A COUNCILLOR has alleged that Newton Abbot light engineering company Centrax Ltd has told its employees to avoid any road traffic survey that might be carried out near its Milber site, write John Balment and Nigel Canham. The company wants to develop a 14-acre industrial estate and 11-acre sports field on land close to its gas turbine factory and claims a traffic survey it commissioned supports the application. Opponents, including Haccombe-with-Combe Parish Council – within whose boundaries part of the development site lies – argue the survey was flawed because it took place when St Marychurch Road was closed and schools were on Christmas holiday. They say the roads around the area are already busy and the additional strain of further industrial development and 72 houses planned for Buckland would result in danger and chaos. On Wednesday, Haccombe-with-Combe parish councillor Ken Tucker told his colleagues at their monthly meeting: 'I have heard from some of the employees within the company that they have been told to use the Buckland Estate to avoid any traffic surveys. 'It just shows they are frightened if the employees are being told to avoid a traffic survey,' he said. He maintained the application had been 'rammed down our throats' in a matter of weeks. 'Now we have 48 hours to reply to these revised plans. We have not been consulted or able to arrange a public meeting to hear our residents' views. I think the whole issue stinks,' said Cllr Tucker. The chairman, Cllr John Coombes, said he had attended a recent site meeting and had been allowed to ask a number of questions. 'I do not think a lot of people were very interested to be honest. 'I did notice one or two of them yawning. 'It is unbelievable that there has not been enough consultation with the people of this parish. I was prepared to go to a Newton Abbot Town Council meeting to discuss this and would have gone on a Sunday, if necessary, but I The Advertiser asked Centrax to comment on the claims but spokesman, Danni King, said the privately owned firm had a policy of not talking with the press. 'We have been misquoted too many times,' she said. Parish clerk and leading BBC wildlife film maker, Andrew Cooper, has submitted a 12-point objection to the Centrax application on behalf of the council. In addition to the 'fundamentally flawed' traffic survey he added that the area was best known for its tourism and said: 'We are in danger of destroying the area's principle asset by continual inappropriate development'. Other worries include loss of ancient hedgerows and trees, noise pollution and visual impact. Residents of Milber are also objecting to the employment land creeping closer to their homes. In documentation supporting the application the firm says its objectives include creating 'much needed' employment land and 'enabling access to adjacent development sites'. Instead of a roundabout a T junction is now proposed on the Shaldon Road and the existing factory entrance would be located on a new link road. The firm already has permission to develop a six-acre site within its grounds, granted in 1997, which, it says, could provide up to 200 jobs. The current application is being advertised as a departure from the Local Plan, as the site is registered as countryside. Teignbridge Council Development Control Committee is due to consider the application on Monday, when officers are recommending approval subject to conditions.
