THE development framework plan for Newton Abbot’s latest housing development Whitehills, has been adopted by Teignbridge Council’s Executive.

The revised plans went before councillors on Tuesday after the planning committee scrutinised the previous documents twice.

Members were told by council officers that ‘further work had been done to improve the framework plan’ and ‘this is the best plan we could prepare for the site’.

Cllr Gordon Hook said there was widespread concern for the A382 improvements and asked if there was any chance that the improvements could take place before the development begins.

But he was told no by officers, there was no technical highways reason to do so and most of the development would take place once the works get underway or the road has been improved.

Cllr Hook then raised concerns over the loss of employment land and asked if the employment land lost on the development site, be made available somewhere else.

But again, Cllr Hook was told that the council was not in a position to make land available but would instead ask for money to bring forward employment land elsewhere.

Cllr Stuart Barker said that the most important and ‘crucial’ issue would be the link between Newton Abbot and Drumbridges.

He said there is public money available and that’s the council’s best option.

At the meeting Peter Finch, from the Devon Campaign to Protect Rural England, asked: ‘How will the council ensure that there will be no adverse effect on the greater horseshoe bat from other planning applications within NA2.’

He was told that the Habitat Regulations Assessment concluded that ‘on the basis that the proposed mitigation is adopted as part of the development framework plan, and subsequently secured through appropriate planning mechanisms at such time as individual planning applications are determined, the development of NA2 Whitehill will not have a “likely significant effect” on the greater horseshoe Bats.