the Trust was bound by a previous health authority decision to exercise an option to buy the land — now it was required to achieve 'best value' by selling it.

He said: 'I can understand people are concerned, but we are only talking about one dwelling and it will develop an overgrown area — we have had representations from residents before about security in that area.'

Mr Tyler said the decision on the land would rest with the planning authority.

'If we didn't get planning we would have to look again at what it could be used for — being a public body we are bound by the Treasury to get value for money,' he said.

The original intention was to use the land for hospital car parking but following talks with the Highways Department it was decided it would not be practical.