A PERMANENT campsite in Dawlish Warren has been approved, despite councillors initially failing to support the plan.

The site, on the corner of Warren Road and Mount Pleasant Road, has been  a temporary pop-up campsite for the last two summers but will now be allowed to operate full-time with 26 bell tents.

However, members of Teignbridge District Council’s planning committee were far from unanimous in their support for the scheme at their latest. An initial motion to approve it was rejected.

But to throw out an application under planning rules, another motion to refuse it must then be proposed by a councillor and seconded by another. On this occasion nobody did, so a re-run of the initial vote to approve took place, which was narrowly supported.

A nearby resident and local councillors spoke out against the plan, citing concerns including overdevelopment, loss of habitat, noise pollution, pedestrian safety and a danger of flooding due to an impact on the area’s drainage.

The field on which the campsite sits is not part of a critical drainage area, while Devon County Council’s highways department has no objections.

Local councillor Martin Wrigley (Lib Dem, Dawlish NE) also expressed concerns, claiming the owners had already gone ahead and built many of the things they were applying permission for, including a shower block and car park, adding it showed a ‘disregard’ for the regulations.

Defending their plan, one of the applicants said the site aimed to ‘provide something different within the local community and add a much-needed economic boost whilst also incorporating the growing need to use green energy and reducing carbon footprints.’

He added the land had been left to his business partner by his grandfather and would be passed on to future generations.  He said the temporary site provides ‘many benefits to the local community and economy.’

The committee eventually approved the application, subject to a number of conditions, by a margin of four votes to two with five abstentions.