LET the councillors decide, says Marcus Wood.

You're having a laugh (in so many words), says Adrian Sanders.

And so the fierce debate over the Babbacombe Downs fish restaurant plans roar on.

Torbay's two political heavyweights have waded into the controversy offering, surprise, surprise, totally contrasting views.

Tory Mr Wood, hoping to oust Lib Dem MP Mr Sanders at the next general election, insists councillors are elected to represent the views of the people who voted for them.

He is confident that if any scheme is met which huge public outrage councillors will do the right thing and throw it out.

And he can't understand why some of those shouting from the roof tops over Nigel Bloxham's £400,000 dream for the current loos on the Downs don't stand for council themselves.

But Mr Sanders accuses his political opponent of being 'naive'.

And he says planning councillors are 'powerless' to ditch any project unless there is a good LEGAL planning reason to do so no matter how large the protests.

Both politicians were invited to a public meeting attended by more than 600 people at the Babbacombe Theatre to debate the restaurant plans. Both had to decline.

But Mr Wood said: "More than 600 people going to a meeting does not automatically mean they have a majority.

"It is so easy when you are in the minority to believe that people are being undemocratic.

"I would say that the people are not behaving in a democratic fashion.

"Two of the three ward councillors in Babbacombe oppose the scheme. That's democratic. They reflect the public opinion at Babbacombe."

He added: "The area that does interest me is how much this is undermining the basic, fundamental process we have already.

"There is a perfectly good system for elected people we have delegated to make decisions.

"There is little evidence that it is not working. You cannot say any development has been allowed to happen in the teeth of widespread opposition.

Campaign

"The planners will take on board the concerns of the public."

He insists: "I welcome pressure groups. If they want to campaign that's brilliant."

What of the restaurant plan itself?

Mr Wood says: "I am not going to get involved directly with the planning issues because there are people there to make the decisions."

He understood protesters' concerns over the granting of a lease for the site.

He said: "I think they have a legitimate concern. There should be a guarantee that it cannot be sold on to McDonalds."

But he maintained: "We need to wait and see what the plans are. I want to see what Mr Bloxham has to offer and then trust councillors to make the right decision."

On that point he added: "I do not understand why these people are not standing to be councillors.

"If they want to have a say in how Torbay is run isn't the right thing to put themselves up for election?"

Mr Sanders didn't agree with Mr Wood.

He claimed: "He shows an extraordinary naivety about planning laws.

"As long as the application fits the guidelines of the local plan, the Mayoral Vision and the guidelines laid down by parliament, councillors are powerless to turn it down.

"If you had one person objecting and giving a good legal planning reason they would have to turn it down."

He said the only way to stop the development would be to withdraw the application before it got to the planning stage.

He said the plans could be stopped by either mayor Nick Bye withdrawing his proposals or the trustees of the Cary Estate saying 'I am sorry, it's a no no as far as we are concerned.'

And his views on the plan itself? He wrote a letter to the public meeting at Babbacombe Theatre.

In it he said: "I have to say the idea of converting a public convenience into a high class restaurant while retaining those public toilets sounds like a proposition too good to be true.

"If the proposed development was contained within the same footprint and height of the existing building I would not have any objections.

"I think it is important to state that I am not opposed to change per se. I want Torbay and its residents to prosper, but I do not believe that can happen at the expense of our most precious asset — our natural environment — and that's the problem with this proposal, and so many others contained within the Mayoral Vision.

"This proposal, as I understand it, will have a much larger footprint than has already been built on, it will impede the existing view from the Downs, and it will require a service lane and possibly even car parking and/or a service vehicle space."

Mr Sanders also told me: "The devil is in the detail. It is the encroachment.

"This is a massive incursion into the Downs both in terms of height and its overall footprint."

He added: "I am not against development. We have to look at how we can best use the assets we have.

"We have the most precious asset which is our natural environment and we should not build structures in areas of outstanding natural beauty."

One all, I would say...