REVISED proposals to extend the Tiddybrook Housing Estate in Whitchurch came under fire by residents at a second public exhibition last week.

The follow-up consultation to develop land north of Anderton Lane was held by housing developer Redrow, to show how it has responded to concerns raised by local people at its first exhibition last year.

The main changes addressed by Redrow include alterations to Anderton Lane, provision for up to 130 homes, land to the north dedicated to a new pre-school building, associated play area and parking, green corridors of public open space along the Tiddy Brook with a new footpath and re-routing of the national cycle route and a car park for national cycle route users and the community, subject to on-going discussions with the council.

Planning director for Redrow Keith Annis said: 'The primary change is in relation to work on Anderton Lane. Firstly we will improve the link between Plymouth Road and the junction at Buzzard Road, providing a wider road and a footpath.

'Secondly we have changed the road layout of Anderton Lane at the junction of Buzzard Road to slow traffic.

'The idea has been to allow increased access from Plymouth Road to direct away from Tiddybrook, and work to slow down traffic on Anderton Lane.

'From here we'll take people's comments from today and look at creating the planning application. We would be hoping to submit an application fairly shortly, hopefully in a couple of months.'

But visitors to the exhibition still had major concerns — despite the improvements by Redrow.

Eunice, a Whitchurch resident, said: 'It seems like everything they are saying is just made up. Last time I came they just showed us some pictures and not much actual information and this time there seems to be even more houses than before — the number just keeps going up.'

Eunice said she was concerned about the pressure it would put on Whitchurch Primary School: 'They said the school has space for 30 to 40 more children, but with 130 more houses there are going to be a lot more than 40 children.'

Buzzard Road resident Mrs Fairall said: 'Redrow is proposing to change the priority of the roads — we have fought and fought for this and not been able to change it — how are they saying they can do it now?

'These improvements they are suggesting are things that should have been in place from the beginning. Even if they change the priority now, with 130 more houses they are not all going to go up Anderton Lane, they are still going to use Buzzard Road — there will be more traffic, not less.'

Residents Alison Wright and Marysu Godfrey, who have been heavily involved with campaigning to stop the Tiddybrook extension, said their main issues were an increase in traffic, the recent flooding around the area, the removal of ancient hedgerows and the finding of a metalliferous mine under the proposed site.

Mrs Godfrey said: 'The meadow flooded over Christmas and now we have gone up to a major floodplain — how are people going to get household insurance? They've had so many surveys done, and now they've found a mineshaft and spoil heaps from it in the meadow — it's more than likely there is arsenic and other contaminants down there that could be thrown up if the soil is disrupted, and this raises the possible question of ground stability.

'Many people at the exhibition expressed their concern that Redrow was still pushing forward with the development, despite the many serious issues brought up by them at the first exhibition.'

Mrs Wright said the development would make the flooding worse: 'With more hard surfaces, the flooding will just run off to somewhere else. They have got overflow ponds marked in but they are in the wrong place — they are in the place that floods anyway. And they have got houses built on marshland.

'The area they had allocated for the school has now disappeared and they have put more houses in. They just seem to slip things in hoping nobody will notice.

'Redrow wants to incorporate four major changes to Anderton Lane, but these will not solve the problems caused by the new extra traffic exiting onto the narrow, already busy Anderton Lane.

'Widening the Plymouth Road junction is only likely to encourage more people to use the lane as an alternative route to town, making the difficulties at Whitchurch Post Office crossroads even more hazardous.'

Mrs Wright also said people had been mislead about the new pre-school: 'Parents think they are getting a new pre-school building but Redrow is not providing it, they have just "dedicated land" for it — it's all a spin.'

But Tiddybrook resident Louise Street argued that people had the same objections when her home was built.

She said: 'People seem to forget that Tiddybrook is a relatively new estate and that people objected to houses being built on this site. Now, we all enjoy living here — it is a lovely setting. Objecting to this means we are stopping future residents of the new site from having a home in a lovely setting like ours.

'I understand the traffic issue but Redrow has it all under control, if only people looked at the plans in detail.'

West Devon Borough councillor for Tavistock South West ward Alison Clish-Green said: 'I am very concerned about the proposals on three counts — it is on a flood plain, it is on a greenfield site and it is not in the current five-year projected plan. I have always been totally against developing greenfield sites, we should be looking at brownfield sites and spaces above shops before we even think about greenfield areas.

'I have been lobbied by a lot of people about this issue — lots of people are very concerned about development there.'

To see the full plans for the proposed extension and to fill out a feedback form, visit http://www.redrow-tavistock.co.uk">www.redrow-tavistock.co.uk