PROPOSED plans to develop a former Bradworthy factory into housing were "anything but a done deal" the leader of Torridge District Council reassured residents on Saturday, May 23.

The meeting was organised by an action group which was formed in the village after plans to develop the former Lavis Medical Systems building into approximately 10 affordable rented houses were unveiled during a consultation event earlier in the month.

Torridge's leader James Morrish and head of planning Maria Bailey attended the meeting in the memorial hall which was also well attended by residents. Bob Lancaster, a member of the action group who was chairing the meeting said: "We're concerned about what is best for Bradworthy." Five speakers read out areas of concern about the proposal.

They questioned the choice of site and why it was considered acceptable to change the use of the former Lavis building when the Bradworthy Parish Plan clearly identified employment and economic prosperity within its first two objectives.

They also questioned the survey which had been carried out, which claimed to identify a need for affordable housing in the village. They felt the survey had "skewed the results in favour of rented property when it is felt that a majority of all residents support and would encourage affordable housing to buy."

The group also asked: "If there is insufficient take up of these units by local people is there any assurance that people from outside the local area will not be brought in?"

The suitability of the site, the density of the housing envisaged, the existing properties already available for rent in the village and the projected cost to public funds of the project were also queried.

The group felt there would be a conflict with the ongoing businesses adjacent to the site, including noise and health and safety issues. The additional stress the development would put on the infrastructure of the village was also a concern.

A letter written by the developers, Alan Pomeroy and Will Urquhart was read out. It stated that the plans "responded to the needs of Bradworthy" as shown in the recent survey which highlighted definite needs for at least ten affordable houses.

Mr Pomeroy and Mr Urqhuart said that they had tried for two years to let the building but had only had one business show any interest and they had declined because it was not suitable.

The housing would only be rented to Bradworthy residents who had lived in the village for five years or whose family had lived in the village for ten years. They said the affordable rents would allow local young families to remain in Bradworthy and thus enhance the village. The alternative to their proposal would be for the building to remain vacant and subsequently deteriorate.

Mr Urquhart was present at the meeting and he stressed that he would only be involved in the development if it was "set in concrete" that it would be for local people. He also felt he had done a lot to bring the plans to people's attention as the consultation event was his suggestion.

Responding to the action group's concerns, Maria Bailey said that, as part of the Local Development Framework, they had been looking at other opportunities for employment land in Bradworthy. Although not at the planning application stage, if the Lavis building development was approved, Torridge would look for replacement employment land somewhere else in the village.

Mr Morrish asked why take away industrial land only to look for more somewhere else. Maria said they would have to look at why the current site had not been taken up and whether it would be more appropriate to move it else where.

To change the building from commercial use to residential, there would have to be evidence that the property had been marketed for two years without any interest or ability to get it back into commercial use, said Maria.

Maria said that the agents would have to provide evidence that it had been marketed properly and if anyone wished to challenge this they could present their evidence to Torridge.

In the last five years Torridge had developed 20 units of affordable housing which Maria admitted was "not good." She said there were difficulties with delivering new building affordable housing and they had been looking at possible existing buildings to convert, which potentially could be less costly.

The survey, mentioned by the action group, was carried out by the Community Council for Devon and was a "tried and tested" model used across Devon, said Maria.

Although a lot of people in Torridge wished to own their own home, there was a large proportion which were not able to and were in need of social rented housing. Maria said: "We are seeing an increase in a need for social rented housing."

A 'refresher survey' would be carried out to make sure they were delivering the right type of housing for the people identified in the Bradworthy survey before an application was submitted.

Reiterating what Mr Pomeroy and Mr Urquhart had said, Maria stressed that for someone to occupy the properties they would have had to have lived in the village for five years or have a connection to someone in the parish for ten years. However, she said there would be a "cascade system" in that, after a period of time, if they cannot find local people within Bradworthy to move into the houses they would look at the surrounding parishes, and if that was not successful they would go wider.

The suitability of the building was addressed by Maria who said any affordable housing, converted or new build, has to meet higher standards than normal housing. They would, however, have to look at the conflict with the surrounding industrial area before the plans were taken any further.

Maria said she was a "little surprised" the plans had gone as far as they had. As the plans were a "departure from policy" a lot of consultation has to take place with the community and she hoped there would have been more consultation carried out before the plans were put together and put on display.

Asked what Torridge could do about this, Maria said that she had already said to the Westcountry Housing Group, which provides affordable homes in Devon and Cornwall and who are involved in the Bradworthy project, to "put a halt on this" and she said they had stopped doing any further work at present.

Maria would also be speaking to the developers to obtain information about the infrastructure of the village. She said: "I would have hoped, before drawing up plans, that this sort of information would have been looked into. I will work with them and ask them to get that information."

She said there was a feeling that the plans had "gone too far too quickly" and there had been a bit of a "hiccup in Bradworthy."

Although the building had previously been brought to Maria's attention as a possibility for development, she did not know it had gone this far and admitted there had been a breakdown in communication between the district council and the registered social landlord.

A local resident asked about a covenant on the building, however this was something Torridge were not able to answer but said they would look into it.

A resident present at the meeting had obtained information from the Comm­unity Council for Devon which stated that on October 9, 2008 Maria Bailey had met with the landowners at the site and said it had potential for conversion. He said: "It infers Torridge District Council has supported this since last October."

However, Mr Morrish gave his "absolute word" that the plans were "anything but a done deal" and that he had not even heard about the plans until a couple of weeks previously. He said it had not been "talked about by any members whatsoever."

Also, as the plans would be a departure from policy they would definitely have to go before the planning committee to be decided.

Maria said she did recommend looking at the site as a potential opportunity but that "doesn't mean it's going to come to anything."