Plans for a model flying club to use a field on the edge of Kingsteignton have been grounded until councillors can be given a demonstration of how much noise the machines might make.

The Exeter and District Radio Control Club has to quit Exeter Racecourse where flying time has become limited.

Half the club's 60 members live in Teignbridge but finding a new site has proved to be a challenge.

Their sights are now set on a field off Hestow Road, near Whiteway Barton.

Planning officers at the district council have supported the move but opposition has been raised by more than 30 people.

Resident Doris Derrick told a meeting of the Teignbridge planning committee at Forde House on Monday that flying there would generate unacceptable noise and create a safety hazard for people and livestock.

She also described letters from the applicant, club member Nigel Astbury-Rollason, from Chudleigh, as 'intimidating, upsetting and rude'.

She said: 'I urge you to refuse this application on the grounds of public safety and noise in an area of great landscape value.'

Mr Astbury-Rollason said objectors' perceptions of the club's activities were 'rather wide of the mark' and that training sessions with horse riders would be arranged to help them prepare.

'A small amount of tolerance and understanding is all that we ask,' he said.

Some members, such as Cllr Charlie Dennis, thought the site was 'ideal'.

Others did not. Cllr Kelvyn Shantry, worried about low-flying birds said: 'The skylarks win for me, I recommend refusal.'

Local member Cllr Beryl Austen argued that with motocross racing at Whiteway Barton up to 28 days each year it was unfair to expect residents to also put up with model aircraft three or four days a week.

'This isn't just about this application,' she said.

'It is the cumulative effect of all these people have to put up with.'

Members agreed that despite being given technical data about noise they would prefer to hear the models in action before voting on the application.

A site visit will be arranged and the matter brought back to committee, probably next month.

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