I’m sure many people will have been aghast at the letter in last week’s Teignmouth Post from Newton Abbot Constituency Conservative chairman, Chris Clarance of Shaldon.

Nevertheless, I think we should be grateful for his candour. Whereas other Conservatives have sought to bluff, befuddle and baffle, Chris has been disarmingly honest. Look at a map of Teignmouth and Dawlish, you will see Teignmouth has hardly any undeveloped areas compared with Dawlish.

It is clear the Jeremy Christophers’ regime at Teignbridge District Council see Teignmouth as a cash cow, and are quite prepared to push through any planning application irrespective of the consequences for Teignmouth, in order to receive money from the New Homes Bonus and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

The Higher Exeter Road application is flawed in terms of traffic, flooding and design; in any normal circumstances it would be rejected.

Cllr Clarance claims in his letter, that Plan Teignbridge affords our countryside protection, but these assurances are worthless.

The Higher Exeter Road planning application all too clearly shows the protections talked about in Plan Teignbridge aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

The Higher Exeter Road application has 20 per cent outside the area TE3 in Plan Teignbridge in the supposedly protected ‘undeveloped coast’. At the planning meeting in July 2014, the head of planning, Nick Davies, said that the Shepherds Lane area could be looked at again for development.

Whilst I wouldn’t wish this development on Shaldon, if these large housing sites are so wonderful why doesn’t Cllr Clarance volunteer Shaldon (formerly part of Teignmouth urban district) which has lots of fields ripe for development?