A ROW has erupted between Devon County Council's youth service and school governors and councillors in Chulmleigh about plans to build a youth community facility.

Last year Chulmleigh was pledged £450,000 by Devon County Council from the sale of Exeter Airport.

The money was allocated to the county council's Devon Youth Service (DYS) for a youth community project and was topped up with £50,000 from Chulmleigh Community College's capital fund.

After a community consultation the money was earmarked for an extension to the village's sports hall to include a viewing gallery, mechanical workshop and dance studio.

Johnny Forshall, chair of governors at the college, said: "We were very excited about the project. To find out what could be achieved the school approached Midas Construction, who had built the sports hall.

"Midas came back with some great plans incorporating all the features we'd asked for within our budget."

However DYS, unaware the school had approached Midas, had plans drawn up by Norfolk Property Services (NPS), who are contracted to Devon County Council.

Johnny said: "We've showed the DYS plans to governors, local councillors and members of the community and no one is happy with them. They don't meet any of the original criteria and represent appalling value for money.

"NPS estimate building costs of £2,000 per square metre, you could build a palace for that.

"We should be striving to make the most of this money to meet the needs of Chulmleigh's young people. If DYS go ahead with these plans everyone will lose out."

Councillor Simon Philips, chairman of Chulmleigh Parish Council, said: "These new plans are not fit for a shed, let alone a school.

"They are clearly not best value and not what we want from a community building. It feels like this whole situation has been set up to fail and that's simply not acceptable."

Devon County Council spokesman Louise Raymond said the council had met "a number of times" with the school and other partners.

"We are almost at the stage where we will be inviting companies to tender for the contract and this will include detailed plans and costings as part of the process," she said. "We will then be in a position where we can identify which contractor can best fulfil the requirements of the brief whilst providing the best value for money."

A meeting between the school and DYS took place on Tuesday, June 22. As a result, the county council has asked NPS to revisit the plans to see whether there is any flexibility on cost.