A REVISED planning application to build homes on the site of the former Hazeldon Preparatory School at Mount Kelly has been supported by Tavistock Town Council.

Last Tuesday (March 6) town councillors on the development management and licensing committee considered a re-submitted application by Mount Kelly Foundation governors to West Devon Borough Council, which included a reduction in the number of homes planned for the site.

The application had been altered following the listing of Hazeldon House as being of special architectural interest.

The new application is for outline planning consent for 81 dwellings, reduced from 125, comprising a mixture of market value, social rental and intermediate properties. Hazeldon House would be preserved as a single dwelling and the entire site would be re-designed to enhance the view of the house in its elevated position.

Tavistock Town Council is a statutory consultee and able to give views on all of the town’s planning applications submitted to the borough council. In August last year, a special meeting was held to discuss the original application for 125 homes which was then supported by the town council.

The committee chairman and deputy mayor, councillor Paul Ward, acknowledged that the application was ‘controversial’.

‘The proposed development is on a brownfield site but it lies in a transition zone between the town and the open countryside just outside the town’s development boundary and adjacent to the boundary of Dartmoor National Park. The Local Planning Authority (LPA) had already allocated the site for “extra care” housing in the emerging Joint Local Plan currently under examination, but it had not considered it suitable for open market housing.’

Cllr Ward explained that Tavistock was required to build more than 1,000 houses by 2030 and that there were ‘few alternative potential development sites available’.

He added: ‘The committee was conscious of increasing government pressure to build new homes to alleviate the national housing shortage.

‘Given the location of the site some 1.8 kilometres from the nearest shop it was debatable whether it can be deemed sustainable.

‘However, on balance the committee felt that it was no less sustainable, in terms of access by means other than private cars, than other development sites on the edge of town that had already been granted planning permission to build large housing developments either by the LPA or on appeal, notably Callington Road, New Launceston Road and Butcher Park Hill.’

The committee voted to support the application.

After the meeting, Mount Kelly governor Keith Hollinshead said: ‘Mount Kelly is delighted that the town council has given unanimous support to our revised application and would like to thank them for that support.

‘We trust that when West Devon considers our scheme, they will recognise the unanimous local support and approve the application, so that the benefits for the community — including 32 new affordable units — can be delivered as soon as possible.’