COUNCILLORS in West Devon took the unusual step of going against planning policy last week in order to protect 40 jobs in Tavistock.
The go ahead was given for a retirement complex to be built on employment land at Abbey Rise, currently occupied by manufacturing company Superwinch.
Planners agreed to give up this piece of employment land on condition Superwinch relocates to another site within the borough ? the company has stressed it needs a smaller, more efficient building to safeguard its workforce.
Borough planning officer Stephen Gill said Superwinch was a long established business in Tavistock but its factory building was too large for its current requirements.
?The crucial issue here is that the firm needs to relocate in order to retain jobs,? he said.
?Although Superwinch can decide to move on at any stage, asking them to sign a legal agreement to relocate before any work takes place on the Abbey Rise site is about as far as we can go to make sure they will stay.?
Superwinch has signed an option agreement on two plots of land at Pitts Cleave, but is also looking at other sites, the planning committee was told.
Award winning building firm McCarthy and Stone, which has been looking for land in Tavistock for some time, will build 50 apartments for the elderly and a car park on the Superwinch site, providing the approval by the planning authority is rubber-stamped by the Government Office South West.
It will be the first development of its kind in West Devon and sheltered housing was badly needed in Tavistock, said councillors, who were in favour of the suitability of the site because of its easy access to the town centre.
Planning policy dictates that designated employment land should not be given over to residential development although at the recent local plan inquiry, the planning inspector asked the borough council to be flexible on this issue.
Mr Gill said it was the borough officers? opinion that safeguarding existing jobs outweighed the loss of this small piece of employment land: ?Yes, we will lose the land, but we cannot guarantee that this site would provide another 40 jobs in the future.?
He told the committee that at the local plan inquiry the authority had fought hard for an extra five hectares of employment land at the Brook, which was good news for West Devon.
Cllr Dick Eberlie said planners should accept it as a ?win-win situation?: ?We get 50 sheltered apartments we desperately need in an ideal location and retain 40 jobs we also badly need. Let?s hope it all goes smoothly.