86-home scheme for East Devon village goes to appeal

Disappointment has been expressed by Feniton parish council

A proposal for a major scheme of up to 86 homes in an East Devon village will be decided at appeal after planners failed to make a decision.

Developer Taylor Wimpey’s plans for Feniton will go in front of the planning inspectorate after East Devon District Council couldn’t decide within the required time period.

The council had agreed an extension, but after this lapsed, the housebuilder  appealed.

The land it wants to build on isn’t allocated by the council for housing now, and is also not included in East Devon’s emerging local plan, which will identify where homes can be built up to the early 2040s and is yet to be formally ratified.

The application is at outline stage, meaning any eventual scheme could be up to 86 homes or fewer, but not more.

Feniton residents are already angry at the number of potential homes the village has been allocated in the emerging local plan, with fears about another prospective 102 homes, not including this Taylor Wimpey scheme.

Specific worries relate to flooding in a village that has recorded many incidents in recent years, while there have also been reports of sewage rising in the streets and into homes.

Residents fear that too many extra homes will put additional pressure on an ageing sewerage system they believe can’t accommodate any more demand.

The village’s parish council is “concerned and disappointed” that the application had been allowed to go to appeal.

“We feel disappointed because we believe all the evidence was before the planning committee and yet they didn’t reach a determination before it went to the appeal stage,” said Nick Spence, a member of the parish council.

“They should have turned it down before it got to this stage.”

Mr Spence acknowledged the “good news” that East Devon is fighting the appeal, but would have preferred the council to have made a decision.

A spokesperson for East Devon District Council said since Taylor Wimpey put in its appeal it had “since been determined that the council would have been minded to refuse the application had it made a decision on the matter.

“At the time, the application was being considered the council was still considering which sites in Feniton should be allocated in the emerging local plan (currently out to consultation) and so it was felt that it would be premature to determine the application ahead of these discussions being completed.”

It won’t comment on whether it would alter its emerging local plan if Taylor Wimpey wins the appeal.

“Our focus is on defending the appeal. We will address the consequences of the outcome of the appeal when the time comes,” the spokesperson added.

But the council did acknowledge that if the Taylor Wimpey scheme is approved by the planning inspectorate, then those homes alongside the ones it has suggested in its emerging local plan, “would be too much for the community to sustain”.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We have submitted a planning appeal for our proposed new housing development in Feniton, which we hope will help provide needed homes in the area.”

The planning inspectorate website says the appeal will begin on Thursday 1 May.