The £80m plan to build hundreds of new homes in Dartmouth has come up short of land – to the tune of almost 25 acres.

In a bombshell announcement, developer Millwood Homes claims almost one third of the land, earmarked for the homes, employment units, play areas, open space, sports pitches, a new park and ride site and a community hub, is unusable.

Around 12 acres of that land is so steep it will be difficult or impossible to build on, said Millwood's planning manager Judith Gannon.

Another 12 acres is part of Milton Farm, belonging to farmer David White who has made it clear for the last five years that he has no intention of selling up, said Ms Gannon.

Now the Ashburton- based developer is asking people to consider expanding the development area to take in land west of the Venn Lane boundary and south of the caravan park.

Millwood is warning that if it is forced to stick to the existing land boundaries set out in the Government-approved development framework for Dartmouth, it will only be able to build around half the 400 homes expected for the site and less than half the employment units designated for the town – which would also lose out on the proposed expansion of both the park and ride and sports pitches.

But Dartmouth district councillor Hilary Bastone is adamant that Millwood must stick to the approved land boundaries.

And he claims that if necessary compulsory purchase powers can be used to get hold of the necessary land.

'There is sufficient land if you take into account Milton Farm,' he said. 'We are not developing immediately. This will be done in stages up to 2026. If we make no progress in securing this land for the proposed development, the district council has powers to compulsorily purchase.

'I understand that it is possible that those powers could be used if the land is not forthcoming.

'What has been allocated in the development plan document is what's been allocated. You can't change that.'

Milton Lane farmer David White said he did not want to comment on proposals.

The 'lost' land revelations were made at a second public exhibition organised by Millwood Homes on Tuesday at St Clement's Church Hall.

Ms Gannon said the town was now being asked whether it wanted to pursue development on the current designated 80 acres of land, which stretches from the Dartmouth Academy boundary to Venn Lane, or extend the boundary to make up for the 'unusable' 24 acres.

She said the owners of Milton Farm had made it clear as long ago as 2006 that they did not want to see their land developed.

She said the results of a survey looking at the topography of the site – including some extremely steep sections – had only come in three weeks ago.

Millwood Homes claims that sticking to the approved site would mean it would only be able to build 231 new homes instead of the 405 planned.

The planned 11 acres of employment land would also have to be cut by more than half, the company claims.