Retirement home developer McCarthy Stone is set to build 36 retirement flats on a former school playing field in the heart of Heavitree following its submission of an application for full planning permission for a three-storey complex on the greenfield site last month.
If approved, the complex would include twenty one-bedroom and sixteen two-bedroom flats with a lounge, reception area and office space across nearly 3,200 square metres of internal floor space.
An enlarged vehicle entrance in Homefield Road would provide access to 26 car parking spaces.
The 1.2 acre former Bramdean School playing field, which is in the Heavitree conservation area, is bordered by mature shrubs and trees.
Fourteen individual trees and a further seven tree groups surrounding the field are protected by tree preservation orders. Some would have to be removed to allow the development to go ahead.
Proposed Homefield Road retirement complex site plan. Image: Re-Format LLP.
McCarthy Stone held an informal consultation on its development proposals, which it said would inform its plans “where possible”, in June.
The subsequent statutory city council consultation has so far received more than 60 objections and only one comment in support.
Responses include concerns about the need to preserve valuable green space and the prospect that the development would harm the character of the area, which includes a range of Georgian residential properties.
Proposed Homefield Road retirement complex elevation. Image: Re-Format LLP.
McCarthy Stone, which reported losses of £73 million after tax on revenue of £311 million in the year to October 2024, builds retirement properties for rent and purchase in dozens of towns and cities across the country.
In Exeter it is currently building a block of 62 flats for sale on the site of the former Buckerell Lodge hotel in Topsham Road, where it is marketing one-bed flats from £280,000 and two-bed flats from £380,000.
Pym Court, a previously-completed development of 53 one and two-bedroom flats in Topsham, currently has a two-bed flat for rent for £3,595 per month while all 39 flats at the company’s Pinnoc Mews development near the Hill Barton Road Sainsbury’s store are marked as sold.
Former Bramdean School playing field.
Bramdean School closed in April 2020, before being marketed for sale with its playing field.
Proposals to redevelop the Homefield Road school buildings opposite the field were submitted to the city council in May 2021.
It granted consent for 25 new residential units on the site, entailing the demolition of several buildings, in November 2022. Developers began offering the resulting luxury units for sale in 2023.
A two-bed flat in the development, now named Richmond Grove, is currently for sale with a guide price of £330,000.
Comments on the Homefield Road school playing field development proposals can be submitted via the Exeter City Council website until Sunday 7 September.
The application will be determined at a later date.
