A PROPOSAL has been submitted to West Devon Borough Council for eight bungalows for older people beside existing almshouses in Whitchurch.

The proposal is for five two-bedroom units and three one-bedroom homes off Marshall Close, next door to the existing Marshall & Browne Memorial Homes.

The development would have communal gardens, with photovoltaic panels to provide electricity. Each of the dwellings would also have their own back garden and they will have wheelchair access.

A statement submitted with the application said the homes would be built and owned by Marshall & Browne Memorial Homes to replace their existing almshouses off Spring Hill. They are offered to deserving people at a rent subsidised by the Marshall & Browne trust.

The application, 1150/23/FUL, can be found on the West Devon Borough Council website. Comments invited by May 26.

The Okehampton Skills and Sports Trust has lodged an appeal, 1861/21/CAC, to demolish stone warehouse buildings at the Old Mill near Okehampton College. Consent is needed as the buildings are in a Conservation Area.

The trust, a charity, is seeking to break the stalemate over the site, which it wants to develop for the good of the community.

At present, it is a no-go area with derelict Victorian vitriol and manure factory buildings and undeveloped for more than 30 years. The trust’s application to demolish the buildings on the site was turned down by WDBC in April 2022, despite a planning officer’s report which stated that the building was in a ‘parlous state of dereliction’ with ‘following Storm Eunice, cracks had appeared in the buidings’ at the gable end close to the footpath on Mill Road ‘posing a clear and present risk to public safety; pedestrians and road traffic’. Meanwhile, Philip Rundle of Ferry Farm at Bere Alston has applied to WDBC to find out whether prior approval is needed for a building to cover the existing silage pit within the farmyard, 1204/23/AGR. A report by planning case officer Lauren Hutton is suggesting that the proposal should be allowed.

And in Iddesleigh, north of Okehampton, outline planning permission (planning permission in principle) is being sought for four holiday units and a stable block on land at SX 567996. The application is being made by Mr R Kneebone of South Petherwin-based RK Holding, 1314/23/OPA. Also sought is planning permission for a new dairy unit with underground slurry store for 120 dairy cattle at Oaklands Farm in North Tawton, 4487/22/FUL.