Residents fighting to halt plans for 98 more houses at Millbrook Meadows put their case to Neil Parish

ANGRY Axminster residents fighting plans for a major extension to their housing estate say they have had a positive meeting with MP Neil Parish.

Families in Millbrook Meadows are furious over a scheme to build a further 98 homes on land they claim was designated as an open space and play area.

They say developers Wainhomes have broken a promise not to extend their estate beyond the existing boundary – an allegation the company strongly refutes.

On Friday around a dozen residents took Mr Parish on a tour of the estate to outline their concerns.

Afterwards campaign leader Lesley Gale, who lives in Flax Meadow Lane, told The Herald: “He spent an hour-and-a-quarter discussing our grave concerns over the implications of phase three and the building of a further 98 homes.

“At his suggestion we walked around the development so that he could fully appreciate and understand these concerns. He was extremely supportive.

“A major issue we discussed is the total unsuitability of the current access road, Cherry Tree Road. It is narrow and winding, usually there is only room for one car to pass at a time. It has a tight dog leg bend, nicknamed the chicane or slalom by residents. This dog leg makes visibility of oncoming traffic impossible, you often find yourself driving straight at vehicles coming in the opposite direction, you cannot see them until the last second.

“When it was built this way eight years ago it was intended as a cul de sac for 87 homes. We already have over double that here now - about 170 - so to add a further 98, meaning 270 plus homes, would be accessed by this ridiculously small road, just does not make sense to the residents here.”

“While Mr Parish was looking around with us a very large lorry was on site. To get to the enclosure where building materials are stored the driver had to mount our pavements several times around this chicane area, leaving large tyre tracks of mud on the pavements. This illustrates perfectly how unsuitable this access road is.”

* Wainhomes say their proposed 98 homes development at Millbrook Meadows should have come as no surprise to locals because is on an allocated residential site within the East Devon Local Plan, adopted on July 19, 2006. They say it will provide much needed affordable housing to local people.