J WHITE, chairman, Kreag, Higher Sandygate, Kingsteignton, writes:

The secretary of state's decision to refuse WBBM's planning application for housing development on Newcross is unlikely to be the end of the matter. Housing development of that site is a key part of the urban extension of Kingsteignton which remains Teignbridge Council's preferred development.

New regional development plans also couple and designate Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot as a town of primary focus for development in the south west. The immediate impact of that designation is a requirement to accommodate 8,000 new dwellings.

The parish council has not, in the past, used its voice either for or against development plans for Kingsteignton but the decision to adopt town status was forced through the council without full and proper information and to a time scale which allows insufficient public consultation.

Aligning Kingsteignton town alongside Newton Abbot town is precisely what planners want. Kreag's committee believes adopting town status now, before the intended future development of Kingsteignton is better known – for those residents who oppose the urban extension and for those who, in the community plan surveys, want development to provide more open space but fear the proposed development will result in less open space – is sending the wrong message at the wrong time.

Whether Kingsteignton adopts town status is not within Kreag's terms of reference. It is a matter for each and every resident to consider.

Kingsteignton will adopt town status on January 1, 2009 unless the community of Kingsteignton, en masse, makes its opposition known to the council by Wednesday, December 3, by post to: The Clerk, Council Offices, Rydon Road, Kingsteignton TQ12 3LP, or email: [email protected]">[email protected].