PALISADE fencing is being put up around a mostly derelict Newton Abbot site earmarked for housing.

The security fencing is surrounding the Bradley Lane site, which Teignbridge District Council (TDC) recently voted majority in favour of demolishing.

The council were having trouble with youths trespassing onto the site, hence the fencing.

Police warned TDC that youngsters had been risking their lives getting onto the site, lighting fires and becoming trapped.

It cost upwards of £70,000 to secure the site, the Mid-Devon Advertiser understands.

Several fence posts have been torn down and tossed into the nearby River Lemon, though the gaps have since been filled - the posts remain in the river as of Friday, August 30.

The mostly derelict site has been earmarked for housing for serval years, given it is brownfield and in a desirable, town centre location.

Organisations, chief among them Newton Abbot and District Civil Society and Save Britain’s Heritage, have called for the site to be saved, and for any future development to, where possible, incorporate the existing buildings.

And while TDC voted to demolish the site, council leader, Cllr Richard Keeling, has said that it won't be a blanket demolition - where it is practical to save buildings, buildings will be saved.

With the site cleared, TDC hope it will become more attractive to a prospective developer.

It is not clear when demolition will get underway, though it is understood that TDC are wanting to do so as soon as possible.