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"Shame!" shout Pinhoe residents as housing development approved

Some residents near Gypsy Hill protested at the plans for 62 new homes

Scheme had been recommended for refusal, but councillors give the nod after amendments

Cries of shame rung out as councillors approved controversial plans for 62 new homes near to the Gipsy Hill Hotel in Pinhoe. The Linden Homes scheme for the Sandrock estate was initially recommended for refusal by planning officers, only for a last-minute improved offer to increase the number of affordable homes. Exeter councillors then backed the plans, four votes to three.

The only access to the new housing estate will be through Gipsy Hill Lane, with no access to either Pinn Lane or the Tithe Barn Link Road, the preferred route residents would have liked. Councillors though were told that the developers couldn't access the site from Tithebarn Way due to a ‘ransom strip’ of land that was being held by an individual who was refusing to sell.

Ward councillor Duncan Wood, speaking against the plans, said that the vast majority of residents were not objecting to the concept of development but the specifics of the scheme.“An acceptable solution could be achieved if there wasn’t the ransom strip," he told the meeting. "As it is, the roads around Gipsy Hill Lane will get busier and there will be increases in traffic flows without any mitigation being provided. There will be gridlock created if this goes ahead and vehicles cannot get out of the way in an emergency is there is no space left or right. The proposed access if nothing but a fudged design."

But Alex Graves, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said that the principal of development had been previously been approved, but had lapsed due to viability issues, and this was a new plan to overcome difficult issues. He added: “Exeter has a serious shortfall in housing supply, and we would deliver homes to address the shortfall. We are providing £100,000 for pedestrian and cycle lanes and [an infrasturcture fund] of £900,000, plus the new homes bonus as well."

Cllr Rosie Denham said: “The ransom strip is incredibly frustrating and it is inappropriate that the developer is being held to ransom, but...at least for once, cycling and walking have been prioritised in the access, so we are trying to building communities where people can walk and cycle, and where communities are designed so that walking and cycling is more attractive than driving, it gets uptake from communities."

Gipsy Hill Lane will also be widened to nearly five metres between the access and Pinn Lane, allowing a car and lorry to pass each other. Pinn Lane will be closed to vehicles north of Gipsy Hill Lane to prevent any conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians/cyclists using the new path or this stretch of Pinn Lane to Tithebarn Way. Councillors voted by seven votes to three, with one abstention, to approve the application. Cllrs Harvey, Percy Prowse and Yolanda Henson voted against the plans. A packed public gallery of residents cried shame as the decision was announced.

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