Honiton East – East Growth Area

Site Reference: SA-ED-18

Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) sites included: f415yom, hv15vpa

Parish(es): Honiton

District(s): East Devon District Council

Site size: 73 hectares

Number of homes considered in Sustainability Appraisal Report: 1,234-1,593 homes

Indicative number of homes factoring in sensitivities and requirements (see below): 1,100 homes

Potential for employment use: It would need to provide some small scale employment alongside housing.

Relationship with existing allocations and other potential GESP sites: The East Devon Local Plan allocates a significant amount of employment land at Honiton’s western end (at the opposite end of town to this site option).

Planning status: None

Summary description of the site: 72ha of agricultural land to the east of Honiton situated primarily on land rising towards and surrounded by the Blackdown Hills and East Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Site is sandwiched between the A35, Exeter- Waterloo railway line and the A30.

Opportunities

This site is identified for consideration in the GESP because:

A large proportion of the site has been put forward by landowners for development or was promoted during the previous East Devon Local Plan process
It is close to Honiton train station and both the A30 and A35
Honiton is an important centre with good levels of employment provision as well as allocations to provide additional employment
Honiton Community College has some limited scope for expansion

Sensitivities

The site has a number of sensitivities which development would need to take into account including:

The site is surrounded by the Blackdown Hills and East Devon Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and would be visible from both
A small area of the site is affected by flooding
Existing rail infrastructure limits the frequency of train services in Honiton
It is some distance from Exeter and could increase traffic on Junction 29 of the M5 which is at capacity
Potential for the achievement of safe site access from the A35 Kings Road to cause detrimental impacts on traffic flow along the strategic road network
Potential severance issues caused by difficulty gaining safe pedestrian and cycle access across the A35 Kings Road
Primary education facilities in the town are already at/approaching capacity
The Honiton Conservation Area and multiple other Listed Buildings are nearby the site
The steep topography could reduce capacity in some parts of the site
The area is known for prehistoric activity and contains a section of Roman Road
A large proportion of the site is high grade agricultural land
Collin’s Field County Wildlife Site (CWS) is close by and may contain protected species

Requirements

Planning requirements for the site will aim to create a great place to live and work, providing well designed new neighbourhoods with appropriate and well managed public open space and safe walking/cycling routes. All sites will need to provide a mix of homes (including affordable and custom build), investment in low carbon energy and transport, high speed internet and wildlife enhancements. More detail on these can be found in the policies within Section B of this document. Other emerging requirements include:

High quality design and layout to reduce the impact upon landscape / heritage assets
Measures to address the risk of flooding on site
Rail infrastructure improvements to enable half-hourly train service frequency
Potential alternative vehicular route from Kings Road to A35 junction and safe pedestrian/cycle access across Kings Road
On-site primary school provision including early years plus a financial contribution towards expansion of facilities secondary provision
Contributions to a new recycling centre
A variety of amenities and services including a small amount of convenience retail, local employment, sports, recreation and healthcare provision
Development will need to respect the privacy of existing dwellings located nearby

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