A 30% increase in the number of houses originally intended for the Manor site at Tavistock is ?totally unreasonable?, say West Devon planners. Councillors have refused a proposal by George Wimpey to build 42 homes on the footprint of the former Tavistock Manor ? it would have brought the number of houses on the whole site to 189 as opposed to the 140 suggested in the council?s development brief. The plan was described as ?over-development? at last week?s planning meeting and would mean the loss of six trees from the surrounding woodland, including two prime specimens. The whole site consists of three parcels of land, two of which have already been approved by the planning committee. In the development brief it stated that the manor house should be replaced with a high quality design which reflected the original character of the manor ? with its parkland setting, it had provided a sense of place to that part of Tavistock. George Wimpey was proposing to build 22 apartments in a three-storey focal building with two-storey housing and some garages in a two-sided L-shaped plot. It was the view of planning officers that the developer had been successful in recreating the original sense of the manor looking out over the parkland setting. The woodland, which was covered by a blanket tree preservation order (TPO), would be the subject of a management plan and together with the parkland would be open for recreational use by the community. But Cllr Mandy Govier said the plan before members was not what was sold to them when they approved the original application for outline planning permission. She said: ?This was supposed to be the select part of the estate, with the Goldilocks house, as I called it, in the woods, but this is cramming as many houses in as possible. ?There does not appear to be an open spaciousness. It was about fitting the houses around the trees but now it looks as if the trees are coming out to fit in the houses.? An increase of ten to 12 houses on that site was ?over-development?, said Cllr Roy Connelly. ?This area is covered by TPOs and a reckless loss of trees will have an impact on the bats, owls and other wildlife living there,? he said. ?This is intense development, greatly in excess of what is allowed in the local plan.? Cllr WIlliam Cann said there was very little space in the gardens. ?Everyone can see they are being crammed in here. A 30% increase in the number of homes is totally unreasonable.? The committee was told that two plots had been taken out of the plan after discussions between the applicants and planning officers, and now only six trees had to be felled instead of fifteen. Some of these trees were coming to the end of their life and the woodland would be restocked with new specimens. The council?s landscape officer said she was ?heartened? by the applicant?s revised plan. In a report to members, planning officers said they did not consider the number of units proposed in the application was ?excessive?. Another part of the development had been at a higher density than originally anticipated with the resultant knock-on effect of increasing numbers on the site as a whole.
