NEARLY £10,000 has been spent covering appeal costs after Teignbridge Council turned down three planning applications, it has been revealed.
But senior planning boss Ros Eastman revealed a planning inspector overruled Teignbridge’s decisions and ordered the authority to cough up cash.
Owners of Hettor Barn Farm, in Ipplepen, wanted to put a mobile home on site for an equestrian worker, but their venture was spiked because planners couldn’t see a need for it.
Teignbridge were forced to pay £5,000 in costs after the applicants appealed against refusal.
Ms Eastman told councillors this week that Teignbridge had to pay just under £5,000 again for turning down plans to build a home for a worker on Bulleigh Oaks Farm, also in Ipplepen.
And a further £1,000 has come out of the district authority’s bank account after blocking a project to expand a gypsy and traveller camp in Woodland.
Cllr Mike Haines, chairman of Teignbridge’s planning group, warned colleagues about the perils of refusing applications without good reasons.
He told Monday’s meeting: ‘These may be smaller applications in the scheme of things with small costs, but for bigger applications the costs will be a lot more if reasons for refusal are not seen as robust.’