TEIGNBRIDGE Council is recommending approval of a multi-million pound development on the edge of Newton Abbot, two months after the developers, fed up with waiting, have appealed to the Secretary of State.
Clay company WBB Minerals wants to build 189 homes, a high-quality office development and a new rugby club with six pitches and club house on 21.6 hectares of land north of Jetty Marsh.
The plan involves building a northern link road between Jetty Marsh and Whitehill Cross, to relieve the narrow stretch of the A382. Talks between WBB Minerals and the council had reached deadlock on the number of affordable housing and the timing of the new northern link road.
To force the issue, WBB Minerals lodged an appeal with the Secretary of State in January. A six-day hearing to determine the outcome is set for October.
Steve Robinson, head of planning, denied that the council had been dragging its feet. 'We are still negotiating with them and will be all the way up to the enquiry.'
The council wants to see 60 per cent affordable housing. But WBB has argued that this would make the scheme unviable because of the high costs of road building and flood alleviation works.
But WBB refused the council's request to submit detailed costs in confidence, so that the district valuer could assess the truth of this claim. Instead, the figures that were submitted did not allow any conclusion about possible profits to be reached.
In December, WBB made a unilateral offer to provide 50 per cent affordable homes on one site consisting of 73 one and two-bedroom flats.
On the larger neighbouring site, where they hope to build 116 homes, they have offered 19 affordable homes - or 16%. A lengthy report before Monday's development control committee says: 'This represents a provision of just under 30%, well short of the local requirement and the Council's Position Statement on affordable housing.'
The other stumbling block is the timing of the new northern link road, which will open up the whole area for housing, including future applications in line with the 'northern option' being touted in the Council's Local Development Framework.
The Council wants the road completed before the 70th house is occupied, or within three years of consent being granted, whichever is sooner.
Mr Robinson said that WBB want to decide the timing themselves. Even so, members of the planning committee are being asked to accept the scheme, subject to a list of stringent conditions.
These include flood protection measures, landscaping to minimise the impact on wildlife, archaeological surveys, investigations into possible site contamination, and financial contributions towards public transport and secondary schooling.