THE chairman of Salcombe's neighbourhood development plan steering group has reassured doubters that it 'will have teeth'.

James Spencer told a well attended meeting at Salcombe Primary School: 'This initiative is local to us – but development is a national issue, and this process is being driven from above. 

'More than 50 plans have been completed across the country already.'

Another member of the steering group, Geoff Foale, told those present: 'We can't be sure how things will work out.

'But if we do nothing, it's like waving a white flag to the developers. We have to act.

'Please, everyone, get involved.'

The meeting gave Salcombe residents the opportunity to quiz the steering group on what the plan was all about and what progress had so far been made.

The first question from the audience of around 60 people was: 'Is there any point in this process? Will the neighbourhood plan have teeth?'

The chairman assured everyone that it would, referring to an application for 100 new homes in Staffordshire that had been refused because it conflicted with an NDP – one that had not even been finalised.

The meeting was also a chance for the group to present preliminary results of an ongoing survey that has been completed by more than 500 people.

For more on this story, see this week's Kingsbridge & Salcombe Gazette