PLANNING permission is being sought to redevelop part of a former Blue Cross animal rehoming centre near Bickleigh into five houses.

Nick Helsing of Press Properties Ltd already has permission as of November 2024 to turn four buildings at the site into eight homes.

He is currently allowed to split the reception, cattery and puppy unit into two two-bedroom homes each, convert the cat isolation unit into a single three-bedroom home, and the kennels into three four-bedroom homes. Each new dwelling can have two car parking spaces.

Now, in Mr Helsing’s latest application, he wants to make the cattery and puppy unit into one four-bedroom home, the cat isolation into a three-bedroom home and the kennels into two four-bedroom homes.

He also wants to demolish the reception and build a fifth house with three bedrooms on land that was to be used for parking. Each house would still have two parking spaces.

The houses would be available for sale at market price.

“The changes to the scheme show an improvement in the design which has been well received and acknowledged in the pre-application advice,” planning documents argue.

“The revised scheme allows for the construction of buildings with improved insulation, and energy use via air source heat pumps, PV electricity generation and modern double glazing.

“The replacement for the reception building is built on land previously consented for car parking and brought as close as possible to the collection of existing buildings.

“The benefit of demolishing the reception and opening up the site and house frontages outweighs the negative impact of the loss of density.

“The sustainability and biodiversity gains, combined with the improvements in design and material specification outweighs the slight negative impact of the reduction in the number of houses.

“The aesthetics of the proposed development have been improved by the changes in layout and material specifications.

“The revised scheme will comply with national planning policy and offers clear design improvements.

“All the dwellings will be clad in timber under modern well insulated roofs enhancing the appearance of the development. Overall, the revised scheme has a lower volume than the consented scheme and as such there will be a reduced impact on the open countryside.”

You can see the application on the council’s website under reference 26/00338/FULL.

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

You can see the previous approved application on the council’s website under reference 24/00746/FULL.