Tension arose at a public hearing last week over whether borough council-owned land should be a green space or a brownfield site.

The future of the land between Northfield Rd and Wonnacotts Rd proved to be a hot topic at the hearing, which an independent examiner had called to discuss issues with the recently submitted Okehampton Town and Hamlets Neighbourhood Plan.

During the hearing, West Devon Borough Council representative Graham Swiss raised "concerns" that the neighbourhood plan steering group had designated the land as green space, arguing instead that the plan should classify it as a brownfield site due to its history of previous development. Despite the lack of visible building structures, Mr Swiss suggested this may be due to demolition or neglect, as the site had remained vacant for many years.

This statement outraged some members of the public, who pointed out that the land had once been a farm and allotment space and had never been a built-up site.

Explaining the reasoning behind the decision to classify the land as green space, the chair of the neighbourhood plan steering group, Alison Duckers, said, "We know there are additional environmental contributions submitted. We know there are members of the public here with great concern for that site. We walked the site yesterday with [the examiner], and potentially, five per cent of that site had [an environmental] footprint on it. We understand that the local authority and local planning authority want to make it a development site.

"When we did the land use survey, it was identified as a green space. If five years ago, members of the steering group had been aware of the footprint, we may have taken a different view but our policies were designed on the back of the land use survey. There was...strong public support for [it to be] a green space."

Members of the public and previous surveys have also reported finding evidence of protected species living on the site, such as slow worms, dormice, and hedgehogs, and residents often walk their dogs through it. Okehampton Town Council has confirmed that more environmental surveys are due to take place, but Mr Swiss called the current evidence of the site's ecological importance "inconclusive."

The independent examiner, John Slater, is now set to examine data regarding the land's former use to determine whether it qualifies as a green space.

His decision will significantly impact the future of the land, which, if designated as a green space, will be protected from future development, similar to the protection afforded to green belts.