INITIAL planning permission is being sought for a controversial housing development on land in Horrabridge.
Denman House Holdings Ltd has applied to Dartmoor National Park Authority planning committee for permission to erect affordable housing on land behind properties in the New Park estate.
The application was refused in May this year because of the Environment Agency?s concerns regarding the site being within a flood plain.
The applicant has now resubmitted the plan with a flood risk assessment in an attempt to meet the agency?s concerns.
West Devon Borough Council?s housing department confirmed the need for additional housing, with almost 40 people in the parish on the housing register and requesting accommodation in the village. But it is concerned about the affordability of the housing and whether it will be sufficient to meet local need.
Letters of objection to the development have been received from Dartmoor Preservation Association and the Devon Wildlife Trust, among others.
The association raised the issue of flooding in the area and that it would make it difficult to insure the properties.
The trust referred to an area to the north of the proposed development site which is a nature reserve. While the site itself was not of ecological value, a high density development would increase noise and disturbance in the area which was a rich habitat for a huge variety of species, it said.
Issues of traffic and parking in the area have also been brought up in letters.
The case will be discussed at Dartmoor National Park Authority?s planning committee meeting tomorrow (Friday).