Nine new homes will be built next door to a tiny village primary school after developers delivered assurances over sewage and drains.

A decision on the plan for homes in Berry Pomeroy was deferred by South Hams councillors a year ago amid concerns over drainage, parking and the carbon footprint of the proposed homes.

Developer Maze returned to the planning committee with answers to their questions, including a pledge to provide an air source heat pump for each home.

The drainage strategy has been updated, working hours on the construction site have been fixed and parking arrangements have been clarified.

Maze says it will create nine ‘bespoke, high quality new homes inspired by the local context’, including generous areas of public open space.

The developer will be expected to come up with just over £200,000 towards local affordable housing unless it can offer three of the homes as ‘affordable’.

But some members of the South Hams Council planning committee said they still had concerns about drains and sewage.

Cllr Georgina Allen (Green, Totnes) said: “I am concerned about the level of treatment of the sewage going into a brook which eventually goes into the River Dart.

“How can we be confident that the foul water is of quality enough to go into the Dart, where people swim regularly?

“I am comfortable with the parking and delighted about the heat source pumps, but I am very uncomfortable about the drainage. We have already got sewage running into the Dart from three of our new developments, and I remain sceptical.”

Cllr Victor Abbott (Lib Dem, Ivybridge East) said: “The more I hear about this drainage, the more unhappy I become.”

But councillors were told that expert analysts at South West Water and the Environment Agency had said the scheme was acceptable.

The scheme was approved by three votes to one, with one abstention.