A battle to stop hundreds of new homes being built in Teignmouth, greatly swelling the population, has begun,

A formal planning application for one of two proposed big estates was submitted to Teignbridge Council planners on Monday.

The developer who wants to construct 165 houses on a green field site between Shepherds Lane and the Coombe Valley estate, maintains it will help to relieve a housing shortage in the area, and be an asset to the town.

But there is widescale opposition from many residents and councillors, with one forecasting it would create 'gridlock' on the already heavily congested Bitton Park Road.