OKEHAMPTON Town Council and the Hamlets Parish Council will be meeting on August 21, to discuss the ?new structure plan? for Okehampton?s future put forward by West Devon Borough Council. According to the plan, a further 650 homes will have to be built in Okehampton by 2026. This is in addition to the 500 new homes proposed for the site between Exeter Road and Crediton Road, which are currently being considered for planning approval by West Devon planners. The ?new structure plan? also earmarks an area of between 6.5 and 10 hectares of land on Okehampton?s outskirts for employment and retail use, a link road, and community facilities. Several different possible sites for the new homes and commercial developments have been proposed by West Devon Borough Council in their ?Site Allocations? document, and these will also be discussed by the town and hamlets councils at their meeting. Okehampton Town Council and the Hamlets Parish Council will be holding a special public meeting in the Charter Hall on August 30. This is in addition to West Devon?s Public Consultation Day on August 23, and is intended to allow the two local councils to gather public opinion before formulating the town?s official response to the strategy, which they have to submit to West Devon by September 6. Okehampton mayor Tony Leech said that the town council is planning to structure the public meeting this time by having individuals write in letters with their questions and queries about the plan. These letters will be taken in turn during the evening, and there will then be a short session at the end of the meeting left for an open forum. ?We must have a structured response to this plan is we are to have any chance of getting West Devon Borough Council to change their minds,? said Cllr Leech. ?Unless we can force a public enquiry, this will be the last chance to make a difference, so please, if you cannot attend the planning department public consultation then attend the meeting on August 30 or write to the planners now.? While the 650 new houses for Okehampton are still in the early stages of planning ? and still at the stage where it is easiest to lodge objections ? a site visit was held earlier this month to view the land off Exeter Road where 500 new homes may be built much more imminently. West Devon and Okehampton Town councillors both visited the site. Mr Leech added: ?You can understand why people in the area don?t want the land built on. The views there are lovely, they really are, but the site was allocated as development land years ago.? And West Devon Borough Councillor Edna Hicks, who also viewed the site, added: ?It?s beautiful, really beautiful.? Tony Leech stressed that the town council is still fighting the development: ?We believe that we need a proper, good quality link road to take heavy traffic before these houses are built,? he said, ?and we think a new school needs to be built now - not in ten years? time.? Hundreds of residents packed Okehampton?s Charter Hall at a meeting on July 5 to express similar anxieties about the development. The two Okehampton councils are hoping that similar numbers will turn out for the meeting on August 30 ?at a stage where it is still possible to make a difference.