A ROW over the way in which votes were cast at a vital meeting at West Devon Borough Council has led to a Conservative councillor resigning from the planning committee in protest.

Cllr Christine Marsh claims she was substituted at a vital meeting to decide the outcome of the controversial core strategy because she was going to vote against it.

The core strategy paves the way for development in the borough over the next 16 years.

But the decision by the future planning and housing committee to approve the development blueprint by six votes to four on April 19 has been described by an Indpendent councillor as 'unsafe', following Cllr Marsh's revelations in a letter in the Okehampton Times last week.

Okehampton Conservative Cllr Marsh claims that fewer than 48 hours before the crucial meeting she received an email from her party group, saying was going to be substituted by another Conservative councillor.

'I fully intended to go to the meeting so I did not send any apologies,' she said. 'The fact is I was substituted because it was known I was going to vote against the core strategy.'

Cllr Marsh, who has quit as a member of the planning committee in anger, has long been critical of the core strategy.

She claims there is a lack of infrastructure in the plan to cope with the 900 new homes earmarked. There had been opposition to the so-called 'urbanisation' of Okehampton and Tavistock by residents in both towns.

Committee member Cllr Mandy Govier, also a Conservative member, has always abstained from voting on the core strategy because of her status as mayor of Tavistock. She and another committee member, Liberal Democrat Cllr Adam Bridgewater, also from Tavistock, were both substituted at the meeting on April 19 after sending their apologies.

In a letter to chief executive of the borough council David Incoll, Cllr Ted Sherrell said he had always felt that a document so vital to the future of West Devon should have been placed before the full council.

'I accepted, with reluctance, that matters had been delegated to the future planning and housing committee for a final decision,' he said. 'However, I submit, respectfully, that Mrs Marsh's letter to the newspaper makes that decision unsafe, possibly even untenable.'

Cllr Sherrell said the decision, carried by 'a close vote of a committee comprising fewer than a third of the council', could have been very different if Cllr Marsh and Cllr Govier attended the meeting. Both their substitutions had voted in favour of the core strategy. He said the trust of residents in their elected members would be severely damaged if this decision was allowed to stand.

Leading campaigner against the core strategy Jeremy Davies, of Tavistock, echoed Cllr Sherrell's claim and praised Cllr Marsh for her 'courage' in speaking out.

The vote was 6-4 in favour — the substituted votes for Cllrs Marsh and Govier were cast in favour of the core strategy.

Had Cllr Marsh's vote been cast against and had Cllr Govier attended and abstained, it would have resulted in the strategy being defeated by six votes to five.

Mr Davies said a parish poll in Tavistock had overwhelmingly condemned the plan.

'The core strategy is meant to reflect the wishes and opinions of the people who live in the area, not just those of the council,' he said.

Former Okehampton mayor and Conservative borough councillor Jayne Hill said whether or not Mrs Marsh was substituted she should still have attended the meeting to support and make clear the views of residents.

Borough council chief executive David Incoll said under the relevant legislation political groups enjoyed certain rights, which included the appointment of members to serve on committees and the substitution of members.

'These are not matters decided by the council itself and it is beyond the council's ability to look into how political groups perform,' he said.

'Everyone has known since December when the council made the decision to approve the core strategy in principle, but report back on the further work on evidence, that that decision would be made by the future planning and housing committee in the spring.

'That meeting was properly constituted and there was a vote in favour of proceding on the basis of the evidence.'

He said there was no evidence that the council had done anything wrong but that all matters concerning the strategy would go to the Government inspector in the autumn.

Conservative councillor and leader of the council James McInnes was unavailable for comment.