The housebuilder behind a controversial plan for up to 140 homes that was rejected this month is mulling what its next move might be.
Landra Developments had submitted outline proposals for a development in Ottery St Mary, which had faced significant amounts of opposition from residents.
Hundreds of comments had been submitted against the proposal on land adjacent to Gerway Nurseries, with a total of 588 officially lodged on the council’s website and residents packing the public gallery at the council’s planning meeting.
The proposal was rejected because it would have an “adverse impact” on the rural character of the area, would lead to the loss of prime agricultural land and because the site was outside the boundary where possible development sites have been identified.
The decision by East Devon’s planning committee went against recommendations from the council’s own officers, who had recommended approval subject to a total of 27 conditions and the signing of a so-called Section 106 agreement, which helps secure cash for items including community assets.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result and will be considering our position going forward,” Philip Rawle, managing director of Landra Developments said.
The main options would appear to be to resubmit a different version of the application in the same location, appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in a bid to get the council’s rejection overturned, or to do nothing and accept the defeat.
Otherwise, it could try to submit a planning application elsewhere in the town or nearby, but that might require more work and possibly the purchase of more land too.
However, the residents who addressed the planning committee in opposition to the plan linked their objections to specific planning policies, and presented an organised, clear and united front.
Resident Peter Wright highlighted fears about potential pollution due to the site’s proximity to the River Otter and suggested there had been “no guarantee of capacity” in terms of sewage and water run-off from South West Water.
“It’s probably the worst location in Ottery [for development] to occur,” he told the committee last week.
Fellow resident Martin Stockley cited transport issues, and claimed that East Devon’s preference for developments to provide realistic alternatives to the private car was not strong enough here.
“Pedestrian access would be via Tipp Hill, which has inadequate pacvements and a recent survey of a mere 60 homes revealed eight reports of pedestrians being struck by wing mirrors,” he said, adding that it didn’t bare thinking about that a “child’s head would be the same height as a wing mirror”.
He described the potential route from the proposed development as “circuitous” and “neither obvious or convenient” given it involved navigating a four-way junction and visibility considered “challenging” by a highways report.
“Access to the town could scarcely be less satisfactory,” he added.
Meanwhile David Bendall raised the prospective loss of high grade agricultural land, which he claimed made up only 10 per cent of East Devon’s agricultural land, meaning it was “our jewel in the crown”, and Kevin Merch complained about the “loss of privacy and residential amenity” that he believed he and his neighbours in existing properties on one edge of the proposed site would suffer.
Agent Sophie Caton, speaking on behalf of the applicant, said the design had been crafted after months of talks with planning officers, and the boundary even changed as a result of those discussions.
“This is a well-designed scheme that brings much-needed housing and significant public open space, at around 60 per cent of the site,” she said.
She added the application was a “logical rounding off” of existing developments and suggested East Devon was around 1,750 homes short of its five-year housing land supply, which put the emphasis on it approving homes unless substantial harm could be identified.
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