It’s not unusual for local residents to protest against housing development in their locality and residents in the North Devon village of Braunton are no exception.

However, having long and unsuccessfully protested against a previous development, serious flooding of that development earlier this year has made the authorities sit up and take notice now that a new piece of farmland is coming under planning consideration.

The proposals to build a small estate of houses with garages, roads and sewers on Score Farm in Braunton, received outline planning permission last year but local residents have used the flooding risk, now ‘proven’ by the disaster earlier this year, as a potent argument against full planning aproval being issued.

North Devon District Council is now waiting for consultants to submit their opinions for the site before a full planning decision can be made. The Environment Agency has already alerted the council to possible risk to life if Score Farm was developed at its proposed level. It is estimated that floodwater could reach up more than one metre if the site is developed.

A nearby meadow, which was built on last year against the wishes and advice of environmental campaigners and local residents, underwent heavy flooding earlier this year. As well as the human disaster, a number of houses on the site suffered as a result of soil being washed away from under the foundations.

The Environment Agency has now been asked to make suggestions for ways of avoiding flooding to Score Farm, but it is likely that the previous disaster will make members of the Braunton Parish Council think twice about approving the development.