SEVEN homes are to build at Collingwood Road, Dartmouth.
South Hams Council's development management committee has narrowly approved the plan following a site inspection.
Voting was finely split – four votes to four with one abstention at this month's meeting.
Committee chairman Cllr Richard Foss used his casting vote to confirm the development would be allowed to go ahead.
The proposal for a terrace of three-bedroomed houses over a parking area had the support of Dartmouth Town Council.
And afterwards, Cllr David Gent chairman of the town council's planning committee, said he welcomed the decision.
'It is only a small dent in Dartmouth's housing problem but it is a dent nonetheless,' he said.
District councillors were recommended to turn down the application, which will result in the loss of protected trees at the site and have 'a substantial adverse impact on the landscape and visual amenity'.
A report from officers said the design and scale of the development was out of keeping with the character of the residential development next to the site. There was not adequate provision for parking and would encourage vehicles on the road, the report said.
The proposal by Mr M Featherstone, of Sheyenne Ltd, Fore Street, Salcombe, follows the refusal of planning permission for eight homes on the site in 2013.
The site is within the development boundary where the construction of additional homes is acceptable in principle, the committee was told.
To mitigate the loss of trees on the site, it is proposed to plant a line of Populus tremula erector trees within the gardens of the houses and small areas of planting are proposed along Mayflower Close.
Dartmouth district councillor Ben Cooper requested the application be considered by the committee on the basis the trees were not worthy of retention and that the scheme would improve the appearance of the area.
Permission was refused in 2013 for eight homes due to the 'adverse impact on neighbouring homes, the impact on road safety and the loss of a group of trees'.