COUNCILLORS have given their support to a local car sales business’s expansion plans.

GKS Car Sales has applied for permission to increase the size of the outside area at the front of its site in Leonards Road, Ivybridge.

Under the plans, a grass bank that currently slopes down to the pavement, with a low wooden fence and hedge on top, would be replaced with a stone retaining wall. The alteration would increase the size of the sales area by eight parking spaces according to information given in the planning application, which also notes the business has seven full-time and two part-time employees.

Ivybridge Town Council’s planning committee considered the proposals at a meeting last week. Councillors observed the plans entailed the removal of a green bank and replacement with a stone wall, and also expressed concern about a possible loss of visibility as drivers and pedestrians approached the zebra crossing over Leonards Road. A footpath runs along the south side of the GKS site to the crossing.

Councillors decided they were happy to support the proposals, but did mention their concerns over visibility in the comment returned to planning authority South Hams Council. Planning committee chairman Cllr Tom Bowden said he and his colleagues ’wished a local business well’.

Once the deadline for comments has ended, the application will be considered by South Hams councillors and officers, who will make a final decision.