Historic wartime depot at Winkleigh could be set for major change

Buildings once used as offices for Winkleigh Airfield could be converted into nine homes if planning consent is given.

The officers’ mess and associated rooms and offices at Bellinster Factory Estate, Berners Cross, have been rented for business purposes in recent times but have laid empty for more than two years.

Planning documents to Torridge District Council said there has been no viable offers on the site known as The Depot” despite a two year marketing programme and so conversion into eight three-bed units and one two-bed unit, all single storey, was being proposed.

Winkleigh Airfield was used in World War II, being just five minutes flying time to the North Atlantic coastline of Britain and less than an hour from the battlefronts of France. It played an important and strategic role in the war in Europe. 

The buildings, which are not listed, are in Class E use which covers commercial and business use and comprise of office, kitchen and storage space with a gross internal area of 1482m2.

They were most recently used by a research institute, Elemental Digest, from 2018 and 2023, prior to the company’s liquidation. Before that a firm making pet food and a company making fish bait occupied the site.

A parking court has space for 20 vehicles.

Torridge District Council will make a decision on the plans in the near future.