The villages of Milton Abbot, Chillaton and Kelly have taken a step forward in protecting themselves from unwanted development with the formal ‘making’ of their Neighbourhood Plan.

The plan was formally made at West Devon’s full council meeting on Tuesday last week (July 19), following a referendum of villagers which saw 90.7% of those who voted backing the plan.

It now becomes a statutory part of the borough’s Local Development Plan and will have an influence on potential future planning developments in and around Milton Abbot, Chillaton and Kelly.

Significantly, it sets out where around 20 homes which the communities must absorb up to 2034 should be built.

The neighbourhood plan committee opted for them to be built on a single site, to ensure that they can insist through the planning process that 30 per cent of the homes are affordable for locals. There are also polices on green space and on addressing the safety of pedestrians on the busy main road through Milton Abbot and Chillaton.

Parish councillor James Hitchcock, the parish council’s member of the MACK Plan team, welcomed its completion. ‘It has been a number of years in the making,’ he said. ‘We have had for some time a number of potential sites for development and as a community we wanted to bring that in to some sort of control. We have gone through a number of formal surveys to make sure what was in the plan was based on evidence and not just what the developers wanted us to do.’

Regarding housing, the plan has earmarked a single site, to the north of the village on the Launceston side, site for all of around 20 homes the community must build under the Local Plan. This is to ensure that the seven affordable homes the community needs are built.

Cllr Hitchcock said: ‘The important thing for us was to secure the affordable housing. Whist we could have collected a number of smaller sites, we couldn’t have insisted on affordable housing [on smaller sites].’

At the referendum on the plan in June, 90.7% of people who voted in a referendum supported the neighbourhood plan. The turnout was 31 per cent. A total of 258 people voted, with 235 voting yes and 23 voting no. The plan covers Bradstone, Chillaton, Dunterton, Kelly, Meadwell, Milton Abbot and Quither.

Cllr Neil Jory is borough council leader and ward member for Milton Ford, which includes the area covered by the plan.

He said: ‘Neighbourhood Plans give communities real power in the planning process – these pieces of work are led by the communities putting them together, allowing them to prioritise what they think is important to the area. This plan will give Milton Abbot, Kelly and Chillaton the ability to shape the growth of their communities.’