Plans for 'overbearing' sub station near Exeter halted

Controversial plans which had been recommended for refusal for a new electricity substation branded a ‘large, overbearing and alien structure’ to power thousands of new houses on the outskirts of Exeter have been put on hold. Teignbridge District Council’s planning committee was due to make a decision on the plant at Matford Home Farm at a meeting yesterday, February 20.

However, last week joint applicants National Grid Electricity Distribution and Devon County Council (DCC) requested a decision be made by the Secretary of State instead after discovering the recommendation would halt its plans. It resulted in the planning committee being forced to abandon its meeting after receiving a crucial report too late for members to read with one angry councillor condemning its last-minute arrival as being ‘extremely bad practice’.

The debate has been deferred until its meeting next month. The applicants submitted an urgent letter to the council via its legal representative, dated February 15, stating it has asked the Secretary of State to intervene and ‘call in’ the application – effectively stopping Teignbridge from making or issuing a formal decision on the plans.

The applicants warned that a planning decision should not be issued until a decision on the call-in has been made by the Secretary of State. DCC is applying for permission to build the new supply station to support the large housing extension to the city between Alphington and Exminster.

Hundreds of homes have already been built and many more are in the pipeline, but there is currently insufficient electricity capacity to support the planned development of 2,500 houses around Matford. DCC and the National Grid hope a new substation will be operational in 2026. It will provide power for a changing market which includes homes with heat pumps instead of gas boilers, and charging for electric vehicles.

A public consultation exercise reported in 2021 that local residents preferred a site on nearby Marsh Barton for the substation. The plans have since received 29 public objections.

Comments have included the substation would be ‘unsightly and a blot on the landscape’, it is ‘too close’ to the homes at Matford Mews and that other sites should be considered and that the proposed site has been chosen ‘solely on being that it is the cheapest to develop’.

One resident who would lose their home as a result of the substation said: “As the owner of the house which would be demolished if planning is successful, I object to the proposal.”

The proposed plans for a electricity substation on land at Matford Home Farm

Officers have recommended Teignbridge planners to reject the plan. A report to the meeting said: “While the need for electricity infrastructure to serve the new dwellings at South West Exeter is acknowledged, it is considered that the proposed development on the application site would result in a large, overbearing and alien structure, which by its nature is uninviting and hostile, within the landscape immediately adjacent to both existing and proposed residential properties.”

The report says the electricity station would ‘significantly harm’ the character and appearance of the area. Exminster Parish Council has also objected, saying the plan would create an ‘overbearing’ and ‘especially unsightly’ building.

Existing buildings including Matford Home Farmhouse, Parr’s Country Store, Perimeters Fencing and Static Homes UK would be demolished to make way for the new plant.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Colin Parker opened the meeting and then quickly had to close it again. He explained: “At the eleventh hour, we have received a long document, and we have had little time to look at it. It is a detailed document which brings forward several arguments that we were not aware of.”

The meeting heard that the document was a Teignbridge response to information received from the county council on Friday. Cllr John Parrott added: “This site is an emotive issue, and I think it is extremely bad practice that this should have arrived at this late stage.”