Sorry about our sales office, says housebuilder

It didn't have planning permission at Cranbrook

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has apologised after an enforcement notice was issued for its sales office in Cranbrook.

The developer opened a new temporary sales cabin without planning permission on an area set to be developed as part of the town centre.

It believed planning permission would be granted for the building under so-called ‘meanwhile uses’, a planning phrase for something that is temporary and will make way for something more permanent.

But East Devon District Council’s planning enforcement notice requires it to remove the building and return the land to its former condition within three months. The firm has not been fined.

“We recognise the enforcement notice served on us by East Devon District Council and apologise for any alarm that the siting of our new temporary sales cabin has caused,” a Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said.

“We fully support the delivery of shops, community facilities and homes within Cranbrook town centre and the location of our new temporary cabin was chosen to help generate more activity in the town centre, as well as to allow us to complete development of the Phase 1 area.

“We are actively marketing the phase of land where the new cabin is sited and are open to offers. We have been engaging openly with East Devon District Council through this process and have applied for retrospective planning permission for the temporary cabin.”

The firm added that temporary consent for its previous sales centre on London Road – which will be replaced by 12 homes – was due to expire, hence opening a new one.

Cllr Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Rockbeare and Whimple), portfolio holder for strategic planning, said he knew Cranbrook residents want a better balance between the emphasis on house sales by the developers and community infrastructure.

“We want to see further shops coming forward at this prominent high street location,” he said.

“It is deeply frustrating that Taylor Wimpey chose to go ahead with the installation of their sales centre that will block this objective.

“These works were undertaken without planning permission. The developers were advised before going ahead that planning permission was required and that the proposed site would be unsuitable.”

The council had asked the firm to remove the building and associated flags and signage by Friday 25 October, but when this wasn’t complied with, it issued an enforcement notice.

“The Cranbrook plan anticipates a vibrant, self-supporting town centre that includes a range of uses and activities to draw people in,” Cllr Olive continued.

“With the imminent completion of the supermarket, high street shops and children’s nursery, the town centre is now starting to take shape.”

The slow delivery of Cranbrook’s town centre has been a bone of contention for residents.

Cllr Olive has previously said that lessons from Cranbrook will be learned ahead of another new community being built in East Devon, plans for which are at the very initial stages.

“Some of the objections that we hear [to planning applications] are around services and infrastructure, and for the new community we know there are some lessons to be learned from how previous administrations of a different political colour have done this at East Devon before, and there is a real enthusiasm and conviction to make sure we do it differently this time,” he told Radio Exe’s Devoncast podcast.

“I’ve said that there is a real red line around the new sewage works for the proposed new community, meaning that we want that built and operational before any new dwellings are occupied.”