A new plan to build six homes on the site of a former farm in Lamerton has recently been submitted to West Devon Borough Council.

Application 1369/26/FUL proposes demolishing the agricultural buildings at Court Cottage Farm and changing the site’s use from agricultural to residential. The site lies within the Lamerton Conservation Area and near several listed buildings, including St Peter’s Church.

The proposal includes one one-bedroom home, two two-bedroom homes, and three three-bedroom homes, all facing inward towards a central parking and access area. The plans also feature gardens, boundary planting, biodiversity net gain measures, changes to the highway entry, and a new permissive path linking the site to the historic gated access on the western meadow boundary and the primary school.

The applicants say the site is currently derelict and unattractive, and argue the development would provide much-needed homes in the area.

According to the application: “The derelict former dairy building and adjacent unused cattle sheds detract from the general amenity of this part of the village. This is considered an important factor bearing in mind that the site lies within the Lamerton Conservation Area and the setting of the Grade II* listed church and other Grade II listed buildings.”

However, a tree specialist has objected at this stage, requesting updated tree information and raising concerns about root protection, replacement planting, and the amount of proposed pruning.

This is not the first planning application for the site. In March 2022, a proposal for 15 homes, including four affordable homes, was rejected due to concerns about environmental impact, housing mix, and the absence of a completed Section 106 agreement.

The former application included a community recreation area, which was welcomed by the village primary school and Lamerton Parish Council. But the planning officer’s report on the application stated that while the scheme “would be considered an improvement on the existing situation”, the site could not truly be considered a brownfield site. The housing would extend beyond the brownfield site onto adjoining Tappers Meadow, a green space in the centre of the village that lies within a conservation area.

Further applications for a ten-home scheme, including conservation area consent and a full planning application, were withdrawn in June and August 2022, respectively. A later five-home proposal was withdrawn in April 2024.