Exmouth: Over 140 objections lodged against Devoncourt Resort & Apartments plans

Plans to demolish the existing Devoncourt Resort & Apartments and construct new flats and a new hotel have received more than 140 objections.

It comes after a similar planning application for the Douglas Avenue property received over 90 objections and was withdrawn in December 2021.

The current application for the resort was submitted at the end of August.

At the time of writing, 143 objections have been made and there is one comment in support.

What does the application want permission to do?

The Devoncourt has been a timeshare apartment complex for the past three decades rather than a conventional hotel. The timeshare contracts ceased in 2014, and the apartments have since been leased as nightly accommodation.

According to the design and access statement, "... the Devoncourt cannot survive as a viable business in the current form."

The plans ask permission to demolish the existing Devoncourt building and outbuildings and build 77 residential apartments and a new 62-bed hotel.

Of the 77 residential apartments, 22 would be "affordable". A total of 165 parking spaces would serve the apartments, and the affordable apartments would be one- or two-bedroom units.

The new hotel would have 62 beds as opposed to the current accommodation offering of 54, and parking in the Maer Road car park.

What are people's concerns?

Concerns of objectors included affordable accommodation, the use of Maer Road car park for the hotel, the loss of the Devoncourt gardens, and the impact on the sewage network.

Affordable accommodation

Julian Short, objecting, said: "The 'affordable homes' if actually built will not be 'affordable' to residents of Exmouth struggling to afford accommodation."

Deirdre Jennings said: "25 per cent of affordable housing is not enough. We need more housing for young families not more rich people."

In response, a spokesperson said in a statement: "The apartments are a mixture of one-bed and two-bed units which, we are advised, are most sought-after in Exmouth at present.

"A total of 22 no. affordable units is proposed which is in excess of the requirement for 25% affordable housing on the site. The apartments have been tendered via CJH Land in Exeter, who have approached the local affordable housing providers to assess if they might be interested in taking on the block."

Use of Maer Road car park for the new hotel

Lesley Britton, objecting, said: "The loss of car parking will adversely impact sea front visitors and businesses. This will encourage people to park on surrounding streets causing disruption to local residents."

Stephen Fry, objecting, said: "Reducing car parking spots could negatively impact the economy of the town and therefore the plan to give over part of Maer car park to a hotel on prime real estate should be objected to by the council."

A spokesperson said in a statement: "The use will be on a 'first come, first served' basis and no individual spaces will be identified for hotel use only.

"It is not proposed to have any formal lease agreement (to be confirmed by the local authority) for any area of the car park with the hotel. The above arrangement will mean that the car park can function much as it does at present with the understanding that the car park can be used as a first port of call for visitors to the hotel."

The loss of the Devoncourt Gardens

Robert Shrimpton, objecting, said: "The proposed development on the southern part of the site would destroy a pleasant area of greensward, namely the present hotel garden."

Steven Jones, objecting, said: "These plans would destroy almost all the important biodiversity (trees, bushes, and foliage) that form the boundary between the Devoncourt site and the back gardens of Maer Road. Today, we are in an ecological crisis, in which we are attempting to save every bit of greenspace we can that harbours small animals and insects."

A spokesperson said in a statement: "...the proposed redevelopment makes effective use of the site while preserving extensive areas of garden.

"The scheme retains all the significant trees as identified on the arboricultural report accompanying the application. The landscape scheme makes extensive use of native species and can be expected to provide a biodiversity enhancement to the site.

"Extensive green roofs, provided to all flat roofs, ensure that the area of green is kept to a maximum on the site. While the effective development of the site means that a greater area of the Devoncourt land is now built on, this has not been achieved at the expense of well landscaped garden."

Sewage disposal

Joy Frampton, objecting, said: "Exmouth has unfortunately hit the headlines on a number of occasions this year for leaked sewage. An overdeveloped site of 139 accommodation units is more than likely to contribute to more incidences of this nature."

Francis Whiteley, objecting, said: "The sewage system cannot take more houses unless the network capacity is expanded."

A spokesperson said in a statement: "The existing Devoncourt includes the equivalent of 54 beds together with two swimming pools. These combined can be expected to provide a significant load on the rainwater and sewage system.

"The proposed development does not include a swimming pool and will have a sewage system designed by specialist consultants to manage the connection to the existing system.

"EDS Consultants have designed two options for the surface water disposal and these are in accord with the South West Water preferred hierarchy of surface water disposal.

"The preferred option is via soakaways, with the fallback option consisting of attenuation tanks on the site. If ground conditions prove suitable the soakaway route will be adopted."

The application is currently awaiting a decision from the district council.

Click here to view the application.