GNLP 0391A

Astonishment is the only word I can find to express my reaction to the fact that this scheme ever got through the suitability assessment stage. It has apparently done so on the basis of a desktop exercise, relying on unspecified geographical information which has proved to be totally inadequate for the purpose.
A resident's experience is that, in reality, the water table lies only a few cm below the surface of the site, and that floods that occur at least once every year can inundate local ditch drainage to a depth of a metre or so. The flow finally discharges into a drain running below Yelverton Road, which in turn regularly floods, making it impassable for a week or more at a time. I have seen a photo of the road flooded on 14 March 2018. Any development on the scale envisaged will worsen and spread the problem, since displaced water will not simply conveniently disappear.
I see this matter as highlighting the undesirability of desktop research serving as the default solution in dealing with sensitive planning issues.