DEVELOPERS preparing for a long-awaited planning inquiry into a controversial Devon housing scheme maintain that their work is having no impact on a ‘priceless’ local nature reserve.

The Vistry Homes project for hundreds of homes close to the Wolborough Fen at Newton Abbot will come under the microscope as part of a week-long inquiry in the town next week.

Local campaigners fear that water running off the giant building site will damage the delicate eco-system of the ‘priceless’ fen, which is home to some of Devon’s rarest plant species and is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

The Devon Wildlife Trust says the fen is at risk, but a report from government watchdog Natural England said it was satisfied with Vistry’s drainage plan.

Ahead of the inquiry Peter Sadler, divisional managing director at Vistry, said: ‘The ecological condition of the SSSI is a matter of expert evidence that will be examined at the inquiry.

‘Our position remains that the works currently being undertaken are outside the fen and are not having an impact on the habitat.’

The site is part of the ‘NA3’ development which will bring a total of around 1,200 new homes in various stages.

The ecological health of the fen will be covered in detail during the inquiry, but a government inspector said at an earlier hearing that he had never known two sides in a planning inquiry to be so far apart in their views.

Mr Sadler said they were closer together than they had been, thanks to the pre-inquiry process which seeks to find common ground.

A new roundabout and link road have already been completed and house-building is under way on part of the site.

Vistry says drainage infrastructure is in place, and there has been no access from the site to the fen.

Half of the 726 homes proposed on the site by Vistry will be ‘affordable’, with priority given to local people. Plymouth Community Homes, the housing association that will manage the homes, operates across Devon and Cornwall and does not only cater for people in its home city.

Priority will go to applicants from Abbotskerswell and Newton Abbot, then surrounding parishes, then the rest of Teignbridge and only then the rest of Devon. The housing association will take the first 95 homes to be finished.

The first homes are due to be completed next spring, after delays in the planning process thwarted attempts to have the first families in by Christmas.

Vistry hopes to have a decision from the inquiry in the autumn.

‘It is such a shame that we haven’t been able to get families who are currently in temporary accommodation into their new homes for Christmas as a result of the delays, but it is important that we follow due process,’ said Mr Sadler.

‘We will continue to work within the approvals we’ve been given. I hope this hearing brings this matter to a conclusion and allows all parties to move forward.

‘We are keen to see this development come to life.’