AN application to build a large 22-bed extension to a Mary Tavy nursing home has been deferred by Dartmoor National Park?s planning committee. The application is for permission to build the single storey extension at the rear of Blackdown Nursing Home, in an area currently part of the garden. The extension would provide an additional 22 bedrooms, a dining room and two lounge areas and would be dug into the rising ground, to lessen its impact on surrounding countryside. Planning officers recommended the scheme should be granted at the committee?s meeting earlier this month, but members decided the application should be deferred to allow further information into the business usage of the site to be obtained. There have been several objections to the scheme from people living in the area. One resident, Dr Roger Page, said the new building would be clearly visible from moorland at Gibbet Hill. Dr Page said currently, the building was barely visible behind a hedge, but he claimed the application allowed for the removal of the hedge, which would mean the building and extension would be in clear view from the moor. The application will be returned to the committee when it meets on March 4.
