Bideford wharf regeneration planned

But town council objects

Multi-million pound plans to regenerate Bideford's waterfront could be on the way, even though the town council objects.

Torridge District Council’s plans committee is being asked to approve the scheme from Red Earth Developments and their vision for a new quayside development.

The £20 million project includes apartments, design studios, shops and restaurants at Brunswick Wharf on the East-the-Water side of Long Bridge. The developers say the unique river frontage make the location ideal for such use.

Once a thriving focal point of the town’s shipbuilding heritage, much of the site has been derelict for years, but if the plans are approved it would "transform Brunswick Wharf, improve the area as a whole, and will boost local businesses and benefit the whole town."

Planning officers say the scheme should be approved, as adverse impacts associated don't outweigh benefits, despite Bideford town council objecting to the plans.

The scheme includes 85 apartments, a signature restaurant, five design studios with potential for living and working, a café, eight boutique retail units, 103 private parking and 45 public parking spaces, 133 private cycle stands and 40 public cycle stands.

A public square and attractive new riverside walk is included as the scheme aims to breathe new life into this neglected stretch of waterfront, bringing long term investment to the area.

The layout has three open sided squares – two private and one public – linked by a quayside walk along the entire frontage of the site.

Recommending approval, the report concludes: “The applicant has demonstrated that an alternative viable scheme which achieves similar public benefits is not deliverable at this time. Redevelopment of this site will result in significant regeneration benefits to Bideford, whilst bringing into use a site which has long been disused and derelict and currently negatively impacts on the heritage assets.

“The public benefits flowing from the scheme are wide and extensive.  It is considered that there will be benefits that carry substantial weight including enabling the completion of flood defence works, investment in the local area, regeneration of the site as a catalyst for wider regeneration and the provision of 85 new homes in a highly sustainable location on a brownfield site.

“Further benefits flow from the site, although considered to be not as substantial, include the repair and restoration works to the wharf wall and river frontage, the provision of a new shared cycleway, heritage benefits from the removal of a visually harmful site, environmental improvements including bio-diversity net gain and the provision of a pontoon on the River Torridge.

“The proposal would provide a significant contribution of 85 dwellings towards local housing supply on an allocated site. The site is within close proximity of a number of key services and facilities as well as public transport and pedestrian routes. Furthermore, the proposal will develop a currently disused and derelict brownfield site.

“The proposal would also provide a benefit to the local economy during both short term and the long term. The short-term benefits will come through the investment in the site during its redevelopment and the commercial floorspace will create jobs in the long term with the high-quality public realm potentially attracting visitors from further afield as a destination given its location in proximity to the Tarka Trail.

“The residential units will further increase the footfall in the wider town centre and support local shops and services and significant weight should be attached to the economic benefits, and the proposal will deliver wider regeneration as the site is currently disused and derelict creating a negative perception of the town with no public benefits.”

The report indicates the applicant isn't including the usual legal amount of affordable housing, an education contribution or other infrastructure, and significant concern is raised in relation to the impact on heritage assets.

But it concludes: “In weighing the identified harm against the benefits, it is considered that the adverse impacts associated with the development fail to significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, and on balance, a recommendation for approval is made.”

On behalf of developer Red Earth, Simon Friend said: “This won’t just transform Brunswick Wharf but improve the area as a whole. It will boost local businesses in East-the-Water and across the river, benefitting the whole town. I’m excited by this project, but more importantly the vast majority of local people are too.”

Also supporting the plans, local businessman Rob Braddick said: “Bideford is crying out for this sort of investment and it would have a major knock-on effect for the local economy. Most likely it would kick start further investment, in areas of the town that all we know could do with a face lift.

“Bideford has been neglected for far too long. It is such a popular place and it doesn’t deserve the eyesores which confront us every day. The Brunswick Wharf site is a prime example. What a marvellous difference it would make to the town. You’d have people walking over the bridge, making use of the facilities on both sides of the river.

Torridge councillors will meet next Wednesday (31 March) to discuss the application, and subject to approval, work is set to begin by 2022, with completion aimed at 2025.