Latest news with #NorthDevonCouncil
BBC News
14-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
North Devon facilities get funding boost
Community facilities in north Devon are to share in £310,000 of council Devon Council said it would split the public open space funding between Barnstaple, Bickington and Witheridge. Fremington Parish Council is set to receive the biggest sum after being given £240,000 to extend a changing room pavilion, increase storage and add a kitchenette to the Tews Lane Playing Field council said the total sum came from contributions from the Glenwood Farm, Oakwell Residential Home and Mead Park developments. The council said Witheridge Parish Hall would receive £58,911 towards the cost of purchasing and installing cladding and insulation to improve the energy efficiency of the building. A further £11,078 will be used in Barnstaple to install a permanent ball rebound fence at Tarka Leisure Centre's grass football pitch, the council said. Council leader David Clayton said he looked forward to seeing the improvements of community facilities "take shape in the near future"."It's very pleasing to see public open space funding being put to good use to improve community facilities and bring even more benefits to those who use them," he funding was approved by the council's Strategy and Resources Committee on 7 July.
BBC News
11-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Plans for new solar farm on 108 acres of land in Devon
Plans for a new solar farm on 108 acres (44 hectares) of land is being proposed in Development, which builds and operates renewable energy projects, is applying for planning permission from North Devon Council for farmland south of Buttercombe Lane, Braunton, after holding two public consultation events last farm is being proposed together with a sub-station, cabling, CCTV and Devon Council is due to decide on the planning application at a future date, but people have until 6 July to make representations. Offset annual electricity A recent survey has revealed 40% of respondents opposed the development, with 13% in support and 47% were raised around the scale of the project, visual impact, ecology and biodiversity applicant's planning documents stated it had made changes to the design and layout, including a larger buffer zone between the development and ancient woodland and other locally important has also amended a cable route, reducing the need for hedgerow removal, and landscaping and biodiversity cumulative effect of solar farms, of which there are four others in the area, was also highlighted as a concern. The 15MW (megawatt) solar array would offset annual electricity usage of approximately 8,600 homes and save approximately 4,275 tonnes of CO2 per year, the applicants site is within 2km (1.2 miles) of four sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).The company's environmental statement has concluded the effects on protected areas would be "negligible and not significant" because of limited habitat changes and enhancement measures in the England said the application "successfully avoided causing harm" to the nearby Grade II* listed Ash Barton farmhouse and its estate as far as possible, through "buffer planting, undeveloped zones, bolstering of existing hedges, etc" and therefore it does not lighting would not be required, but pole-mounted CCTV would be in place around the perimeter, the application was expected to take about six months, with up to 12 two-way HGV trips a day, but none on Sundays or bank holidays, it added.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Devon council to pay £250k to stop maintaining beach toilet
North Devon Council has agreed to pay £250,000 to surrender a lease agreement, meaning it will no longer operate and maintain public toilets on Saunton council entered into a 50-year lease to run the car park toilets with the landowners Christie Estates in 2002 but said the associated costs are now about £48,000 a strategy and resources committee approved the move on Monday and said more than £1m could be saved over the next 27 said Christie Estates could manage the facilities more effectively using their on-site staff and refurbish them with the money from the council. A small team of cleaners were struggling to keep the popular location's toilets maintained, according to the Local Democracy Reporting toilets needed a complete refurbishment after 23 years of heavy use which was estimated at a further £250,000, a report for councillors authority had looked at installing a payment system at the toilets to mitigate some costs, but this was refused by the beach lavatories owned and managed by beach owners are kept in much higher standard than those at Saunton beach car park, according to the members were told that closing the toilets was not an option. The council's director of resources Jon Triggs said when the lease was signed in 2002 it was "a different time" when the district council ran many more public conveniences than it did the last couple of years it had made the decision to pass public loos to town and parish councils."This gives us an opportunity to escape from the lease," he said. "It's a financial consideration but will make significant savings moving forward." The council's lease will be surrendered in November.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Ex South Molton bank could be turned into flats and retail unit
A former bank building in a Devon town could be converted into flats and a retail unit under new Georgian building in East Street in South Molton was previously used as a Lloyds branch, until it closed two years developers want to create two flats, refurbish an existing apartment and provide a retail unit on the ground have applied to North Devon Council for planning consent, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The application said the 193-year-old building was in the conservation area of the town and the developers planned to retain as many features of the existing building as Kaufman Architects on behalf of CAI Property Ltd said the building had been neglected and underused for some planning application will be considered by North Devon Council at a later date.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Application submitted to build 450 homes in North Devon
An application for 450 homes near Barnstaple has been submitted to North Devon Council. Developer Wessex Strategic Ltd has made plans to build the new properties in Bynsworthy, off the A39. It comes after a previous application was rejected by planners earlier in 2025 because it was outside the defined development boundary and said to be unsustainable. At the time, the council had enough sites in its local plan to meet its housing requirements for the next five years, a situation which has now changed because of new housing targets set by the government. The updated proposal has included extra land for new pedestrian and cycle links, as well as community and retail said it hoped these additions would address the concerns over Local Democracy Reporting Service also said the plans included a village square, woodland planting to provide a buffer zone to the A39, and orchards and said about 135 of the homes would be made "affordable" (about 30%) and the site would have a range of accommodation from one-bed to five-bed properties. Infrastructure concerns There have been a number of objections to the scheme from nearby residents, many of whom are worried about the loss of a greenfield are also concerns over inadequate infrastructure such as roads, doctors and application is for permission-in-principle, with appearance, landscaping and layout due to be part of a later detailed Devon Council plans to discuss the application at a future meeting.
