AN appeal to build light industrial units has been turned down in Lewdown after a planning inspector said they would be ‘alien and incongruous’ in the rural setting.

Developer Viburnum (SW) Limited had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate to build 15 light industrial units on a greenfield site oppposite the former Jethro’s club and near the village primary school.

The proposal to build the substantial development along with a new access road and parking (3210/21/OPA) was turned down by West Devon Borough Council.

There were concerns about the scale of development and whether it was appropriate in its village setting.

The planning inspector agreed, saying: ‘Suggestions that increased planting would provide visual screening would not overcome the fundamental harm that would be caused to the character of the site through the introduction of the scale of development proposed. Furthermore, the topography of the site is such that any mitigation could only partly hide the sprawl within the site. Moreover, the need for such level for screening simply confirms that the level of development proposed would create an alien and incongruous development that would decimate this section of the landscape. I find that the proposal would be harmful to the character of the site, it would introduce a disproportionate level of development which would fail to respect the more natural evolvement of built form in the area.’

Meanwhile, a planning application has been submitted to WDBC for five new detached houses in Crapstone on an ‘irregular’ piece of land west of Stoke Hill Lane, next door to a development of 22 houses which have just been built by another developer. The application, 1500/23/FUL, refers to land at the map coordinates SX 503676. A report with the application states: ‘Full planning permission is sought for the construction of five detached dwellings which are similarly designed and will run in a linear manner from the north west and south west. The design approach and layout is reflective of the approved development to the west (2451/19/ARM).

‘The dwellings will be accessed via a private driveway leading from a road entrance connection to Stoke Hill Lane, which is positioned close to the existing site entrance.’ Also on the list, Tavistock Town Council has applied for Listed Building Consent for repairs to the facade of Tavistock Town Hall (1015/23/LBC). The council is repairing the stone facade of the Victorian buiding in Bedford Square, as well as replacing rainwater goods and lead inside the northwest roof gutter and upgrading lead gutters abutting the southern roof slope.