Fate of controversial landfill plan near A38 delayed
A decision on Exeter's most controversial planning application has been delayed days before a decision was set to be made. Plans to turn farmland - owned by Exeter's Orange Elephant ice cream parlour - into an inert soil landfill site and temporary recycling centre has caused years of strife for the applicant and locals.
Members of Devon County Council's (DCC) Development Management Committee had been due to debate plans for Lower Brenton Farm at Kennford at a meeting this Wednesday, February 5. The recommendation was to reject the application as it would have 'an unacceptable landscape and visual impact' on the area.
Last week the applicant - BT Jenkins - is said to have requested DCC to defer the application for a decision until April 2 to bring 'more information' to the committee. It is now three years since it first revealed its plans.
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Russell Lowton, of BT Jenkins, said: “Upon receipt of the officer report – a formal report prepared by the planning officer which outlines the application and makes a recommendation to councillors on the planning committee – we were surprised to see a number of grounds raised that were unexpected and we could respond to positively with further information.
“We therefore agreed with Devon County Council to defer the consideration of the application so that we can ensure the council has all the information it needs to make a decision, something that is common in the determination of planning applications.
"We’ll continue to work with Devon County Council and others to ensure a fully informed decision can be made as soon as possible."
Furious campaigners who had planned to attend the meeting, will now instead take part in a countryside walk protest at the same time as the meeting was due to be held on Wednesday, February 5, at 2pm, starting from a footpath in Brenton Road, adjacent to the Orange Elephant Ice Cream Parlour. They will walk the footpaths which they claim will be 'ruined' if the proposed landfill goes ahead.
Mike Elliott, a member of campaign group Residents Against The Landfill (RATL), said: "District and parish councillors, as well as local residents that have campaigned against this proposed development for over three years, were shocked and angered by the last minute turnaround, and are demanding clarification as to how and why this decision was made."
Plans were initially submitted by the Exeter-based earthmoving and plant hire company in early 2022. Just over a week before a decision was due to be made on the proposals, BT Jenkins withdrew the application. It later admitted it had "got it wrong" and submitted amended plans following a public consultation.
In November 2023, Devon County Council (DCC) planning officers said the applicant's environmental and transport statements contained numerous 'errors, inaccuracies and omissions' that required correction before the authority could decide whether to approve or reject the application.
Months later, the information was provided prompting DCC to launch its own consultation so that people could comment on the latest submissions. The current consultation ended last month. Campaigners handed in a petition signed by 3,325 people, but BT Jenkins has raised concerns about the 'accuracy' of its numbers and concerns that two separate petitions have been combined.
BT Jenkins has chosen 75 acres of green fields at Lower Brenton Farm as a replacement for the Trood Lane landfill site at Matford in Exeter to sustainably dispose of clean soil on the outskirts of Exeter. The plans for Lower Brenton are temporary, with three phases each lasting three to four years.
The latest planning application is said to be 'significantly different' from plans submitted early in 2022, according to the applicant.
Among the reasons listed for the application to be refused at the committee meeting this week, the report stated: "There are two particular topics – landscape and visual impact, including in respect of Peamore Park and Garden, and public rights of way –where the degree of impact is considered so significant as to outweigh the benefit of securing inert landfill and recycling capacity.
"The landscape valueof the application site and its surroundings is increased by its accessibility to the public through the network of rights of way across and around the site and, while the adverse effects are, in part, temporary for the duration of the proposed facility, they are considered significant enough to warrant refusal of planning permission.
"There are two topics – climate change and human health – that the applicant was requested to address in their environmental statement but which they declined to include. It is considered that the omission of these topics warrants further reasons for refusal.
"This planning application, which follows a previous proposal that was withdrawn by the applicant, has been through extensive consultation and two requests for additional information. It is not anticipated that an acceptable scheme could be negotiated through amendments to the current proposals,and deferral of a decision is therefore not considered to be an appropriate option."