A LAST-ditch attempt to block a plan to build 15 dwellings on the site of a former filling station in Lewdown this week failed, after planners gave the scheme the thumbs-up.
Inova Ltd applied to build the 15 two and three-storey townhouses on the 0.3 hectare site opposite the Tuit Centre. West Devon?s planning committee was told that 45 houses per hectare was a ?fairly high? density but that Government guidance encouraged efficient use of land, with densities up to 50 per hectare. The application also made efficient use of a brownfield site.
Lewdown Parish Council objected to the proposal ? residents have also held peaceful protests on the site, claiming the development would have a negative visual impact, the density of housing was too high and that traffic in the village would be increased.
Cllr Dilwyn Hughes proposed the scheme should be rejected, on grounds that the design and massing of the development would be detrimental to the character of the settlement.
Cllr Hughes said: ?You are going to spoil the area completely. The whole parish is against this and we don?t seem to listen to the parishes around here.
?We are all put here by the people ? why don?t we for once support the local residents? It?s going to affect people all round the area.?
Cllr Hughes said the three-storey houses would be seen from miles away.
?They are just not in keeping,? said Cllr Hughes, who branded an artist?s impression of the proposal as ?a load of rubbish?.
But in a recorded vote, Cllr Hughes? proposal was lost by three votes to six.
The committee voted to grant the scheme consent, on conditions including removal of permitted development rights, apart from installation of satellite dishes.