Exeter Chiefs hit out at ‘harmful’ housing plan beside Sandy Park

A plan to build more than 150 homes and a group of commercial buildings on land next to Exeter Chiefs’ Sandy Park stadium could be kicked into touch by city planners.

Members of the city’s planning committee will meet to discuss the plans next week (November 10), with officers advising them not to pass them because they will not create enough jobs.

The company that runs the Chiefs is also among the objectors to the plan, saying it is ‘harmful and deficient’.

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The Sandy Park Farm Partnership is applying for permission to build up to 158 homes and 17,500 square metres of commercial floorspace on fields just to the west of the rugby ground.

The average size for a supermarket is around 2,000 square metres, while a large DIY warehouse is around 10,000.

ABOVE: Proposed layout for homes and employment land at Sandy Park Farm, Exeter (Image courtesy: LHC Design/Exeter City Council) 

The partnership says it could create a ‘high-quality mixed-used extension to Exeter’ which would meet housing needs while at the same time providing jobs.

In its submission it goes on: “It will deliver high quality green spaces and streets that provide connections between existing and proposed developments and the wider landscape.

“It will create a strong sense of place, with well-designed, attractive buildings and spaces.”

It says it is a ‘highly sustainable’ location and adds: “Opportunities exist to create a sustainable mixed-use development which will provide much-needed housing and employment for the area, while enhancing accessibility to the existing facilities in the area.”

But council officers say that while developing the green field site is acceptable, having been included in local plans and strategies, the proposed mix of homes and commercial units is not.

The site is shown as ‘employment land’ in the Newcourt Masterplan, with no employment land having been provided so far in the area.

“This is a significant and demonstrable harm that would not outweigh the benefits of additional residential units on this site,” says a report to the committee.

There are also other issues including loss of trees, air quality and drainage.

Exeter Rugby Group, which owns the Chiefs, says the main access to the site would be across land which it owns, and it is ‘unequivocally’ not prepared to make that land available.

It also says the application is ‘wholly unacceptable’ in terms of planning policy.