92 homes approved in Cranbrook

Only seven affordable houses

A total of 92 homes have been given the go-ahead in an East Devon town after years of “difficult negotiations”.

Planners were faced with two schemes being taken together in Cranbrook, with one from Persimmon Homes bringing forward 61 homes, and the other 31 from East Devon Community Partners.

The plots of land are both on Tillhouse Road and so essentially create a single area of housing in the county’s newest town.

Discussions about developing the sites for housing go back at least as far as 2020, and have eventually led to a bespoke agreement – known as a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) – being struck.

This agreement has secured the likes of land transfers to local authorities for nominal £1 amounts, as well as financial contributions towards community facilities, but accepted that only seven affordable homes would be included as part of these schemes.

Councillor Brian Bailey (Conservative, Exmouth Town), questioned the low level of affordable housing, claiming it is “not sufficient”.

But Councillor Olly Davey (Green Party, Exmouth Town), who chairs East Devon District Council’s planning committee, said the MoU overrode certain rules that usually apply to housing applications in Cranbrook.

Thea Billeter, the Cranbrook new community manager at East Devon District Council, acknowledged the level of affordable housing on these sites was “not what we ideally wanted”.

“But after much debate, it was considered acceptable as part of the wider package,” she said.

“I can’t stress heavily enough how difficult negotiations were within the consortium,” she added.

“We acknowledge this creates a conflict with planning policy, but taking into account the other benefits, we consider it acceptable.”

Ms Billeter added that there had been examples in Cranbrook where homes were built, and then consequently transferred to a housing association. This meant, she added, that just because a planning application didn’t have a high number of affordable homes in it, further such properties could become available later on.

Josh Stevenson, speaking on behalf of Persimmon Homes South West, said “numerous changes” had been made to the plans”

“These homes will be contributing to East Devon’s housing shortfall, with properties ranging from 1-bed maisonettes to three-bed detached homes,” he said.

“We’ve had very helpful dialogue with East Devon District Council, Devon County Council, the Environment Agency, Natural England and others, and we have refined our proposals, and we thank all officers for their hard work.”

The issue of parking was also raised, however, officers noted the two applications had 142 parking spaces between them, with 112 of those being private and 30 unallocated.

Furthermore, 25 garages would be provided under flats that are part of the applications.

Persimmon’s Mr Stevenson said the amount and type or parking had been agreed with East Devon.

Cllr Ian Barlow (Independent, Sidmouth Town) asked whether the amount of parking was sufficient, given the issue is frequently raised in Cranbrook.

But officers said a 2021 census showed that just over half of Cranbrook households had no car or just one vehicle, just over two-fifths owning two, and only just over 7 per cent owning three or more.

As such, planners acknowledged parking issues in Cranbrook could be related to the fact that too many spaces were allocated to specific homes given the levels of car ownership in the town.

The planning committee unanimously approved the applications.