AN application to build 13 homes in a ‘fiercely protected’ area of Lamerton has been refused by West Devon planners.

The outline planning application, with some reserved matters, for a mix of open market and affordable dwellings and access road on land at The Firs, Lamerton, was submitted to West Devon Borough Council almost a year ago.

Lamerton Parish Council unanimously refused the application and 16 letters of objection were received in relation to the plan, with main concerns highlighting that the site encroached into the ‘Green Triangle’ which was felt to be an important part of the village and needed to be protected and that Lamerton had ‘fulfilled its requirement’ for new housing.

The application was put before the West Devon planning committee at the end of last month and was refused for the scale, location and layout design and the inaccessibility of the site through distance to services, absence of pedestrian footways, speed of passing vehicles and a hostile highways environment deeming it to lead to a dependence on unsustainable transport forms.