TEIGNBRIDGE Council is demanding an explanation for the government's 'arbitrary' doubling of its housing target over the next 18 years.

At Monday's executive committee, Cllr Gordon Hook wanted to know on what grounds the secretary of state has dramatically increased the district's housing targets from 8,000 to 16,000 by 2026.

'How on earth have they come by these figures? I tend to think it is all rather arbitrary. I have a picture of a mandarin grabbing figures out of the air like bingo tickets,' he exclaimed.

Executive committee members did not rule out the possibility of creating a new town to take some of the burden.

Half the new homes will go in the Newton Abbot area, which the secretary of state has proposed is boosted from a sub-regional centre to a strategically significant town (SST).

This could mean more investment and accelerated housing growth but the council will argue that it needs the infrastructure to go with it and greater flexibility to decide where the homes will go.

The council also says more land needs to be earmarked for employment if Newton Abbot is not to become simply a dormitory to Exeter and Torbay.

Speaking at the meeting, Brian Hall, chairman of Teignbridge and Torbay Council for the Protection of Rural England, slammed the council's 'dash for growth' and highlighted his fears that greenfield sites and protected sites would disappear under concrete.

An assessment of land availability carried out by the council shows a stark shortage of potential development sites. Councils are supposed to have a five-year land supply but at the higher rate of house building that would be needed if the council is to meet its target it has only enough land for 1.97 years.

This could be good news for small rural settlements desperate to expand. Meanwhile, a Kingskerswell parish councillor is worried that they will be swamped by the possible scale of development in their village. Along with Kingsteignton and Ogwell, Kingskerswell will form part of the Newton Abbot SST.

Cllr Anthony Ballinger told the Advertiser that the parish council had been kept in the dark but his claim has been refuted by Kerswell-with-Coombe district councillor Mike Haines.

'All the settlements will be expected to have some development found and Kingskerswell can't expect to be immune from it,' Cllr Haines said.