Housebuilder receives permission for Cranbrook sales office

It was ordered to be removed last year

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has secured retrospective planning permission for a temporary sales office in Cranbrook that had been ordered to be removed.

It means the firm won’t have to close the sales cabin on land near Tillhouse Road in the town centre, as it was told to do last year.

But it will be taken down by August anyway.

East Devon District Council issued a planning enforcement notice in October because it said the cabin had been erected without planning permission and that the location was “unsuitable”.

The council believed the sales centre could frustrate efforts to help bring shops and other businesses to that part of Cranbrook.

Taylor Wimpey said at the time it thought the temporary sales building would have been allowed under so-called ‘meanwhile uses’, which allow a site to be used in one way for a short time before a longer-term use is established.

However, East Devon’s planning committee has now granted the building planning permission.

The committee heard this week that Taylor Wimpey had appealed against the enforcement notice, and this was a factor in council officers recommending approval, with conditions.

Officers said the appeal was pencilled in for Tuesday 25 February, and did not expect a decision until the end of March. It would be from that point that the three-month enforcement period would actually begin.

“That [means] the shortest period that the sales centre will be on-site is around the end of June 2025, but could be longer if changed by the [Planning] Inspector,” the planning report submitted to the committee said.

Given Taylor Wimpey was now only applying for permission for the sales office until August 2025, rather than the two years it initially applied for, there seemed little difference.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We are grateful to East Devon District Council for granting retrospective planning permission to allow our temporary sales cabin to remain in Cranbrook town centre until August 2025.

“We regret any alarm or confusion that the siting of our temporary sales cabin has caused, and will continue to engage with the council to ensure an appropriate location is found.

“We would like to reiterate that 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 in part to help generate more activity in this area.”

Cranbrook Town Council had maintained its opposition to the sales office, and district councillors who represent Cranbrook, including Cllr Kevin Blakey and Cllr Sam Hawkins also lodged formal objections.

At the time of the enforcement notice, Cllr Todd Olive (Liberal Democrat, Rockbeare and Whimple), cabinet member for planning, said: “The council acted swiftly to write to the developer requesting that the building and associated flags and signage were removed by 25 October.

“This was not complied with, and the issuing of the enforcement notice represents the beginning of formal action.”