CONTROVERSIAL plans build 56 new homes in Tipton St John have failed to win the backing of Ottery St Mary civic leaders.

CONTROVERSIAL plans to build 56 new homes in Tipton St John have failed to win the backing of Ottery St Mary civic leaders.

More than 100 people packed Tipton’s village hall when Devonshire Homes’ proposals for land south of Otter Close were discussed on Monday.

Ottery town council planning committee members didn’t support the plans over concerns about their scale and density, “overdevelopment” fears and increased traffic concerns.

Councillors also felt that it was outside the development line and went against the Tipton St John Village Design Statement.

Other concerns raised included poor access and run-off sewage treatment worries.

A Devonshire Homes representative stressed that the application was made after local consultations and put together over a substantial period of time. He requested technical and planning comments be sent to planning authority East Devon District Council (EDDC)- which will consider the town council’s view when it decides the fate of the plans later this year.

Campaign group Communities Before Developers has expressed concern about Devonshire Homes using an Axminster development to justify the Tipton scheme.

Campaigner Claire Wright, also an Ottery town councillor, said: “What a mess. The planning muddle gets worse. EDDC effectively rejected its Local Development Framework (LDF) just before Christmas, saying they are going to conduct an ‘exhaustive review,’ which is going to take until after the elections to complete.

“Meanwhile, large-scale planning applications continue to come in on open countryside and developers are using the previous LDF related approvals as justification for their own schemes.

“Parking the draft LDF until after the elections is not going to help. The damage is done. It is looking as though their decisions could cost us some of our most beautiful countryside.”