RESIDENTS living in Exeter Road have been 'let down' by the local planning authority, Okehampton Town Council said this week.

The town councillors' comments were made during discussions on a major residential development currently under construction.

In February, residents in a row of houses in Exeter Road challenged councillors to come and see for themselves the impact of the development of the old Laburnum site taking place behind their homes.

Residents claimed the properties being built on steep land behind them were overbearing, and although they accepted little could be done in this case, they hoped lessons would be learned for the future.

Councillors discussed the issue at a planning committee meeting in Okehampton on Monday following the receipt of a letter from West Devon Borough Council's planning department responding to a request by the town council for a site meeting to discuss residents' concerns.

However, planning services manager Jane Green wrote: 'It is difficult to see what such a meeting could achieve, since the development has planning permission and, so far as this council is aware, is being developed in accordance with that permission.'

Ms Green also advised the council that the Local Government Ombudsman had concluded there was 'no or insufficient evidence of maladministration' and had discontinued his investigation.

Cllr Charles Letchford at the town council meeting on Monday said he did not think the interests of the residents living near the Laburnum site had been sufficiently taken on board.

He said: 'I feel the people in Exeter Road badly affected by the new development have to some extent been let down by the planning system and local planning authority.'

In a letter read out to the council, mayor of Okehampton Cllr Christine Marsh said she felt the planning department letter was not a complete reply to the residents' concerns. She wrote that planners should have shown a 'bit more imagination and effort' to come up with 'another way for houses to be built on such sloping land'.

Cllr Tony Leech said one problem for town councillors was that the plans on which they were asked to be consulted did not contain any information on elevations.

Councillors agreed to write to the borough council in response to the letter, saying they felt residents had been let down by the planning authority on this matter and asking if, in future, the council could be provided with elevations of planning applications as part of the consultation process.

Okehampton Town Council had objected to the planning application two years ago, on the grounds of lack of play space, drainage issues and inadequate visibility at the access onto Exeter Road.

In the letter to the town council Ms Green explained that Government planning policy guidelines said new development should be at a density of 30-50 to the hectare.

She said: 'As this development is at the extreme lower end of this scale I cannot agree that its density is excessive.'

Ms Green added: 'Bungalows would no doubt have reduced the neighbour impact but the council must take the view to the acceptability or otherwise of schemes as submitted.

'In the context of this particular application adjacent development is typically two-storey. Also, it is almost impossible to achieve Government-imposed development densities if a scheme includes a significant proportion of bungalows.'