Riversmeet Boathouse Bowling Green Road Riversmeet Topsham EX3 0BE Data via plota.co.uk

26/0740/CAT - Works to Trees in a Conservation Area Approved

Proposal

Beech - Dismantle to near ground level Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

Received
22 May 2026
Approved
23 Jun 2026

Approved on 23 Jun 2026 · Delegated Decision · Last checked 6 Sept 2026

Site constraints 7

Special protection area: Exe Estuary
2 designations overlap here. A habitats assessment is needed.
Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.
SSSI: Exe Estuary SSSI
Natural England must be consulted on work that may affect it.
Sites of special scientific interest are the best wildlife and geological sites in the country. Development likely to harm one is rarely permitted.
Flood zone 3, rivers and sea
High chance: a 1 in 100 or greater annual chance from rivers, or 1 in 200 from the sea. Any development here needs a flood risk assessment. Defences are not counted.
The Environment Agency flood map for planning. Homes in zone 3 must also pass the sequential test. Surface water flooding is a separate map.
Flood map ↗
Topsham conservation area
Demolition needs planning permission and permitted development is restricted.
The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.
Council document ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Predicted from the national soil map. The older provisional map, which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 4. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Lowland fens
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Priority habitat 6 m away: Lowland fens.
Not affected
Not green belt · No listed building at the site · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 11 September 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Exeter
Application type
Works to Trees in a Conservation Area
Postcode
EX3 0BE
Received
22 May 2026
Validated
22 May 2026
Ward
Topsham
Case officer
Show
Target decision
3 Jul 2026
Decision
Permitted
Decision date
23 Jun 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show
Agent
Advanced Arboriculture Limited

How this decision compares

Decided in 32 days from validation, about the council's usual 30 days. Approved, as 98% of tree and landscaping works here are.

91%decided within 8 weeks
98%approved
119decided in the last year

Plota live figures for tree and landscaping works decided by Exeter in the last twelve months, from validation. Exeter decision record →

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 6 Sept 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
PP-14957589
Statutory expiry
3 Jul 2026
Env. assessment
No
Exeter
Planning Authority Score
3.2/10
Poor
#228 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Other decisions

Exeter is slower than most councils at deciding householder applications, ranking #214 out of 296. Householder applications are slightly less likely to be approved here (86%) than the national average (90%).

Slower than most councils
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Exeter decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
85%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #205 of 296
86%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #242 of 296
54%
Decided in 8 weeks
Below avg (63%) #214 of 296
40%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #150 of 296
58%
Minor dwellings approved
31 decided (1-9 homes)
60%
Major dwellings approved
5 decided (10+ homes)
90%
Change of use approved
40 decided
582
Total decisions
86 refused in the year to March 2026