Jenny Farmer, chairman  of Stoke Fleming Parish Council, writes:

Following last week's letters in which Stoke Fleming Parish Council were criticised for their stance on affordable homes. I would like to put the council's point of view.

'Stoke Fleming Parish Council recognises the need for affordable housing and first phase of development at Newcomen Fields, is evidence of this, the percentage of social housing, now occupied by local families, would have been considerably less, without our intervention.

Our objection to the West Dartmouth Development (Millwood) was not that we did not want the development, but that the developers were seeking to exceed the Development Boundary and increase the number of  open market houses, which, without the infrastructure to support it, would not have been beneficial to the community at large. The proportion of affordable housing was extremely low and the indicated prices of these houses too high. 

We know local people desperately need affordable housing but the Millwood development was not going to deliver that.

We may yet get a revised development on this site, which hopefully will deliver what is required locally, and we will continue to lobby for that.

To be able to influence decisions like this in the future, councils are being asked to develop Neighbourhood Plans, which will influence what is built and where, but these are not just about planning issues, however important, but a vision of how they want their towns and parishes to develop and be sustained for those living there, now, and in the future, these plans will involve the whole community, not just the parish council.

We have begun this process and public consultation will take place shortly, we need the whole community to be involved in this.

Stoke Fleming Parish Council is not populated by nimby's but by hardworking, diligent people who do care about what happens to this parish.'