THE village of Willand could be turned into a town if a potential development of 344 homes goes ahead, protesters fear.

A 1,082-signature petition has been handed to Mid Devon District Council calling for the proposals to be deleted from the local area plan.

Villagers fear that Willand would be unable to cope with the extra people and vehicles putting pressure on existing infrastructure and amenities.

The new properties would be built on five sites, and there are also proposals for a commercial development around junction 27 of the M5 nearby.

The option for a further adjoining settlement of 3,000 homes appears to have been scrapped in favour of a similar project east of Cullompton.

Jeremy Riches, of Willand Action on Village Expansion (WAVE), said the village has been over-developed over the past 30 years with little increase in the level of amenities, citing its oversubscribed school and “minimal facilities”.

“The petition shows the sheer strength of feeling locally against these proposals,” said Mr Riches.

“Willand has been dumped on with development for years without any real increase in amenities.

“We simply don’t want our village turned into a town through this approach of incremental development.”

WAVE supporter Kate Taylor said the development would attract another 1,400 people, including 300 children, and 700 cars to Willand.

She said: “The school and playgroup are already over-subscribed, and there aren’t any plans to increase amenities and infrastructure – nothing extra to cater for all these people.”

A district council spokesman said the authority has earmarked five “smaller housing sites” in Willand among 67 village sites in its local plan.

He added that no decisions will be made until November when anyone can make a formal representation He said: “But it is the content of the draft local plan which will now become public in November, which will show the sites that the council believes it needs to allocate.

“This will involve difficult decisions, but the council has to address Mid Devon’s need for new housing and employment for the next 20 years, and this will involve allocating green field sites for development.”