BRISTOL-based affordable housing provider First Step Homes has announced it is to appeal against a refusal for six homes on land at Brook Lane, Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Dartmoor National Park Authority rejected the scheme in November saying there was insufficient need and that the development would damage the character of the village. Widecombe Parish Council opposed the plan, saying that the three-bedroom houses for sale rather than rent, would be unaffordable for locals. The developer's definition of affordability was also queried by Teignbridge Council, which stated that the Teignbridge Register of Housing Need showed only five applicants with proven need in Widecombe. But First Steps land manager Martin Page insisted there is local need and that this will form the crux of the appeal. The application stated that applicants would also be drawn from adjacent parishes, not just Widecombe itself. He told this paper that Teignbridge Council's housing services manager said that the applicants would need to fill in a Housing Need Form before he could support the plan, and that a request to DNP to defer the application, to allow time for this to happen, was denied. 'The applicants still want the homes and we have decided to take it to appeal. I want to highlight the fact that we are still trying to act in their best interests and raise a bit of awareness about our activities there,' said Mr Page. He said he had nine local applicants and that once they had completed the paperwork, an appeal would be lodged. Graham Davey, housing services manager at Teignbridge Council, endorsed Mr Page's version of events and said that he was now processing new forms from locals claiming housing need. Mr Davey said that, following his first response, he wrote to DNP supporting the scheme and asking for a deferral, which was refused. A DNP spokesman said that there were other reasons for the plan's refusal, apart from the question of need. But it had not been possible to confirm whether or why the request for a deferral was denied. Mr Page said he feared the scheme was being misrepresented, with it being said that the houses would sold to incomers at full market price. He said that applicants would have to meet stringent criteria laid down by DNP and Teignbridge Council and that the homes would be sold at between £137,000-£150,000, 60 per cent of their market value. A Section 106 agreement would secure their future occupation by locals and prevent owners cashing in by selling them on the open market. A meeting he had arranged with the parish council to try to allay fears was cancelled at the last moment, he said. Cllr Margaret Phipps, chairman of Widecombe Parish Council, said she could give 'no detail' on that and that applications were discussed once the relevant plans were received. She said she could not comment on his allegations that the plans were 'misrepresented'. 'We need to know more about the whole situation,' she said. A Teignbridge Council spokesman said that the housing register currently shows 11 applicants with Widecombe as their first choice and eight with Widecombe as their second. 'However, we are currrently only able to establish that eight have a local connection with the village,' she said.
