Almost 100 residents turned up to scrutinise proposals to build 140 homes in Ottery this week.

Redrow Homes put on an exhibition inside Ottery St Mary football Club, close to the land they would like to build on, on Tuesday afternoon.

There has already been criticism of the plans from nearby residents, many of whom attended Ottery Town Council’s meeting on Monday.

The developer has been quick to stress the town’s allotments would not be built on, and could be sold to the town council to safeguard their future.

But the land, which sits at the south of the Ottery, is not included in the draft ‘Local Plan’ for the town, which identifies the Cutler Hammer factory and a site to the far west of the town for where houses will be built.

And at Monday’s council meeting, Mike Allen, who chairs the district council panel which has drawn up the document, reiterated the council has no plans to allow development elsewhere in Ottery.

A spokesman for the developer said: “Redrow believes the land adjacent to Butts Road is in a sustainable site location, close to town centre amenities and with limited visual landscape impact.

“The development of this site is immediately deliverable and provides the opportunity to bring additional community benefit by providing much needed affordable housing, areas of open amenity space and safeguarding the future of the towns existing allotments.”

They said they had received a ‘mixture of comments’ from the local community at Tuesday’s exhibition, and will continue to review the feedback while the proposals are developing.