I WAS surprised to receive notification last week from West Devon Borough Council that there has been a further planning application reference number 00610/2015 for the 110 houses on Butcher Park Hill. Readers will recall that there was a similar application last year, reference 00415/2014 which I understand was unanimously refused by the planning committee. The developers were offered the right of appeal but clearly the developer is opting to try their luck again with an outline planning application. This time, there's been a much more low key approach to alerting the people of Tavistock, no showcasing at the Bedford Hotel for example, which took place several months before the previous submission for planning. The timing is quite interesting; has this been chosen on purpose following on from the recent elections? Perhaps they feel that their chances are improved with a less experienced council, time will tell. The developer stated last time that if their application was refused, they would go ahead and build the holiday lodges, so where are they? Or is it that this application, if it gets the go ahead, will be significantly more lucrative? It also strikes me as odd how they can claim they've addressed the reasons for refusal. One of the main reasons given for refusal was this this development would introduce an undesirable pattern of development into the open countryside. This route is a key gateway to Tavistock, a World Heritage Site and as such, deserves to have the right level of consideration given to it, hence no doubt, the application being refused in 2014. There's a beautiful long run in through open countryside before descending down through the cutting with the emerging view of the town. The council's Our Plan, which takes us up to 2031 and the supporting documentation about the planning do not include this site as a prospective area for development, in fact it is shaded red for unlikely to have the potential to be developed at this time. I don't think this has ever been classed as inside the planning zone so why are we going around the loop again? West Devon Borough Council has clearly invested time and no doubt cost with extensive consultation to understand the local requirements and options, why not just let them get on with it? The deadline for representation on this application is 24 July, 2015. Nicky Francis Tavistock IT is with complete horror that I note that outline planning permission has been sought to build 110 houses on the land on Butcher Park Hill.   Readers will recall that planning permission was sought for an identical development exactly one year ago, which was opposed most vehemently by local residents and was most wisely refused by the planning committee of West Devon Bough Council. Nothing has changed.  The proposed development is still outside the planning boundary and the application is still for 110 dwellings of two and two point five floors (a mixture of two, three and four+ bedrooms and 70% of these being the larger properties).  For some reason the developer still believes that only 43 vehicles will depart in the peak morning hour for the workers/school trips and 48 will return in the evening – this is cloud cuckoo land with the larger properties having at least two, probably three and maybe even four vehicles.   Even Devon County Council advised the developer for the previous application that seven vehicle movements per house per day was more likely.  Therefore an extra 770 vehicles per day will be going up and down Drake Road and Butcher Park Hill which is constantly congested and gridlock is not a rare occurrence.   To make matters worse the developer is still proposing to narrow Butcher Park Hill (which it notes several times is only five point five metres wide) with a pavement which for most of the length is to be one point two metres wide against a county requirement of one point five metres.   The hill effectively becomes a one-way road and lorries will need to do hill starts from Russell Court and back as far as Drake Road and any pedestrians will have to cross the road on a blind bend at Redmoor Close. Readers will also note that the borough council has designated land off the Callington Road for an extensive development up to 2031, yet this developer chooses to ignore this and continues to claim that insufficient housing land has been identified to meet the housing shortfall – what shortfall? The application shows that the developer has complete contempt for the existing residents of Tavistock and the actual needs of local people.  It considers that the application is the same as that for 52 single level holiday chalets, only occupied for part of the year and with low level lighting which, although refused by the borough council, was approved by a planning inspector in Bristol.  However, it conveniently forgets that the inspector said the site was unsuitable for residential development and the chalets should not be occupied all year round. People of Tavistock, rise up again and object to this totally unsuitable development application.  Please send your objections to both the borough council planning department and the councillors on the planning committee. Mrs A Cheetham Tavistock   YET again, we Tavistock residents find ourselves in bitter opposition to a further attempt, just publicised, to obtain outline planning permission for the development of up to 110 units/houses north east of Butcher Park Hill, above the allotments. Initially, the company submitted plans for the construction of log cabins for holiday use.  This was opposed at every level in council, until  the Secretary of State overturned the decision. Several years on, the cabins have not been built. Is that because they were never intended in the first place? Was it just a stepping stone to a housing scheme? Last year we attended a meeting at Tavistock Town Council, who were informed by the architects, that if the housing was turned down, the cabins would be constructed anyway. The borough council subsequently refused the planning request for houses on a decisive, I recall unanimous, vote. Surprise! The cabins have not materialised, but a new planning request for housing has. Clearly this has been slipped in now, under the radar after the elections, just before the summer holidays and with no mention of public consultation and little apparent change in detail. All the previous objections are still applicable. The traffic situation down through the narrow tree arch before Redmoor Close, can never be satisfactorily addressed to suit the combination of heavy traffic, mingling with families and children. This is a critical drainage area with a history of flooding. Any development will have serious implications for areas adjacent to and below Butcher Park Hill. The deluge of water off the moor and farm land regularly causes the drains to overflow, often making the main road down almost impassable and having serious implications in Bannawell Street. The developers want to build high on the gateway to the town, on land not allocated for building and separated north of any  current residential development. Allotments and fields lie in between —Tavistock, a market town with an excellent reputation, thriving in a difficult financial climate, does not need further indiscriminate housing.  The core strategy already allows for hundreds of new buildings in and around the town. How will the community facilities cope if more houses are allowed to slip through the net? Thankfully in their wisdom, our WDBC councillors voted against  last time.  Residents may wish to make opinions known to councillors and to the planning department. Successful protests have taken place before and will surely happen again.  Sue Dunstan Tavistock Developer's tactics for Butcher Park Hill: 1. First apply for permission to build 52 Chalets/holiday homes on a green field site outside the town plan. The plans are rejected but allowed on appeal. 2. Do nothing further about the holiday homes for several years but then instead apply to build 110 houses on the same site. After vociferous objections by local householders this proposal is thrown out. 3. Do not appeal this decision but sit and wait for a further 11 months and then resubmit almost exactly the same scheme. What sort of a merry-go-round is this? Nothing whatsoever has changed, except that the traffic gets even heavier and we certainly don't now need an additional 770 extra vehicle movements to add to the 2,360 which were recorded on Drake Road and Butcher Park Hill on the 10 June last year. I can only think that the developers plan is to batter the council and the residents of Tavistock into submission by wasting the council's money and the residents' time by continuing to pursue this unwanted and rejected housing scheme. So dust off the banners! Don't let them butcher Butcher Park Hill David Farrant Tavistock