A PLANNING U-turn which has seen the go-ahead given to 50 houses on green fields must not stop Okehampton fighting to control its own planning destiny, a town councillor has said.

The decision by West Devon Borough Council to allow 50 houses to be built on land south of Exeter Road was condemned at the recent Okehampton Town Assembly.

Resident Rob Flexman asked where the controversial approval by WDBC’s development control and licensing committee on March 20 – apparently due a planning loophole linked to pressure from the Government to build new homes – left residents’ efforts to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan.

‘Can we bounce this back and say where is the democracy in this?’ said Mr Flexman. ‘We are being stuffed here with the planning situation, and it is too late, the damage has been done.’

Residents said they wanted to see the site protected when they were consulted last year on the Neighbourhood Plan, which is supposed to give residents a say on what future development is built in the town. They called for brownfield sites to be developed before greenfield ones.

Mr Flexman, speaking at the assembly at the Charter Hall on March 26, said he was being asked by residents why their views were being ignored.

Town and borough councillor Tony Leech, from the group putting together the Neighbourhood Plan, said he was ‘disappointed’ at the decision.

‘I’m on record as saying that everyone was disappointed and it will be extremely difficult to pick up enthusiasm from the general public after this,’ said Councillor Leech. ‘It is, though, imperative because we have got to get the Neighbourhood Plan passed, because if not we won’t have any control.’

Both Okehampton Town Council and Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council objected to the application and 30 individuals also wrote to object to losing good agricultural land in a green space between the town and A30.

However, it is understood that the WDBC planning committee felt obliged to pass the application because a precedent has been set by another application to build housing at Crapstone being overturned by a planning inspector on appeal.

In this case, West Devon Borough Council had been unable to demonstrate ‘a five-year land supply’ available for new housing as required by the Government.

There has been widespread anger about the decision, though, as more than 775 new homes have already been imposed on the community to the east of Okehampton.

These are within the Joint Local Plan, a blueprint for development in the decades to come, which is currently being considered by a planning inspector.