PROPOSALS for ten houses in Bratton Clovelly — four to be sold at a discount to local people — have been submitted for planning permission to West Devon Borough Council.

The plan for a mixture of two, three and four bedroom homes has been put forward on the field north of the Old Rectory, known as Rectory Field, on the edge of the village by applicant Mark Bury. The public are invited to comment on the application, reference 847/19/FUL by August 13.

Planning agent Paul Oakley, on behalf of the applicant, said the application would provide half the 20 houses the village is being asked to accommodate in the South West Devon Joint Local Plan, the blueprint for development up until 2034.

‘Through allowing half of these to be provided on a site adjoining the village there would be less pressure for infill sites to be found and it also means that affordable houses would be provided which would not be the case were provision to be otherwise made on a smaller scale,’ he wrote.

The housing is intended to fit in with the character of the historic cottages in the village, both in layout and the materials from which the houses are constructed. Four of the houses would be offered to local people at 25% below the market rate, on condition that they are sold on under the same terms.

Bratton Clovelly parish council chairman Professor Bernard McNellis said: ‘The council will meet on August 5 with this planning application on the agenda. We will discuss and decide what our response to West Devon Borough Council will be then.

‘The developer kindly presented an outline of the proposal informally to the parish council in November 2018. Twenty members of the public were present. The proposal attracted a lot of interest. Overall, the views expressed by those present were that ten new houses in our small village would be a very large development.’