A WILDLIFE haven on the outskirts of Newton Abbot which will form the focus of a high-profile public inquiry this summer is still worth fighting for, councillors have heard.

The future of housing development close to the Wolborough Fen will be decided at the inquiry in August, with developers saying the fen is in safe hands but objectors maintaining that water draining from the site will put rare species at risk.

The development is part of the massive ‘NA3’ project which will see more than 1,000 homes being built in fields to the south of the town.

The fen is an official Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the only place in Devon where certain species of plants grow.

Devon Wildlife Trust has expressed ‘significant concerns’ about the development, but Natural England says work can proceed.

Cllr Liam Mullone raised the issue as members of Teignbridge Council discussed adopting their Local Plan document.

He said he and some of his colleagues had been elected on the strength of their opposition to NA3, and everything they said would happen to the environment had happened.

He said he had been to the fen in the past week with a water testing kit and found the water to be strongly acidic with traces of various ‘heavy metals’ that were not there two years ago.

“The exotic species that existed there are now extinct,” he said, adding that the requirement for ‘biological net gain’ from new housing developments was meaningless.

“You get a net gain by leaving fields where they are,” he said. “That’s the only way to do it.”

But Cllr Jackie Hook said she had spoken to a representative from the Devon Wildlife Trust who disagreed with the ‘extinct’ verdict on the fen’s wildlife.

“Saying there is nothing worth protecting in the fen any more is going to be really dangerous at a public inquiry,” she said.

“All the fen’s main features are still there, and some are actually growing.

“There are many plants in the fen, and the whole inquiry is about protecting them. It won’t help to imply that there is nothing left there worth protecting.”