PLANS to regenerate a long-derelict industrial site in the heart of Totnes have taken a step forward with the submission of a planning application to the local authority.
The former Dairy Crest site has lain dormant since the dairy closed 15 years ago.
It was bought by glue company, Fastglobe, in January 2021 for £1.35 million, and now the Essex-based firm has submitted a planning application to South Hams Council for some 25 new homes, workspaces, holiday lodges and flood defences on the eight-acre site.
The plans also include the restoration of the landmark Grade II listed Brunel Building for community uses. The site’s landmark chimney will also be kept and restored.
To oversee the site’s regeneration, Fastglobe created a development team called the Brunel Park Partnership, led by Totnes property consultant and developer, Patrick Gillies.
Patrick said: “We’ve spent more than a year working up a planning application to create a mixed-use development that respects the site’s heritage, enhances habitat and protects against flooding.
“Above all our plans are deliverable. People in the town want this site developed. That means putting forward the right mix of uses, in the right proportions. Otherwise, it simply won’t happen.
“We’re excited by what we are putting forward, and we hope people will visit the project website to find out more.”
At the heart of the plans is the transformation of the Brunel Building as a two-storey cultural community hub with spaces for local artists, performers and groups, and potentially a café, bar and restaurant.
The planning application includes a full application for change of use and seeks Listed Building Consent to demolish some of the later modern additions to the building which are not original and which the partnership says detract from its historic setting.
There is also an outline application for the mixed-use development of the site, which includes 25 new homes, 20 holiday lodges with a related amenity building, 10 commercial units for use as shops or offices, and a major flood prevention scheme.
The partnership says on its website “it is too early to say” how many affordable homes there will be.
This will be decided by the Government’s ‘Vacant Building Credit’ aimed at supporting the development of brownfield sites, especially where there are “significant abnormal costs associated with regeneration, as is the case here,” the partnership added.
The flood prevention scheme will involve lowering around 50 per cent of the northern part of the site and means the developable area is smaller than anticipated under previous development proposals.
The lowered area will be used as green amenity space for most of the time but provide flood attenuation if required.
The site will also include a new public piazza outside the Brunel Building with neighbouring shops and offices, and cycle and footpath connections across the site, linking to the river walkway and cycle path to the north.
Details of the proposals, including a frequently asked questions section, are available on the Brunel Park website at www.brunelparktotnes.co.uk
The partnership says its planning application is in line with the requirements of the Joint Local Plan.
Totnes Town Council recently called for a pause in the examination of the Totnes Neighbourhood Plan to consult on a new policy for Brunel Park, in which it argued previous proposals for the site drawn up by the Atmos project should not be lost and should be added to the plan.
The Brunel Park Partnership insists this would impose a “straightjacket” on the site by seeking to impose a form of development which it claims is commercially unviable.
On Tuesday September 6, an independent examiner was due to have led a public hearing on including the council’s proposed new policy in the neighbourhoood plan.