A CONTROVERSIAL application to build five houses on land behind a row of terraced cottages in Milton Abbot has been taken to appeal after being turned down by West Devon Borough Council planners.

Applicants Mr and Mrs R and J Cole want to build five dwellings on land behind Edgcumbe Terrace off Edgecumbe Road in the village. The application, 0016/20/OPA, was turned down by West Devon Borough Council in March this year. Mr and Mrs Cole have now appealed and the appeal, APP/A1153/W/21/3282968, was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate on November 5.

Residents of Edgcumbe Terrace have opposed the application.

Refusing the application in March this year, WDBC head of planning Patrick Whymer wrote: ‘The property is considered an unneighbourly form of development, likely to result in a loss of privacy and overlooking the existing dwellings in Edgcumbe Terrace.’

He added that the application had not shown ‘adequate methods of surface water drainage’ and could harm its position in a Conservation Area, close to the Grade I listed parish church.

The local parish council, Milton Abbot Grouped Parish Council, also objected to the plan, saying: ‘There has been recent flooding of the pub and housing along Edgcumbe Terrace/Lane due to a recent altered watercourse and drainage issues of the field considered for building.’

The parish council added that ‘the plans, plots and size of housing does not meet the needs of the village’, that the architecture was not in keeping with the village and the proposed development did not include affordable housing.