TEIGNBRIDGE MP Richard Younger-Ross has asked Ruth Kelly, secretary of state for communities and local government, to look at the decision of the Planning Inspectorate into the appeal by Costcutter to allow Newton Abbot's main post office to be moved to its extended store in Queen Street. He has written to the minister raising a number of points about the decision and has asked that it is overturned. Mr Younger-Ross expressed concerns at the implication the plans would have in the area. 'In my view the inspector making the decision has misunderstood the implications that these plans will have for vehicles and pedestrians in Queen Street,' he said. The mayor of Newton Abbot, Cllr Daphne Watts, who chaired the town council's post office sub-committee, was saddened by the news. 'Everyone on the town council is very disappointed. We have worked, as have the people of Newton Abbot, long and hard to try to retain the post office in the main shopping area. 'The planning application was a very narrow one. Had the unit already been A1 retail, they would not have needed planning permission. 'The narrowness of the planning meant that we could only look at it on highway and pedestrian safety grounds,' said Cllr Watts. She praised Teignbridge Council, which she said had also worked hard to try to keep the main post office in Market Walk. 'I think the post office will regret, in time, franchising away from the town centre. I believe they will lose business by it,' she said. Cllr Watts said they would now keep a watching brief on Lemon Road and Queen Street, to look at how it affects the traffic, parking and pedestrian safety. 'We will have to let this one settle and then try to find a way of providing a sub-post office in the centre of the town. One post office is not enough and we will keep on trying,' she stated. In a statement, Teignbridge Council made it clear it noted the appeal decision and remained concerned that the increase in the numbers of pedestrians and vehicles which would result from the development would cause real highway difficulties. 'We regret that the secretary of state's inspector did not accept the strength of this argument. 'However, we accept that the question of whether the main post office should be relocated from Market Walk was not a matter which the council, or the inspector, was entitled to take into account when considering the planning merits of the case. 'In this way, the decision to allow the appeal remains separate from the post office's own decision to relocate,' the statement concluded. The district council could lodge an appeal but is unlikely to do so. A spokeswoman for the post office said she could not comment on when the move would take place, because there was still a six -week period where an appeal could be announced.
