A LYDFORD resident is celebrating after getting the green light from planners to go ahead with the opening of a new tea room in the village.
Dartmoor National Park planning committee by an overwhelming majority at its meeting last Friday overturned an officer's recommendation to refuse the application for change of use consent.
Vernon White, who plans to open the new facility in the barn adjacent to his home at Cross Cottage, said: 'We are over the moon. It's going to be a lovely, up-market tea room that will appeal to walkers and to cyclists using the new cycle track. We want a place that will draw people in to the village.'
Mr White said he was delighted at the support of the National Park Authority and was looking forward to providing a much-needed facility in the village for visitors and local people alike.
'There's a lot of elderly people who live here who can't get out out by car, so it will be good for them — hopefully, we will be employing a couple of local people too.'
Mr White is hoping the new tea rooms, which will be called White's, should be ready to open towards the end of May, in time for the Queen's Golden Jubilee weekend.
The application was originally recommended for refusal on the grounds that the site was 'inadequate to accommodation a satisfactory area for the parking of vehicles off the highway'.
The planning report stated additional parked cars on the roadside would be dangerous to other road users, particularly pedestrians.