Plan for 200 homes next to controversial estuary site will be 'delegated decision'

Plans for 200 homes and a medical centre next to a controversial proposal to redevelop Yelland Power Station which was allowed on appeal last year have been submitted to North Devon Council.

With 60 affordable homes and commercial properties included, Devonshire Homes is hoping to gain approval in principle, despite the location to the south of Yelland Quay not being within the development boundary.

A decision is expected to be made under ‘delegated powers’ by planning officers.

A planning inspector ruled in favour of a 250-unit waterfront resort on the former power station on the banks of the Taw estuary in June 2022, a year after it had been refused by North Devon planners for its 'lack of local-needs housing and detrimental impact on the landscape and local infrastructure'.

The inspector said there were no compelling reasons to refuse it as the site was allocated in the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan.

The new proposal by Devonshire Homes is for land not in the local plan. It comprises 12.7 hectares currently used as a paddock and grassland which surrounds Sandbanks Business Park. Access from vehicles would be from the existing road leading to the business park. Cycle and pedestrian access would be via the Tarka Trail to the north.

Thirty per cent of the homes are classed as affordable and the plans include open public spaces.

Devonshire Homes says it would be 'a high-quality design led scheme with a density of development that accords with the character of the area and is a logical extension to the approved Yelland Quay development'.

It says the 60 affordable homes 'would help meet borough-wide levels of identified future and previously unmet needs. This is a significant benefit given the housing crisis in North Devon'.

Part of the land is being proposed for commercial and employment uses and the opportunity for a medical centre to create 'a more sustainable and balanced community'.

Cllr Frank Biederman (Ind, Yelland and Fremington) said he couldn’t blame developers for taking advantage of the government opening up the planning system so more houses could be built, but the infrastructure needed to be there to support them – and this isn’t the case in Yelland or Fremington.

He said it is all very well including a medical centre but it could only happen if a health care provider had committed to it. He added that the development boundary is there to protect the Taw estuary.

“Developers want to build along the estuary, but it’s there for everyone to enjoy not just the people living in the houses.”

North Devon Council will hear next month if a planning inspector is satisfied that the area has enough homes to meet the planned housing requirement known as the five-year housing land supply. A planning enquiry into proposals for 161 homes north of St Andrews Road in Fremington, which was refused by the district council, is testing the council’s position.

If it is decided that the council does have a five-year housing land supply, councillors say they will find it easier to fight applications for development in the open countryside.

Cllr Biederman said 900 homes had already been built or had planning permission in the Fremington ward when it was earmarked for less than half that number.