Council runs out of time for housing plan verdict

A proposal to build up to 86 homes in a Devon village is due to be decided at appeal after planners failed to make a decision.

Developer Taylor Wimpey's plans for Feniton will now be put to the planning inspectorate after East Devon District Council failed to come to a verdict within the required time period.

A spokesperson for the district council said it "would have been minded to refuse the application had it made a decision on the matter".

Taylor Wimpey confirmed it submitted a planning appeal and added: "We will help provide needed homes in the area."

The land that has been proposed for the new builds has not been allocated by the council for housing and is also not included in East Devon's emerging local plan, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The district council spokesperson said: "At the time, the application was being considered the council was still considering which sites in Feniton should be allocated in the emerging local plan and so it was felt that it would be premature to determine the application ahead of these discussions being completed."

They added: "Our focus is on defending the appeal. We will address the consequences of the outcome of the appeal when the time comes."

The village's parish council said it was "concerned and disappointed" the application had been allowed to go to appeal.

"We feel disappointed because we believe all the evidence was before the planning committee and yet they didn't reach a determination before it went to the appeal stage," said Nick Spence, a member of Feniton Parish Council.

"They should have turned it down before it got to this stage."

Spence described the district council's aim to fight the appeal as "good news" but said he would have preferred the council to have made a decision.

The planning inspectorate website has listed the appeal for 1 May.

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