Town councillors have so far refused to comment on plans to build a 68-bed care home on a new site overlooking Steamer Quay it is claimed will leave riverside Totnes looking like a city.

Instead they are demanding to know whether the planned four-storey development on the one- and-a-half-acre site beside the Dart will be classed as employment or residential use.

And they also want to know whether the developer will be required to hand over cash to improve the local infrastructure.

Meanwhile, objectors claim another care home in Totnes will skew the town’s demographic, create more traffic on the single route to the new home and make extra demands on local health services already “stretched to breaking point”.

One objector warned councillors: “With Baltic Wharf and Guinness developments it will make that river section visually more like a city than a market town.”

Developer Stephen Pattrick, of Luna Rock Ltd, Wants to build the care home on a site next door to the £12m five-storey care complex consisting of one and two bedroom flats aimed at over 55s, which has already been built overlooking Steamer Quay.

In his design and access statement submitted to South Hams District Council’s planning department, he described as being on the board of a number of healthcare- related companies and a co-founder and chief executive of Newcross Healthcare Solutions.

The planning application, submitted to South Hams District Council, was considered by town councillors at their last planning and place meeting.

Afterwards the councillors wrote to the district council asking:

l Is the development classed as employment or residential?

l Has the installation of photovoltaic cells been considered as a source of renewable energy for the building (no mention was found in the supporting documentation)?

l The committee seeks an assurance that the proposed car parking provision is sufficient, as the estimates seem low.

l Will the developer be required to make an S106 or Community Infrastructure Levy contribution?

l If S106 money is anticipated, in what area would it be spent and can elected members and Totnes Town Council be involved in the decision regarding its distribution?

l What is the percentage of affordable housing across all Riverside developments – Quayside, Camo­mile Lawns and Luna Rock Care Home – against the DPD?