The developers of an ultra-high density build-to-rent scheme at Haven Banks have extended the use of the existing retail park units on the development site for leisure purposes after Exeter City Council said the scheme is not expected to come forward for at least five years.
The council planning committee approved an application from Coplan Estates and Welbeck CP to redevelop Haven Banks retail park in December 2023.
It approved the construction of 423 rental units – including 184 “co-living” units – in four blocks of up to six storeys with commercial units at ground floor on the 1.7 hectare “Liveable Exeter” site, which is in flood zone three and is part of the wider Water Lane redevelopment site.
However two years have since passed without the publication of notice of the granting of planning permission for the development and the council’s current five-year housing land supply statement says it does not expect the development to come forward within the next five years.
Illustrative view of approved Haven Banks redevelopment. Image: Piper Whitlock.
In July this year the developers applied to use two of the four units which make up the Haven Banks retail park to enable the expansion of Tenpin Exeter into one and the provision of a new padel tennis facility in the other.
The units were occupied by Rediscover Church, an evangelical Elim Pentacostal Church with five sites in Devon which is based at Providence Chapel in Northernhay Street. They had previously been occupied by branches of The Range and Matalan.
The council confirmed that the proposed uses would be lawful in August.
Rediscover Church took over the Haven Banks units in April last year after temporary permission for twelve months’ use for “worship and ancillary uses” had been granted in January.
The temporary permission was extended in May this year for a further twelve months, but the church said last month that it had been issued with notice and that – “subject to planning, subject to financing” – it would move to a new site in Marsh Barton.
It has since returned to its Northernhay Street base.
Tenpin bowling alley at Haven Banks
Tenpin also submitted a separate planning application for the Haven Banks site last month.
It already has permission to open to the public from 9am to 11pm, seven days a week, and at any time for “league members”, although its website says it is currently open until midnight every day.
It is seeking permission to extend its opening hours from 8am to 12.30am Sunday to Thursday and until 1.30am on Friday and Saturday.
Its application has received several objections from nearby residents who say that noise levels around Haven Banks are already significant and that further extending opening hours would exacerbate anti-social behaviour.
Comments on the application to extend Tenpin’s opening hours can be submitted via the Exeter City Council website until Sunday 16 November.
The application will be considered by council planning officers at a later date.
