Former council offices wins redevelopment appeal

New care buildings for Sidmouth

Rejected plans to redevelop East Devon’s former council headquarters in Sidmouth will now go ahead after a successful appeal.

Retirement firm McCarthy and Stone wanted to fully redevelop The Knowle into various care-related buildings.

It planned a care home, a 53-unit care apartment building for over-seventies, including a communal lounge and restaurant, 33 retirement apartments for over-sixties in another building, as well as four houses and three townhouses, which would not have been age-restricted.

A former caretaker’s building would also have been kept, and another purpose-built structure erected for bats to live in.

But planning permission was refused in January last year, with one councillor suggesting the plans reminded him of a prison.

Sidmouth Town Council had supported the non-age-restricted houses, but not the care and retirement parts of the proposed development.

Its chair, Cllr Chris Lockyear, said: “We were opposed to the very large care home and retirement apartments. They are simply too big for that site. They are out of keeping with the area and architecturally very different.

“They will dominate the surrounding parkland and the surrounding houses. They will be visible from Peak Hill and from Salcombe Hill and therefore will change the appearance of Sidmouth both locally and from afar.”

The developer said at the time that the proposal provided much-needed homes and created jobs.

Objectors raised issues about the proposed scheme, ranging from its design through to its wider impact on the town, including pressure on NHS services in Sidmouth and a precedent for building on green sites within East Devon.

However, the planning inspector noted “common ground” between the main parties that a range of public benefits would arise.

“Most significant of these is the provision of ‘housing with care’ and a care home,” the inspector’s report stated.

“The council agree there is a significant level of need for ‘housing with care’ in the [district]. There is also an agreed need for care home bedspaces.”

The report added that the need to provide housing for older people nationally is “critical”.

“There is no doubt that there is a clear and pressing need for this type of development in East Devon,” the report said.

“Consequently, the provision of ‘housing with care’ and a care home are afforded substantial weight.”

Where the inspector was more sympathetic to objectors, he instigated further conditions on the developer.

These included ecological mitigation, including in relation to a bat colony, a requirement to preserve heritage assets to protect a listed summerhouse, and the imposition of privacy screens on the north facing elements of the terrace of the care home.

Additional conditions relate to the management of surface water and drainage, and a construction management plan aimed at minimising disruption to residents.

Summing up, the inspector said: “The proposal would also bring about further benefits which would include freeing up market housing, economic benefits in terms of job creation, health and wellbeing benefits to future residents, retention and improvement of public access through the site, and the provision of a heritage interpretation board related to the listed summerhouse.

“All of these matters weigh in favour of the development.”

Separately, some buildings were subject to a fire in March 2023, a suspected case of arson which led to a police appeal for witnesses.