Up to 12 homes at Land At Sx 461 918 Bratton Clovelly

The site and surroundings

The 0.73-hectare agricultural site lies on Bratton Clovelly’s western edge beside the highway, parish hall and recreation ground.

“The site is situated on the western edge of Bratton Clovelly, with the public highway running across the northern site boundary and an existing gate access in the north east corner. To the east lies the Parish Hall and Recreation Ground, with agricultural fields to the south and west. The site boundaries are largely marked by hedgerows.”

“The site is not subject to any landscape designations and lies within Flood Zone 1. Bratton Clovelly Conservation Area lies c.90m to the east of the site beyond the Recreation Ground. There are a number of listed buildings with the conservation area most notably the grade I listed Church of St Mary (c. 120m to the southeast).”

Officer report

Earlier application

An earlier proposal for up to 23 homes was refused because of landscape, heritage, drainage, biodiversity and planning-obligation concerns.

“Bratton Clovelly is a historic, rural village set within an agricultural landscape, and is one of the traditionally small, clustered settlements that are characteristic of this area. The proposal does not demonstrate how the proposed quantum of development could be delivered in a way that would respond appropriately to the settlement and recognised landscape character of the area.”

“It has not been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Local Planning Authority that the proposal would adequately protect, conserve and enhance biodiversity, or provide 10% net gain in biodiversity.”

Officer report

Consultation and objections

The parish council and residents raised concerns about housing need, infrastructure, traffic, landscape, heritage, flooding, biodiversity and the scale of growth.

“The PC feel that the information regarding this development was inadequate to base a positive decision on. The mix of house size need to be addressed at this stage for the PC to understand the potential impact on the village infrastructure. The PC raised the following concerns:”

“Overbearing nature - the location is outside the village boundaries and at its highest point, being visible from Dartmoor. • Loss of visual amenity, whilst outside the conservation area any development here would impact on the views with in the conservation area towards the church and Dartmoor • Highways - safety concerns about the T junction opposite the Pub. The very narrow lanes are not conducive for an increase in traffic.”

Officer report

What people said

An objector challenged the need, heritage and flooding impacts, while the agent supported the sustainable-village principle and reduced scale.

The committee’s decision

The committee granted permission in line with the officer recommendation, subject to the Section 106 agreement, monitoring fee and ancient footpath condition.

“RESOLVED that the planning application be granted as per the Planning Officer’s report and recommendation and, subject to the S106, with the inclusion of a requirement to pay the Council a monitoring fee, and an additional condition being imposed to secure the re-instating of the ancient footpath.”

“No dwelling hereby approved shall be occupied unless provision has been made for a footpath from the southern east corner site, via the route of historic banked footpath to the eastern most boundary of the blue line at the church in accordance with details that have been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. Such details shall include details of surfacing and a timescale for its delivery.”

Minutes