Refectory Building Higher Close Dartington Hall Data via plota.co.uk

2115/26/FUL - Full Planning Application Approved

Proposal

Change of use to café and event venue space (mixed Use Class E and sui generis) Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
30 Jul 2026
✓
Validated
17 Aug 2026
✓
Approved
8 Oct 2026

Approved on 8 Oct 2026 · Last checked 12 Oct 2026

Documents 21

All documents on the council site ↗

Site constraints 5

10 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Dartington Hall, Grade I, about 15 m from the postcode pin · 2 Grade I, 8 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 10 with distances
Historic England ↗
Registered park or garden: Dartington Hall
Nationally designated heritage. Its significance and setting carry great weight.
Registered parks and gardens, battlefields, world heritage sites and protected wrecks are designated heritage assets: harm needs clear and convincing justification.
Historic England ↗
Scheduled monument about 5 m away: Ruins and buried remains of the medieval great house at Dartington Hall
Its setting is a consideration for work nearby.
Nationally important archaeology protected by the Secretary of State. Work that affects the monument or its setting is rarely permitted.
Historic England ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
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.
Also on the record
Radon affected area, class 4.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) 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
South Hams
Application type
Full Planning Application
Postcode
TQ9 6EL
Received
30 Jul 2026
Validated
17 Aug 2026
Ward
Dartington & Staverton
Parish
Dartington
Case officer
Show
Decision
Conditional Approval
Decision date
8 Oct 2026
Applicant
Show

How this decision compares

Decided in 52 days from validation, about the council's usual 55 days. Approved, as 76% of changes of use here are.

64%decided within 8 weeks
76%approved
83decided in the last year

Plota live figures for changes of use decided by South Hams in the last twelve months, from validation. South Hams decision record →

Public comments

1comment received
1 supporting

Last counted 12 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Consultation
17 Aug 2026
Comments by
17 Sept 2026
South Hams
Planning Authority Score
6.3/10
Average
#89 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Change of use

South Hams is faster than most councils at deciding householder applications, ranking #97 out of 296. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (92%) than the national average (90%).

Faster than most councils
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
South Hams decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
90%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #116 of 296
92%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #165 of 296
73%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #97 of 296
32%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #69 of 296
72%
Minor dwellings approved
130 decided (1-9 homes)
70%
Major dwellings approved
10 decided (10+ homes)
81%
Change of use approved
26 decided
1,018
Total decisions
101 refused in the year to March 2026