AN impassioned plea by Porlock Parish Council to safeguard the village's housing stock for younger people has helped secure planning permission for a controversial scheme which has divided opinion in the tight-knit community.

Seven open-market homes will be built on land between Villes Lane and Sparkhayes Lane as part of a project designed to deliver a new road and unlock a potential site for 15 affordable homes.

Speaking at Tuesday's Exmoor National Park Authority planning committee meeting, parish council vice chairman Cllr Keith Jacobs said the parish council had the backing of the majority of residents.

"This development is critical to the health and development of our community and should be fully supported," Cllr Jacobs said.

But the proposals put forward by Somerset County Council and Hastoe Housing Group attracted more than 400 objections and more than 20 people had hoped to speak out against the plans at the planning meeting on Tuesday.

However, with only 20 minutes allowed for members of the public to speak at the meeting, objectors were forced to condense their speeches and many were unable to have their say.

Those who did speak said the road was not needed and feared the new houses would open the door for large-scale development and a new relief road.

Under the plans, the new road would be built from the top of Villes Lane through to Sparkhayes Lane, blocking off the current entrance to Villes Lane by breaking through into The Meadows.

Hastoe Housing Association had separately applied to build 15 affordable homes off Villes Lane to the south of Healeys, however, the affordable homes were unlikely to get planning permission unless a new road was built to improve access.

In turn, Somerset County Council claimed it could only afford to pay for the road by including open market housing in its plans, contrary to the planning policies of Exmoor National Park Authority.

However, the authority was able to make exceptions to the planning rules, providing there was local support for the scheme and the end benefits justified the departure from policy.

Members of the authority's planning committee had been advised to give permission for both the road and the open market housing, while an application for 15 affordable homes from Hastoe Housing was likely to be considered at next month's committee meeting.

But opponents - who collected more than 400 signatures on a petition objecting to both developments, submitted around 30 individual letters and collated a questionnaire - said the strength of public opinion was on their side.

They said there were no accident statistics to back up claims that the existing junction at Villes Lane and Dunster Steep needed to be improved and said the new road would cut the village in half and open up other land for development.

They claimed the field earmarked for the road would be better used for affordable housing and said access could be improved by simply removing a 15 feet section of wall.

One of their biggest concerns was the application for affordable homes not being tied in to the development of the new road and open-market houses, which had left many worrying the affordable homes might not be built.

The view was backed by the Exmoor Trust, which said it could not support the proposals unless all three applications were considered simultaneously.

Porlock Parish Council, however, said the link road was essential for the development of affordable homes in the village, but accepted it would have a negative impact on around 20 properties in The Meadows.

Mr Jacobs said: "If this proposal is not accepted then we will miss a key opportunity enable development of much needed affordable housing with consequent impact on the health and vitality of Porlock."

National park planning officers told the committee there was a need for 15 affordable homes in Porlock and an independent report from the District Valuation Service had concluded the county council's figures for the cost of the road and the money needed to fund it were correct.

The county council had estimated it would cost £590,000 to build the road, excluding the historic £395,000 cost of originally acquiring the land.

The figure would be covered by selling the land with planning permission for seven open market homes for an estimated £325,000, the sale of a county council-owned property in Villes Lane for £175,000 and the use of a planning obligation from Wessex Water totalling £94,000.

The money was pledged by the water company to help ease congestion caused by lorries visiting the town's water treatment works off Villes Lane, but must be spent before May 2012.

Officers said the design and layout of both the road and open market homes was considered acceptable and while some existing residents would suffer adversely, many more would benefit.

"The exceptional circumstances of this case and the benefits in terms of improved vehicle access, highway safety and facilitating the future provision of affordable housing are considered to be planning considerations that can be given significant weight in favour of the application," officers said.

The committee voted by three votes to 16 with one abstention to give both applications the go-ahead.

The open market housing element will have to go to the Secretary of State for a final decision as it is contrary to planning policy.