DARTMOUTH is to get 240 new homes after a lengthy planning battle that has taken more than two years to settle.

But only 11 per cent of the multi-million pound West Dart development will be affordable housing – a figure mayor Rob Lyon has describ­ed as ‘extremely disappointing’.

His comments follow a decision this week to grant Millwood Homes outline planning approval to build the homes, together with employment units, on the edge of Townstal.

Millwood’s managing director Dan Salt said the company was very pleased with the outcome of the planning inquiry and now just wanted to get on and build some houses.

Details of the major development still have to be worked out and it was too early to be talking about starting dates, he said.

South Hams Council was adamant the developer should have offered to build something between 20 and 30 per cent of the homes as affordable.

But following an inquiry in February, government planning inspector Stephen Roscoe said he was satisfied the 11 per cent affordable element was acceptable in order to make the development both viable and deliverable.

Afterwards, Cllr Lyon said: ‘My impression was the case put forward by South Hams District Council and Dartmouth Town Council’s advisory planning team was solid.

‘However, who can be really sure who pulls the strings from above?’

District and county councillor Jonathan Hawkins, who spoke at the appeal, said it was a ‘lost opportunity’ for Dartmouth.

‘I am very surprised and saddened that the inspector came to this decision,’ he said.‘For those local families and individuals this is a real kick in the teeth in trying to find a home in Dartmouth.’Mr Roscoe announced his findings just over a month after hearing Millwood’s appeal against South Hams Council’s refusal to grant planning permission for the West Dart development, which started more than two years ago as an £80m project to build 400 new homes alongside employment land on the edge of Dartmouth.The eventual slimmed down scheme that Millwood has secured permission for will see 240 new homes, employment units, a local centre, formal and informal open space, landscaping, a cycle path and footpath provision off Townstal Road.Mr Roscoe said he considered the main issue to be whether the proposal would make adequate provision for affordable housing and that the viability of the proposal was crucial.‘In order to ensure viability and provide competitive returns to a willing landowner and developer to enable the development to be deliverable, an affordable housing level of 11 per cent is necessary,’ he concluded.‘I recognise that this view will come as a disappointment to many in the locality, particularly in view of the identified need for affordable housing. In this case, however, policy seeks viability and the council generally agrees with the appellant’s assessment, apart from the value discount to be applied.‘The assessment put before me shows that, with a higher level of affordable housing alongside the other obligations, the development would not be likely to be deliverable.‘The other obligations include the provision of employment land, which would double the available land in Dartmouth, and local centre/cottage hospital relocation land.‘The 11 per cent affordable housing is lower than the other six identified comparable schemes in the council’s area, apart from Riverside [in Totnes]. There are, however, other obligations specific to this site which have resulted from the development plan document allocations process and have local support.‘I therefore conclude that the proposal would make adequate provision for affordable housing in accordance with the NPPF [National Planning Policy Framework] and the council’s relevant DPD [Development Plan Documents] and SPD [Supplementary Planning Documents] where appropriate.’The inspector said that, from the evidence, it seemed the proposed development did not have the ability to support the level of affordable housing sought by the council and local residents.Millwood’s application was submitted in outline with appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved for future consideration.Mr Salt said: ‘It’s never good to have to go to appeal rather than reach a satisfactory outcome by agreement, but we are pleased to have been granted consent. It was a very technical appeal, based largely on numbers rather than design. ‘A detailed masterplan was submitted with the application but reserved matters are still to be decided.’Mr Salt added: ‘This has been a long planning process and now difficulties have been resolved we want to get on and build some houses.’