Retirement home developer McCarthy Stone has made minor amendments to its application for full planning permission for a three-storey retirement complex on a former playing field in the heart of Heavitree.
The application was initially submitted to Exeter City Council at the beginning of August, prompting dozens of objections.
These included 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.
The developer updated the application in late October following discussion with city council planning officers, triggering a new public consultation which runs until mid-December.
The amendments include the removal of an electricity sub-station next to the main entrance on Goldsmith Road, which has been redesigned to be “more generous and welcoming”.
The car park has been slightly reconfigured resulting in the removal of one parking space.
A public path and small seating area would be added to the southern boundary of the site, while on the eastern boundary “more tree protection” will be achieved by the removal of a previously-proposed patio area to “create more space for planting”.
The number of flats and the proposed size and massing of the complex has remained unchanged.
Homefield Road retirement complex site plan following amendments. Image: Re-Format LLP.
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.
McCarthy Stone held an informal consultation on its development proposals, which it said would inform its plans “where possible”, in June.
Five weeks into the subsequent statutory city council consultation, the application had received more than 60 objections, with just one comment in support.
The application has now received total of 128 public comments, 122 of which are objections to the scheme.
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 on the site of the former Buckerell Lodge hotel in Topsham Road, where it is marketing one-bed flats for rent between £2,075 to £2,355 per month or to purchase from £255,000.
Units at Pym Court, a previously-completed development of 53 one and two-bedroom flats in Topsham, and Pinnoc Mews, a 39-flat development near the Hill Barton Road Sainsbury’s store, are all 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, sold this year with a guide price of £330,000.
Comments on the Homefield Road playing field development proposals can be submitted via the Exeter City Council website until Saturday 13 December and via email to consultations@exeter.gov.uk.
The application will be determined at a later date.
