TORQUAY Boys' Grammar School is making a last-minute appeal to planners to give the go-ahead to a new housing development and help it preserve an historic manor house on its site.

Plans for a mix of houses and flats, some affordable, on a steep area of land off nearby Raleigh Avenue to be built by Barratt Homes were rejected by planners earlier this year.

It came after 25 objectors complained they would be living in a 'twilight world'.

Councillors said the housing was like a prison camp causing traffic problems and loss of privacy for existing residents in Arden Drive, Hawkins Avenue and Raleigh Avenue.

Revised plans have been submitted with a redesigned lay out and 48 properties, a third of them for Riviera Housing and a further third of them affordable. The plans are now for 26 houses, one bungalow and 21 flats.

School head teacher Roy Pike has written to councillors who will consider the new plans later this month because he fears it will be rejected.

He points out that the reason the school was considering the housing was to raise money to preserve Shiphay Manor and turn it into an artistic centre for the local community.

The manor house, which has historical connections with both Torre Abbey and Cockington, is one of Torbay's iconic buildings, he argues. Its history can be dated from 1200, while the present building, originally owned by William Kitson, was built in 1883.

The school has recently taken over the manor and wants to restore it to its former glory — and use it for educational and community purposes.

The cost of the project is put at between £400,000 and £500,000, which Mr Pike says neither Torbay Council nor the school can afford.

Mr Pike said: "The development design has changed quite dramatically, it meets all the planning requirements, but I am still hearing that it is going to fail.

"One councillor said to me that with so many repossessions going through at the moment, Torbay doesn't need so many houses.

"If it doesn't succeed the Shiphay Manor scheme will fall down, quite literally. We already have one collapsed ceiling and a wall which is leaning out three inches."

In his letter to the planners Mr Pike says: "Our vision for the Manor is of a community arts centre, including the school art facilities, with studios for fine art and graphic art, exhibitions, masterclasses and sculpture work in the garden.

"We could have a beautifully restored community arts centre serving Shiphay, Queensway, Cockington and the whole of Torbay in this historic building."

He said the development land had been identified by the district valuer and the governors of Torquay Boys' Grammar School as surplus to the school's requirements, in line with Department of Children, Schools and Families guidance.

He wrote: "The hectare of land to the rear of Raleigh Avenue has long been designated by the council for building land. It is a steep, private patch of land which rapidly becomes overgrown and subject to trespass, incurring high maintenance costs."

He said while other builders were freezing projects in the face of the economic downturn, Barratts were working hard to bring this development to fruition.

They have collaborated with Riviera Housing to gain access to the site and to increase the social housing portfolio for Torbay.

"They are meeting all the design and planning criteria recommended by the planning officers (having been in discussion with them for 18 months) and have created a very exciting project."