Newly identified housing development sites across East Devon could see Exmouth expand - or new towns and villages built to the north.

The new Exmouth sites include pieces of land to the north west, beyond Littleham, and on the Exeter Road on the way to Lympstone.

The three new towns or villages proposed would be a 'garden village' on land south of Clyst St Mary and Clyst St George, then a town on land around Denbow Farm between the A30 and the A3052 (near the airport), and another town between Crealy Adventure Park and Greendale Business Park known as 'Greenbrook'.

Why is the council looking at building more houses?

East Devon District Council has to build more houses as part of something called the 'Local Plan'.

In short, it has to build more houses as the population grows, and the Local Plan is a guide for future development in the district.

They're done in consultation with the community, so that local residents can have their say.

What progress has been made?

Right now, all that's happened is people have sent in submissions to the council for good locations to build on.

The council recently received more than 350 of these potential sites - but no decisions have been made about the amount and location of the future developments.

In fact, the council's Strategic Planning Committee heard on Tuesday that residents across East Devon have been left split over how development should take place, the number and location of new homes to be built in the district, and if another 'Cranbrook-style new town' should be built, leaving no consensus among what residents wanted.

What might we expect?

Ed Freeman, Service Lead for Planning, Strategy and Development Management, told the committee that towns with a higher population, greater range and number of jobs, community facilities and shops, better connectivity, and serving a wider area, will be more likely to see development.

Councillors had previously heard that the north west quadrant of the district, between the north of Exmouth and west of Ottery St Mary, was the least-constrained part of the district for accommodating growth and would be the 'logical' location for any growth to take place.

No decision as to whether a new town, a series of new villages, or expanding existing villages would be the preferred option for development has yet been taken, with the villages of Poltimore, Huxham, Clyst St Mary, Clyst St George, Ebford, West Hill, Woodbury, Woodbury Salterton, Exton, and Farringdon most likely to be included as ones that could be expanded further, based on them being close to existing infrastructure.