PRINCETOWN Community Centre was packed on Friday evening, with residents waiting to hear Dartmoor Forest Parish Council’s stand-point on a proposed whisky distillery in the village.

An extraordinary meeting was held by the parish council for residents to give their views on the planning application by Princetown Distillers Ltd to construct a whisky distillery, visitor centre, small scale spirit storage, new road access, associated parking and demolition of two industrial units on land west of the public car park on Station Road, Princetown.

The meeting was held for the parish council to hear people’s views before making a decision to submit to the Dartmoor National Park Authority, which will make a final decision on the application at a future date.

The architect, on behalf of the applicants, told the meeting that it would be a small-scale craft distillery arranged around a courtyard.

He said: ‘There will be around 85 tonnes of barley used each month. Two to three barley trucks of 32 tonnes each will come into the village each month.

‘The building will be equivalent to a two storey house with the tallest part being the tower, which will be about six feet higher than the fire station.

‘The overall building will have roughly a 15 per cent larger footprint than the Duchy Square building.

‘It will create 22 full time equivalent jobs and the investment could increase that to 155 jobs in the area.’

Members of the public were given a chance to give their views during the meeting, which were mixed.

One man said: ‘I support the application. It will bring economic benefit to the village. The proposal will bring in jobs and tourism to help sustain the economy of the village. The prevailing winds should clear away any chemical fumes. I own Duchy Guest House and the tourist trade will benefit my business. Unless we evolve, the village will die.’

Another supporter said: ‘The village needs an injection of something and if this brings in jobs, I’m all for it.’

A resident, who had lived in the village for more than 20 years, said: ‘I also support the application — the economics make sense. I’ve read all the documentation and think the valid objections are around the treatment of the heritage and also the aesthetics of the building, particularly the height of the tower, but both of these can be agreed within the detailed design stage. There is nothing that I can see that can stop us from having a distillery.’

The resident added that for some commercial developments of this size, sometimes financial contributions from the developer could be agreed which would benefit various organisations in the village.

Another resident who lived in the farm next door to the proposed site said: ‘I’ve been informed of everything and although I don’t necessarily agree with it all, we should think about the future.

‘However, if you think about the buildings we have here already, there have been problems keeping them going. It worries me in two, three or four years time — I hope it doesn’t fail — but if it does we will have a massive eyesore left empty there.’

Other residents were against the proposal, with one saying: ‘My main objection is to the situation of the site and the aesthetics. The gateway to the South West is coming up to Princetown via that road and I wouldn’t like to see a brand new development there. It is what everyone coming from Plymouth will see. Why can’t they use any of the prison buildings when they become empty? Why does it have to be now and why there?’

Another member of the public said: ‘I’ve looked at all the information and it says there is going to be a restaurant on site. We already have eateries in the village — it will take trade away from elsewhere. Surely it would be sensible to encourage people to visit Princetown and the distillery rather than just the distillery.

‘I support the economic side of it but worry that there is going to be something in the site that will detract away from the village.’

The parish councillors were then given the opportunity to share their views.

Cllr Suzanne Davies said: ‘Looking at the material planning points a large chunk of the land is outside the settlement boundary. Normally for major developments planning permission would not be given unless there is overriding public interest and I cannot see any overriding public interest in it.

‘I’m unhappy about the general scale of the development in the landscape, it doesn’t reinforce the distinctive patterns of developmental or cultural heritage.

‘The impact as you drive down the Plymouth hill all you will see is that building and you won’t be able to see the rest of the village at all. The tower seems to serve no practical purpose and there is no indication of where the long-term bottle storage will be. I don’t believe this will be contributing to the well-being of the current settlement.

‘It is not a small scale enterprise. I don’t feel it enhances the landscape character and I’m worried about the effects it will have on the biodiversity. This doesn’t draw on the special qualities of the national park in my mind — any new development should make use of the opportunities the national park offers in open air recreation.’

Questions were asked as to what ‘Plan B’ would be if the distillery was to fail or move on to a bigger premises, to which it was replied by the Duchy of Cornwall deputy land steward that the land would be leased off the Duchy and a new occupant for the distillery would have to be found. If none could be found then a new occupant would have to apply for permission for change of use.

A question was also raised about people’s concerns surrounding emission and the development of black mould and why the plan did not involve an oxidiser to deal with these issues, to which the architect replied that there wasn’t a distillery in the UK that used an oxidiser.

He said: ‘We would install one straight away if any issue of black mould were to arise, but we are entirely confident that there won’t be.’

Cllr Gregg Manning said: ‘People have said it is self-contained, so visitors would drive in to visit the distillery and drive out again but I disagree. There is no reason why someone wouldn’t want to come into the village. But, if we want those people to stay, we’ve got to make the village more attractive and promote it.

‘We’re not getting as many people in our cafés anymore — we need something to attract people back and that is down to us.

‘Looking to the future, it is my understanding that the justice department has not extended the prison lease and when that goes we will lose a lot of revenue in the village and the local jobs in the prison at the moment will be lost.

‘We need something else in the village to offset that. This development, being commercial, means somebody is prepared to stump up money and they won’t be prepared to see it fail. I do support it. I’ve looked through all the reports and I’m not going to question the opinions of the experts.’

Councillors then took a vote, which led to the decision to support the application six votes to two.

The parish council’s decision will be sent to the Dartmoor National Park Authority which will be taken into consideration when the DNPA makes the final decision on the proposal. The target date for a decision is March 14.