Homes to be built on Topsham driving range

Developers must meet strict conditions

Developers are likely to get the go-ahead next week to build 54 houses on an old golf driving range in Topsham – but they will have to pledge tens of thousands of pounds to local health services and make 19 of the homes ‘affordable’.

Heritage Developments (South West) wants to build on the former Topsham Golf Academy field off Exeter Road, and members of the Exeter City Council planning committee are being advised to say yes.

However, the company will be given a strict deadline – as early as June next year – for the list of conditions to be carried out.

Other conditions include managing open spaces and providing a children’s play area.

Council officers say the site is sustainable and the proposal is acceptable in its design and general visual impact. It is not considered to be of any significant harm to neighbouring homes.

On site at the moment is a disused golf driving range with covered bays, an office and maintenance area, and a car park. The range is an open field with low structures and lighting columns, enclosed by high boundary netting.

The developer has already built homes next door at Berkeley Park. There are hedgerows and open grassland on one side, and on the other side are Topsham Cricket Club and the University of Exeter’s Topsham Sports Ground.

The homes would be a mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced homes of two and two-and-a-half storeys.

A total of 22 objections were received, raising issues such as traffic, biodiversity, drainage and the pressure on local health services.

Local residents said there were badgers living on the site that needed protection.

One wrote: “We feel the developers have no concern whatsoever for the wildlife and we worry that not enough attention is being paid to this by the planning department.

“We have seen evidence of badger setts on the site. We have a badger run at the bottom of our garden and feel that there should be something similar on the other side of the hedge, in order to protect them and other wildlife.”