A scheme which was to have delivered almost 40 affordable homes in Bovey Tracey has been sideswiped by the recession.

Strategic Land Partnerships has permission to build up to 96 dwellings on the site of the former Cardew Pottery, which went into liquidation last year.

There are also plans to provide employment and industrial units.

The firm won the right to develop the land after it agreed to make 40 per cent of the new houses affordable, either through rental or shared ownership schemes.

SLP also said it would install a new roundabout on the Bovey Straights to provide access to the development.

But the credit crunch has hit the firm hard and it now says the 40 per cent deal was made 'in another world'.

Development manager Tim Baker said a more realistic figure was now between ten and 20 per cent, and that would only be possible if highways would agree to let them replace the £750,000 roundabout with a much cheaper T-junction.

Teignbridge Council also needed to slash its demand for £850,000 towards improved community facilities such as better play provision, while the Housing Corporation would have to come up with a suitable affordable homes grant.

'We've told Teignbridge that we're not trying to be clever, we're simply being open,' Mr Baker told the Advertiser.

'We're confident that what we're saying now is not just a made up story to suit our circumstances, this is reality.

'I'm talking to house builders who, without exception, are saying they won't offer a penny for the land because of the level of financial contributions we are committed to.

'Yes, we did promise to deliver 40 per cent affordable homes but we started this process four years ago and the truth is we were living in a different world then.

'We have said to Bovey Tracey Town Council that if we can negotiate more reasonable figures then we still might be able to provide the employment land and, subject to negotiations, between 10 and 20 per cent affordable housing.

'We have started discussions with officers at Teignbridge but I have absolutely no idea which way they will go.'

A Teignbridge spokesman said it was not possible to comment on SLP's revised position but that the authority would consider the latest applications in the usual manner.

Councillors sitting on the development control committee could be asked to determine the matter as early as next month.