NORTH Tawton launched its village design statement recently, which will help to make sure the views of residents will be taken into account in future planning decisions.
The North Tawton Village Design Statement was officially launched at a party held at the Fountain Inn, North Tawton, on June 2.
Receiving the document on behalf of West Devon Borough Council was senior forward planning officer Chris Dunford, who said he was delighted to have been involved in the production of this community-led document.
The statement is the first of its kind in West Devon to be adopted by the borough council as Supplementary Planning Guidance.
The views of the community contained in the document will be taken into account when future planning applications in the town are determined.
The chairman of the VDS group, Derrick Field, said that now the document had been printed, it was shortly to be distributed to every household in the town.
He thanked all the members of the group for their hard work and thanked the North Tawton Development Trust for securing the necessary funding to cover the printing costs from the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative project.
The process of creating the document began with North Tawton Town Council facilitating the formation of a Village Design Statement group in February 2000.
The 15 members of the group are all volunteers who live in the community and are concerned that its character is preserved, not destroyed, by new development.
A number of consultation events were held to canvas the views of local people, which formed the basis of the document.