We’re speaking out against two separate planning applications to develop housing on rural sites in East Devon – one on the outskirts of Exmouth and Lympstone, and the other near Ottery St Mary. Both sites are outside designated ‘Built Up Area’ boundaries.
We’ve objected to outline planning permission to build 151 new homes on a green wedge of land between Exmouth and Lympstone, identified for future designation as a Coastal Preservation Area. The outline proposal relates to land north of Hulham Road on the fringes of Exmouth, but that sits within the parish of Lympstone.
And we have also lodged an objection to a planning application relating to land near Gerway Nurseries on the edge of Ottery. This objection cites policy conflicts regarding countryside development, raises concerns about the loss of Grade 2/3 agricultural land and inadequate heritage assessments, unjustified boundary expansion, and questions the proposed housing density, which risks an “excessive land-take into open countryside”.
Similarly, the Exmouth-Lympstone plans, which have been submitted by Exeter-based company Waddeton Park, spark concerns that the buffer zone between the communities of Lympstone and Exmouth will disappear.
In a formal objection submitted to East Devon District Council, Devon CPRE says the site is rural in character, and the proposal should be refused in favour of more sustainable alternatives which meet adopted and emerging Local Plan strategies. According to the latest research from CPRE, Exmouth has 27 brownfield sites suitable for housing development. These, combined with other brownfield sites across Devon, could provide land for more than 16,700 potential homes across the county: https://www.cpredevon.org.uk/more-than-16700-new-homes-in-devon-could-be-built-on-brownfield-land-october-2025
We’ve pointed out that prioritising greenfield development over available brownfield land is inconsistent with sustainable planning principles and with the national policy emphasis on brownfield-first development. We also says that the Exmouth-Lympstone proposals lack agricultural land classification, heritage impact and Coastal Preservation Area (CPA) assessment, face unresolved access constraints due to loss of trees and hedgerows, and fail to address design quality standards, including housing density, and the carbon impacts of levelling and reprofiling sloping fields.
Devon CPRE Director Penny Mills says, “People have every reason to be concerned about these two proposed residential developments which lie outside any ‘Built Up Area Boundary’. The Hulham Road site is part of the wider landscape setting of Exmouth; new housing here would introduce a built environment into an area that currently provides relief from urbanisation. This sensitive area is proposed in the emerging Local Plan for designation as a Coastal Preservation Area, a designation that’s specifically intended to protect open landscapes, undeveloped coast, skyline settings and views.”
She adds, “The gently sloping nature of both sites would require extensive levelling and retaining works that have not been fully considered by the applicant. Such works involve significant earth movement which directly conflicts with sustainability objectives. The identified harms, including encroachment into open countryside, loss of BMV agricultural land, inadequate assessment of heritage significance, unresolved design and density concerns, and landscape/visual harm arising from unjustified boundary expansion, which collectively amount to significant and demonstrable adverse impacts. In our view, these clearly outweigh the benefits of both the Exmouth-Lympstone and Ottery proposals.”
The Sidmouth Herald have featured the story: https://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/25747212.opposition-east-devon-housing-plan-rural-group/