Plans to build 50 new homes at Pankhurst Close in Littleham have been approved by district planners.

The plan is for the homes, including 20 which will be classed as affordable, to be built on the site of a former fish processing plant.

The scheme had previously been supported by Exmouth Town Council, and East Devon District Council’s development management committee has now granted planning permission.

Committee member and Littleham councillor Mark Williamson said he was pleased that feedback from a previous plan for the site, which had failed to impress councillors, had been taken on board.

He said: “We are now looking at a much improved scheme. The loss of employment land is regrettable, but … there have been strenuous attempts to market this site, but of course we also have within a very short distance [new business park] Liverton Two.

“The provision of so many affordable houses in Exmouth is to be welcomed.”