Concerns have been raised over newly approved plans for eight new houses on the former primary school site in Newton St Cyres.

The site, which has been unused for the past four years since the school relocated to Station Road, will see the construction of eight four and five bedroom detached houses following approval from the Mid Devon District Council.

However, there has been some opposition to the plans, with Councillor Graeme Barnell commenting that “this development is going to be a problem for the people that live [in the homes] if they want to access public transport”.

The councillor added that there were “concerns locally about safe access to and from public transport”.

Chairman of the parish council Jim Enright agreed with Mr Barnell, stating: “The site is at the top of the hill and it has poor visibility coming from either the Crediton side or the Exeter side.”

To combat this, he suggested an island on the road for pedestrians to use when crossing.

However, this has not been made a condition of the homes’ construction, as the highways department has concluded it is not necessary.

A representative of the highways department said: "I would not be recommending refusal [of the development] without the upgrade of the crossing as I could not justify this at an appeal, as there is a crossing point there already, and the eight dwellings would be less pedestrian traffic than the previous use of a primary school."

Planning officers recommended approval for the development, saying that the site “currently has no benefit to the community” and the houses would bring the site back into use.

The planning committee agreed to the approval by six votes to one, with three members abstaining.