CREDITON Town Council resolved to object to the plan for a Lidl store off Commercial Road in the town at its meeting of the full council on August 3.

The plan (planning application 21/00222/MFUL) was discussed in detail at the May 4 meeting of Crediton Town Council’s Strategy Committee and at this month’s full council meeting decided to object on the following grounds:

• The application does not reflect the current, urgent need to design for climate change.

• Insufficient biodiversity net gain due to loss of trees, lack of information on replacements, loss of hawthorn hedge without replacement coupled with insufficient planting of new trees for natural shade and to improve the street scene especially on the south side; too few bat and bird boxes to encourage wildlife and no ecology plan.

• Lack of design information relating to the proposed swales for water capture; lack of information on re-using this water or whether they are an opportunity for increasing biodiversity; no information on using water captured in proposed water butts.

• The design of the development is tight up to its boundaries and offers very little flexibility for mitigating its impact on the area, suggesting that the site is too small for this development or the development is too large for the chosen location.

• Lack of information relating to the pedestrian crossing proposals and no agreed design for it.

• Loss of allocated housing land within the Local Plan.

The Crediton Town Council objection was proposed by Cllr Harris and four councillors voted against the application, Cllrs Downes and Letch (also district councillors for Crediton) abstaining.

Mid Devon District Council is the determining authority for planning applications and the town council objection has been sent to MDDC by the Town Clerk.

At the May meeting the chairman, Cllr Liz Brookes-Hocking said that she noted that there were technical issues with the plan, issues about flooding, landscaping and boundary concerns.

Others she commented on related to lighting, explaining that she did not want to see light spillage as had occurred with the Mole Avon site.

She said that the main issues she had concerns with related to highways concerns.

She noted that Devon County Council did not have an issue with parking on the site but said that DCC had not mentioned the provision of a crossing for Footpath 24, which was in the Neighbourhood Plan.

PEDESTRIANS NOT ACCOMMODATED FOR

She explained that the road was “very well used” by pedestrians, adding that pedestrians were not accommodated for at all in the plan.

She explained that councillors who had volunteered at the Vaccination Centre had a good view of how poor the traffic and pedestrian situation was there.

Cllr Brookes-Hocking said: “I am convinced that a crossing is totally necessary.

“We have raised this crossing point with Devon County Council for 10 years and twice DCC has said it can’t provide a safe crossing point there. Devon County Council has said it would be good to have a wider road in which to install a crossing.

“Without a crossing I don’t feel this application should be approved.”

LOSS OF RUGBY PITCH

The next point was regarding the loss of the rugby pitch for the store and car park and Mrs Brookes-Hocking quoted Sport England, that there should be no loss of a pitch until a replacement has been found.

She commented: “I have not seen how the proposed Pedlarspool site plans for pitches on flood land.

“I have seen how the plan for the biomass plant is going to have a concrete platform on which to work just further along.

“I wonder how they are going to construct the pitches.

“I feel that we could end up with no pitch, just a supermarket.

“There are too many outstanding issues and I propose that this council objects.”

The Lidl plan is for a store on one of the rugby pitches at The Rec (Playing Field at NGR 284091 100385 Commercial Road), land owned by Queen Elizabeth Education Foundation and currently leased by Crediton Rugby Club.

Working closely with the rugby club and the Education Foundation, Lidl has proposed a contribution of £400,000 to the Rugby Club.

The new supermarket forms part of the company’s £1.3bn investment plans across Great Britain in 2021 and 2022.

It will feature a sales area of 1,256m², an instore bakery, customer toilets as well as 114 car parking spaces and 10 bicycle spaces.

40 JOBS

Once opened, it says it will create up to 40 new jobs for the local economy.

The public is currently able to comment on the planning application with the planning authority, Mid Devon District Council.

View the application and comment via the website: www.middevon.gov.uk .

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