NEARLY £10,000 has been spent covering appeal costs after Teignbridge Council turned down three planning applications, it has been revealed.

District planners chucked out two controversial schemes earmarked for Ipplepen and one in Woodland near Denbury.

But senior planning boss Ros Eastman revealed a planning inspector overruled Teignbridge’s decisions and ordered the authority to cough up cash.

Owners of Hettor Barn Farm, in Ipplepen, wanted to put a mobile home on site for an equestrian worker, but their venture was spiked because planners couldn’t see a need for it.

Teignbridge were forced to pay £5,000 in costs after the applicants appealed against refusal.

Ms Eastman told councillors this week that Teignbridge had to pay just under £5,000 again for turning down plans to build a home for a worker on Bulleigh Oaks Farm, also in Ipplepen.

And a further £1,000 has come out of the district authority’s bank account after blocking a project to expand a gypsy and traveller camp in Woodland.

Cllr Mike Haines, chairman of Teignbridge’s planning group, warned colleagues about the perils of refusing applications without good reasons.

He told Monday’s meeting: ‘These may be smaller applications in the scheme of things with small costs, but for bigger applications the costs will be a lot more if reasons for refusal are not seen as robust.’