The confusion and controversy regarding development at Brow Hill Ridge continued to rumble on at Monday's meeting of Bovey Town Council, with questions from Heathfield residents Samantha Jones and Tracey McMahon sparking a lengthy debate.
Mrs Jones asked if Cllr Anna Klinkenberg had changed the planning category in order for the decision regarding the application for 23 homes by Midas Homes to be made by Teignbridge head of planning Steve Robinson, rather than by committee.
Cllr Klinkenberg answered: 'It was a category B (committee decision), but Steve Robinson questioned why this was the case. He said it had been through the system and there had been a public inquiry on it.'
Mrs Klinkenberg added that she had been supportive of the residents' wish for open space at Brow Hill Ridge, but that following the public inquiry and the approval for houses on the site, she was concerned that permission for the new school could be lost if delays occurred.
'I knew that the residents were hoping for a miracle to happen and for the land to be bought for open space,' she said, later, adding: 'The houses were the price of having the school.'
Tracey McMahon referred to 'unfair' reporting in last week's Mid Devon Advertiser, in which it was suggested that funding for the school could be jeopardised if planning permission for the homes failed to materialise.
Mrs McMahon stated that she 'has it in writing from Midas' that the school development was not linked to the housing project, prompting her to comment: 'Either the goal posts have been moved or someone isn't being truthful about what is going on.'
The debate continued with Cllr George Gribble commenting: 'I was given duff information, as was the public,' and Cllr Fernley Holmes added: 'Over the last five or six years we have been fighting like hell on this council (to provide facilities at Heathfield) only for it to become one of the biggest cock ups.
'The councillors and residents have been working in the dark. Is this the way to go about business, to be seen talking at cross purposes?'
He concluded: 'Get the damn school built and talk about the other things afterwards.'
Drawing the discussion to a close, mayor Cllr David Risdon said: 'The county council is not responsible for the funding of the school, it is the government. The Department for Education and Skills gives money to the diocese, the county is committed only to provision of playing fields and changing rooms.'
He added that despite the DFES 'being a law unto itself', Leo Critchlow, the education officer dealing with property at the county council would be 'gobsmacked' if the DFES pulled out of the deal at this stage, and concluded that he expected the building of the school to commence 'in the next few months'
Clerk Tony Westwood added: 'The diocese in Devon is being very quiet on purpose, it doesn't want to rock any boats.
'It would be in everyone's interest if there wasn't a huge furore.'