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Furious residents claim a property developer cut down this massive woodland - BEFORE he applied for planning permission to build there.

The large wood was once a green hillside but has now been cleared of its trees and reduced to flat mud - to make way for a proposed nine houses.

But neighbours are fuming because permission has not yet been granted by the local council - who have since voted against it.

Andy Love, 56, who owns a house backing onto the land, said they were shocked in December when the developer started lopping down trees.

Several residents in Dartmouth, Devon, complained to South Hams District Council who confirmed the developer didn't have planning permission as yet.

The Forestry Commission is also now investigating reports of ''alleged illegal felling''.

Developer Dave Holloway is now locked in a battle with the local authority but local residents say the damage has already been done and the wildlife cannot be reclaimed.

The application submitted to the council says work has not begun on the site.

(Image: Andrew Love / SWNS)

But locals say from photographs it appears rubble and other debris may have been dumped there.

A tree survey - designed to show what species are there and how many - was submitted on January 22 this year.

But locals including, Andy, a sales manager, said this was submitted after the trees were felled and doesn't accurate asses the ecology impact.

Andy moved to the fishing town from the Midlands, and said he found his perfect home on Seymour Drive, adding that the woodland nearby was a selling point.

He said: "For us it started when we moved down two and a half years ago, we always wanted to live here one day.

"We found this house and loved it because it was next to some woodland. We spent a long time looking for the right house.''

Andy says the land was later sold by Linden Homes to Mr Holloway.

Andy said: "A few months in we decided to inquire about the land next to us, as we wanted to understand what Linden Homes's plans were for the land.

"We were told we were just too late and it was sold a few weeks ago.

(Image: Andrew Love / SWNS)

"We hadn't seen it advertised and there wasn't a sign on it. We subsequently found out that it was advertised in Brixham for some reason.

"As a precaution, we put a drone up to get some footage of the area just in case anything happened ref new ownership of the land."

Soon after learning the land had been sold, Andy saw a team of workers on the land chopping down the trees.

He continued: "In December last year a whole team of people showed up and started taking one tree after another down.

"This area is a SHDC Environmental Improvement Zone, it was a wildlife corridor and part of a RSPB consultation zone for the Cirl Bunting.

"The trees were planted as a condition of previous planning approvals to shield my house and my neighbours from the South Devon AONB which is 2km away.

"We thought the trees would be there forever and they would never be felled.

"This woodland area was part of the National Forest Inventory for England.

"I went out to speak to this guy who arrived on site on December 8th at 7.30am to ask what was happening, and he said 'houses obviously'.

""I said 'but what about the wildlife in there' and he said 'it's all clear'.

(Image: Andrew Love / SWNS)

"He explained he was the Landowner - this was the first time I had been able to have any correspondence with the owner of the land."

Andy said that when planning was submitted, Mr Holloway included wildlife and ecology surveys completed after the trees were felled.

Andy continued: "He didn't have planning permission, no plans were submitted until March 18, 2019.

''His planning application, dated March 18, includes various reports.

"One of those is an ecology report looking at wildlife implications, and the second is a tree report looking at the impact of the development on any trees.

"Both of those reports were done in January, a month after he felled all the trees.

"The tree report describes the area as derelict of trees and the ecology report suggests there will be no impact on wildlife.

"Dec 8 and 9 he felled the trees and moved them up to the top of the site adjacent to my house through December.

"Through Christmas and New Year he was chainsawing the trees, removing them from site and shredding branches etc."

Danielle Hunn, a Seymour Drive resident, said: “We are all outraged that our quiet Seymour Drive has become a target by unscrupulous developers.

(Image: Andrew Love / SWNS)

“My quiet cul-de-sac end of Seymour Drive has been exactly that for 20 years. We bought here eight years ago precisely so that our very young children would have a safe place to learn to ride their bikes, scooters and skateboards – which they did regularly.

“We enjoyed the birds, bats and hedgehogs that we saw living in the woodland that has now been meticulously obliterated. On purchasing here, we were told that Linden Homes managed the woodland site and that it was always required to be a non-developmental site.

“In fact, I returned many live mice, voles, birds, and many, many live slowworms and actually a hedgehog to this woodland myself that were being regularly presented to me by my cats from this very site, or arriving in my garden from this site.

“The cats were always hunting in there, which told us the site was always abundant with wildlife... contrary to the developer’s post-land clearing surveys.”

The planning application was taken to a council meeting on Wednesday, April 17, where members voted against it.

The planning committee backed protesting neighbours, describing the site as an “overdevelopment” and “unneighbourly”.

Cllr Robin Springett said: “The person who brought this land cleared it over the Christmas period when it was virtually impossible to get a council stop notice.”

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Cllr Springett added: ''I recommend that this council strongly opposes this planning application.

“It’s building on land that was set aside on a previous development as a greenspace.

“It’s actually calling the land a brownfield site but it’s not and I consider that this is an overdevelopment in any case.”

The planning application will be decided by South Hams District Council on a date yet to be announced.

Dave Holloway has been approached.

Mr Holloway has been approached, he confirmed that he owned the land but refused to comment further, saying: "I'd rather not."

A spokesperson for the Forestry Commission said: “Trees are a precious part of our environment and we take all reports of alleged illegal felling extremely seriously.

“We can confirm that we are investigating reports of alleged illegal felling at Seymour Drive in Dartmouth, Devon.

"Cutting down trees without permission can result in numerous actions including prosecution.”