Exmouth care home plan rejected again

Plans for a new care home on derelict land next to Exmouth's Tesco Superstore have once again been rejected by councillors.

A previous McCarthy and Stone scheme for the site in Salterton Road, which would have seen 59 one and two bedroom apartments built, was rejected by councillors and at a subsequent appeal in 2019.

The site is allocated for employment in the Local Plan, and in the revised scheme that went before East Devon District Council's planning committee on Wednesday, March 10, four business units were included in the plans to address the concerns.

Planning officers had recommended approval, but councillors almost unanimously rejected the plans, saying that Exmouth doesn't need any more care homes and the site should remain for employment use.

What councillors said about the plans

Cllr Brenda Taylor, who represents the Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh ward, said: "This has gone on for far too long. We don't need another block on Salterton Road and we have plenty of care homes."

Fellow ward member Cllr Steve Gazzard, who proposed refusal, said: "This revised plan is slightly amended and a sweetener offered to the council by the four business units.

"But the plan hasn't addressed the issues of the marketing for the site, and is snubbing the Neighbourhood Plan, and we either agree that they are important and take note or we might as well have not bothered. We have more than enough of care facilities in Exmouth, and we have one around the corner."

Cllr Philip Skinner added: "We are desperate to have flat employment space for Exmouth and the clear lack of employment space is evident for everyone to see. I cannot support this and throws against everything that we do."

Cllr Olly Davey added: "They have just tagged on four industrial units which is not enough to compensate the loss of the employment land. We have lost so much employment land and there is an overprovision of care homes."

Officers had recommended that the scheme be approved, with development manager Chris Rose saying: "On balance, while the proposal would conflict with certain elements of the development plan, the economic benefits and the creation of additional jobs, particularly in this time of significant economic difficulty, is considered to outweigh the loss of a relatively small area of allocated employment land."

But councillors, with one abstention, voted to reject the application, on the grounds of the loss of employment land.