TEIGNBRIDGE COUNCIL is to hold an internal investigation after the embarrassing revelation on Monday that it had failed to enforce a vital planning condition controlling the appearance of the controversial new £4.5 million CLS laundry at Decoy in Newton Abbot.

The inquiry was announced by Cllr Ken Lewis after he publicly admitted the council's mistake at a stormy and packed public meeting about the laundry on Monday evening at Forde House in Newton Abbot.

The meeting had been called by Cllr Lewis and fellow Milber ward councillor Roger Mewis in response to the wave of angry protest from local residents that has been growing ever since building work on the laundry began last summer.

Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross was present on the dais in the council chamber, as were Alex Rowe, CLS joint managing director, Mick Roberts, the planning case officer, and Richard Weaving, the planning department's ecology adviser.

Cllr Mewis said that the public turnout for the meeting was 'unprecedented'. Indeed there was barely even standing room for the 200-plus residents of Aller, Milber, Decoy and Kingskerswell who crowded into the remainder of the chamber and public gallery.

All of them consider the laundry an eyesore, which blights their view and property values, but many are also worried over traffic and working hours, and possible nuisance from floodlights and emissions. Others say that they are disillusioned by Teignbridge Council's apparent reluctance to live up to the fine ambitions outlined in its own glossy planning handbook.

'Why don't they follow their own PR about planning?' asked one woman.

Few seem to blame CLS itself, arguing that the company had always acted in good faith.

Until 10 minutes before the meeting started Cllr Lewis view had been the official one. Planning consent for the laundry had been properly given back in October 2000, and the finished building matched the specifications in the plans. CLS had followed all the correct procedures and had met all ten conditions required by the planning officers.

All that could be done was for a voluntary compromise to be reached between residents and CLS. This would probably involve some form of screening - complicated by the presence of two protected species on the site, crested newts and cirl buntings - and repainting of the building's exterior.

But at 6.50pm Cllr Lewis was informed by Mr Roberts that an eleventh condition, imposed by the planning committee, had never been included on the original decision notice. This condition required the developer and the planners to reach an agreement over building materials.

'It is clearly an anomaly that this condition was not on the decision notice, and at present I cannot explain why it has happened,' said Mr Roberts at the meeting. His statement was greeted with loud derision.

Cllr Lewis had been put on the spot by this admission, and did the only thing that he probably could have done.

'There will be an internal investigation as to why this vital condition did not go on the decision notice,' he said.

Brian Yates, a residents' spokesman, said that the incident merely confirmed the widespread view that the council's planning department was guilty of 'negligence and utter incompetence'. It was unfair that CLS 'took flak' for the council's failings, and the council should fund any alterations to the laundry.

He added that the sewage-treatment plant on the Teign estuary provided a useful example of a sympathetic colour scheme that blended in with its surroundings.

Les Edgecumbe, another resident, said that the news was indicative of what people have been dealing with.

'All I've heard about Teignbridge planners smacks of incompetence and unprofessionalism,' he said. 'Why do we council-tax payers have to pay for that? We insist that the inquiry is open and that the Teignbridge MP is kept involved.'

By an overwhelming show of hands members of the audience said that they had no confidence in the council's planning department and planning committee.

Richard Younger-Ross said that it was important to resolve the issue properly.

'There appear to have been many faults in the decision-making process,' he said. 'We should identify those and act on them, and and not just blame certain people as "scapegoats".'

A meeting between CLS and the residents' group is planned for the near future, to seek some possible way forward about screening and colour schemes.

Cllr Lewis said that DEFRA would be approached to ascertain whether it would grant a licence for a screen that would not interfere with the protected newts. He said that he would also investigate why it takes so long for residents' enquiries to be answered by Teignbridge planning department.