I AM perplexed that Cllr McInnes should express 'shock' at the decision reached by West Devon Borough Council on the proposed site for a new primary school for Okehampton (Times April 26).

Cllr McInnes is the Leader of the borough council; he together with his fellow Conservative councillors have an overall majority on the council. The chairman of the committee that made the decision on the primary school site is a Conservative councillor and again the Conservatives have an overall majority on that committee.

That decision which means, according to Cllr McInnes, 'that the provision of a second primary school in Okehampton has been put back many more years' was made by a council of which he is the Leader and by his fellow Conservative councillors. It is obvious where the blame for the loss of this site lays, what is not obvious is why Cllr McInnes is shocked by the decision.

I also note that four councillors abstained from voting on this matter. I was under the impression, obviously naïve, that we elected councillors to make decisions, not sit on the fence when decision time comes. If the abstaining councillors did not have a conflict of interest in the proposed site they had a duty to vote, regardless of political or other affiliations, according to their convictions.

Charles Letchford

Badgers Holt, Okehampton

I WONDER where West Devon Council planning committee's interests really do lie. Certainly not with the young people and children of Okehampton. 

The council has already failed to provide adequate sports pitch provision for Okehampton, according to their own local plan and by national guidelines.

The local rugby club is struggling with its present set up to cope with 200-plus children each weekend and I understand football, hockey and other sports have significant numbers of young people playing at weekends, all teaching children valuable lessons about the benefits of exercise and all the social skills associated with playing with others that will undoubtedly make them better members of the community in the future.

It now  would appear it doesn't think children's primary education matters either by allowing the proposed second primary school site to be covered in yet more housing. 

I'm sure prospective house owners with children to educate, looking at Okehampton, with only one primary school, which will be bursting at the seams and overcrowded in the next few years, will take themselves to a better provisioned part of the country very quickly. These things matter to parents. 

Prospective businesses looking to move to Okehampton will also be looking very carefully at what the town offers both its business and its employees. The economic consequenses for a town already struggling with the present economic reality will surely become bleaker in the future thanks to West Devon's planning vision or lack of it.

The lifeblood of any community depends on a good demograhpic mix, clearly West Devon Council doesn't think this is relevant to Okehampton but I'm sure Okehampton residents may have other views when they next visit the ballot box. 

Yvonne Potter

via email

I WAS greatly dismayed on learning that planning permission had been granted by West Devon Borough Council for houses to be built on the site previously earmarked for the new primary school. Like Cllr McInnes, I think this decision is severely flawed.

Okehampton has been told it must allow for 900 houses to be built within its vicinity in response to a shortage in housing. I estimate this will increase the population from 7,500 to nearer 9,700 with a corresponding increase in children of school age.

I understand that the current primary school has capacity for some extra pupils but it has been proposed that numbers above capacity will have to attend outlaying schools until numbers are sufficient to justify the building of a new school. This means transporting these children by car, bus or taxi. I find this wholly unsatisfactory.

The point at which development will begin is based on a highly contentious and subjective formula, a part of which includes NHS prediction of future births. Yet this planning consent now means that the school has lost its current site and now the whole process has to begin again, which will take many years.

The next phase of development is at the planning stage – and presently doesn't include a school. It's vitally important for the community that infrastructure, such as the school, is not only included within the development but ideally should be built concurrently. Sadly this has not been the case.

Vital parts of that infrastructure have been shelved for a later phase of development. This includes the link road between Crediton Road and Exeter Road. As a consequence the town and hamlets will suffer from the increase in traffic congestion – not only during the school-run from the new housing estates to the town schools but also from commercial traffic having to come through the town to get between Crediton Road and Exeter Road.

So this, seeming, inability to recognise the knock-on effect from this planning consent will set the town back many years. This will undoubtedly make those groups working on the economic regeneration strategy of the town, such as the Town Council Destination Okehampton initiative, even harder.

The overall perception is that developer's profits are more important than the wellbeing of the community.

Paul Vachon

Park Row, Okehampton