A MAJOR housing development aimed at rejuvenating Chagford has been approved

unanimously by Dartmoor planners.

One of the biggest projects ever dealt with by the national park authority won high praise from members as they gave it their blessing today.

The ambitious scheme - aimed at accommodating local buyers - will feature 93 homes, 28 of them considered affordable. A related Chagford Masterplan venture, the building of 15 units for the elderly, has nearly been completed.

Work on the freshly approved plan, including a 70-space car park, new fire station, toilet block, recreational area, four starter business units and a road linking Lower Street to Westcott Lane, is expected to take three years.

The affordable homes comprise 12 one-bedroom properties, 10 two-bedroom homes and six with three bedrooms - all to be secured for local people.

The scheme carries 28 special conditions which have to be adhered to. Part of the deal involves spending a commuted sum of £350,000 on other affordable housing plans within the parish.

David Lohfink, planning director of developers C G Fry, said some ‘pretty hard-core community engagement’ had been harnessed to make the project a reality.

‘There has been a fantastic investment of time and energy by us and Chagford over this,’ he told members of the authority’s development management committee before they voted on the scheme. The company, he added, had been very grateful for the proactive approval given by the parish council throughout the 10-year genesis of the enterprise.

Dartmoor’s director of planning, Stephen Belli, described the enterprise as a ‘very pleasing example of master planning at its very best.’

He added: ‘It’s taken a long time - but we got there in the end.’

Mr Belli thanked Chagford Parish Council and the Chagford Community Trust for their positive contributions throughout the life of the plan.

SImilar sentiments were expressed by committee chairman James McInnes who said: ‘I would like to congratulate the community on this development. It’s been a model in the park and across Dartmoor of how we conduct things.’

Simon Hill chipped in: ‘It’s been a long time coming - but it will be good for the town.’

Kevin Ball, proposing the application be granted, said: ‘It is congratulations all round. This is a terrific plan.’

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David Lloyd described it as ‘exemplary.’