AN application for 250 homes on the edge of Tavistock has been submitted to West Devon Borough Council.

Linden Homes South West has submitted the outline application, with some matters reserved, for development of 250 dwellings on land off the A386 Plymouth Road, opposite Bishopsmead and Tiddy Brook; and two hectares of B1 commercial use.

The application was submitted on December 17 and the target determination date is March 18, 2019 — the application has already received letters of objection and one undecided letter.

Linden Homes state that the land within the application will deliver a mixture of building types and sizes, ranging from two to four bedroom homes and apartments from one to two bedrooms. The scheme will have a mix of tenures including open market and affordable housing. The final percentage of affordable and balance of tenures will be identified within the Section 106 agreement.

A key feature in the design of the homes is the extensive public realm framework comprising a range of public open spaces. These will include community allotments, community woodland, community play space, amenity open space and enhanced vegetation.

A pre-application meeting was held in May, 2018, with West Devon Borough Council, reported to be based around the ‘principles of development and the emerging JLP allocation’.

If the application is approved there will be four phases undertaken for the completion of 250 homes built on the site.

One nearby resident said that the application was ‘ridiculous’: ‘Adding two more accesses on to what is a very busy and dangerous road at certain times.

‘It is a nightmare to cross the flow of traffic if required. Where does building in this town stop?’

Another resident from Longcross stated: ‘This application can only be thrown out until we do something about local services in Tavistock when you consider the large number of planning applications that have already been passed for a large number of dwellings.

‘Schools, surgeries, dentists (NHS), policing, fire service — and as for our road system, which is chaotic at times, we will soon be at a standstill, especially in the summer. Promises for affordable houses are made but never adhered to.’

Anyone who wishes to comment on this application is invited to submit a response by visiting www.westdevon.gov.uk by January 24, 2019.

l AT the beginning of last month (December 6), an application for almost 150 houses for the north of Tavistock was approved by West Devon Borough Council.

The council granted the reserved matters application by Cavanna Homes (South West) Ltd for 148 dwellings, including affordable housing, areas of open space and landscaping and associated site infrastructure, on land adjacent to New Launceston Road.

The reserved matters submission comprised 148 dwellings in a range of house sizes, styles and tenures on the application site, areas of public open space and landscape and green infrastructure corridors. There are 111 homes for the open market — eleven are two-bedroom properties; 49, three-bedroom; 47, four-bedroom; four, five-bedroom homes. Of the 37 affordable housing properties — ten, one-bedroom homes; 18, two-bedroom; nine, three-bedroom homes.

The number of affordable homes equates to 25% of the total number of dwellings proposed, which is in accordance with the Section 16 Agreement.

Part of the original proposals was to provide a new footway along New Launceston Road to connect the development with the existing pedestrian network offering a safe route into Tavistock town.