Salcombe Planning Madness

I'm presuming that I am not the only one who has noticed the huge amount of rebuilds going on in Salcombe? Every time you look around a house has disappeared...then slowly a modern architectural wonder/carbuncle (delete as appropriate) appears in it's place. The most astonishing creation to date seems to be the house at the top of Newton Road, what's that all about?

Some are a triumph and sit harmlessly alongside existing buildings, such as the new build at the top of the Yacht Club steps; looks good form the road and looks good from the water. The other house that appears to be fitting in well is the nigh on 6 year build on Allenhayes Road, looks like a couple of semi's, from Devon Road looking up towards the plot the house sits nicely in the gap.

And then we have...the house being built into the hillside below Cliff Road, this may well be an architectural and structural wonder but really...what were the planners thinking...how does that fit in? I hate to think what the final build costs on that will be!

The question that needs to be asked is what policies are the planners following, what guidelines are there to keep in check this modernisation of Salcombe to ensure it is sympathetic and will enable our town to retain its charm and uniqueness whilst ensuring we don't get left behind??

Or does MONEY trump all policy???