Plan for 71 new homes granted despite concerns

PLANNERS have given unanimous support for 71 new homes in Winkleigh despite local concerns over the scheme’s urban appearance.

Developers Lovell tweaked its proposal for Chulmleigh Road after it was turned down for planning permission last summer by Torridge District Council.

The homes include bungalows, terraces, flats and larger detached houses. A village car park to serve the town centre is being proposed by Lovell and will be offered to Winkleigh Parish Council, and four footpaths will link to Chulmleigh Road, The Kings Meadow/Farm estate and onto the main A3124.

A community woodland has been dropped from the scheme.

Torridge’s plans’ committee heard objections from the parish council which said little had changed from the previous application and that it didn’t meet the aspirations of the village neighbourhood plan.

It said the design was urban, being more suited to the suburbs rather than a village.

Chair of the parish council Angela Findlay said: “It’s pattern book standard design which should be avoided” and that an opportunity to create a better design concept for the village had been missed.”

She said there had been little in the way of consultation with the parish council.

Chairman of Winkleigh War Memorial Recreational Field Mike Wilson welcomed a pedestrian crossing on the busy main road and footpaths to access village facilities.

Councillor Simon Newton (Con, Winkleigh) said the land had been allocated for homes for a long time and he supported the plan, given the changes, but he was critical of the way the developers had gone about the process.

He said failure to “acknowledge or even reference” the existence of a newly made neighbourhood plan after the village had invested so much time and effort creating one was a “fatal mistake.”