Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

WelcomeThank you very much for attending this public presentation of the draft plans by Westcountry Land for a new residential development on land at Land at Upton Manor Farm, St Mary’s Road, Brixham.

The purpose of today is to gather community feedback on this new emerging proposal prior to the finalisation of a planning application.

Members of the team would be pleased to answer any questions and we would be very grateful if you would leave us your comments on one of our feedback forms.

The development site area is 3.3 hectares and is currently used to provide industrial units as well as a campsite.

Site Location Plan

Site Block PlanView of site looking east towards Sharkham Village

View of site looking north towards Briseham Road View of site looking south west towards campsite buildings Old Dairy site on St Mary’s Road

The popularity of camping in Brixham has changed significantly over the years. Upton Manor Farm Campsite now operates at far below capacity at all times of the year, including peak summer times. The number of campers visiting the site each year has fallen year on year since the late 1990s and by 37% since 2011. There is more than enough capacity within the other campsites in the area to accommodate the reduced demand for camping pitches around the town.

The site’s southern boundary is defined by St Mary’s Road. The eastern boundary is defined by a belt of trees and beyond this is St Mary’s Hill and the relatively new Sharkham Village development. On the northern boundary of the site are the nearest residential properties off Briseham Road.

Extending along the southern edge of St Mary’s Road is the South Bay Holiday Centre with its holiday caravans, chalets and associated facilities.

At the western tip of the site on both sides of St Mary’s Road, there is a mix of buildings in varying degrees of use and repair which are used for workshops and storage purposes or are vacant.

The site slopes from west to east and is largely grassland, although it does have significant developed parts including access roads, parking and buildings which are related to the current operation as a camp site.

An adjoining parcel of land is associated with the camp site on the southern side of St Mary’s Road which is relatively flat at its eastern edge and the rises steeply to the west.

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

ContextThe western tip of the site, north and south of St Mary’s Road and currently occupied by commercial premises (St Mary’s Industrial Estate/Old Dairy) has been allocated in the Brixham Peninsula Neighbourhood Plan for the development of some 25 new housing units.

The industrial units are re-used farm buildings incapable of offering the facilities to attract new tenants. Several have been vacant for more than 10 years and have become derelict.

The remainder of the site resides within the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and as such should only come forward for development in exceptional circumstances where it is in the public interest.

Westcountry Land have developed a draft masterplan which includes the land allocated in the Neighbourhood Plan and the remainder of the camp site, including a further parcel of land to the south of St Mary’s Road.

Although it is acknowledged that the site is within the AONB, an appraisal of the landscape shows clearly that the site is completely surrounded by development and that much of this has taken place since the original AONB designation took place. The most recent example has been to the east of site with the Sharkham Village development which is on much more prominent land within the AONB.

Rather than being open countryside, the site has much more the feel of an infill site located right on the edge of the town. The site is self-contained and of a quality which is very different to the AONB closer to the coast and along the South West Coast Path. It is well-

View of buildings on Old Dairy site

View of buildings on St Mary’s Industrial Estate

Plans showing changing character of area around site (Left 1968 - 69, Centre 1984 - 1990, Right 2020)

View of site looking south west

View of site looking north

View of site looking north east

View of site looking east

removed from the most sensitive parts of the protected landscape and can be considered to be a natural extension to the edge of Brixham.

In terms of public interest, there is a recognised need for new homes in Torbay, particularly affordable homes. The Council is required by Government to demonstrate that it has a housing supply pipeline sufficient to cover local needs for 5 years and currently it is unable to do so.

Importantly, the new development proposes to offer 30% affordable housing, including socially rented, affordable rent and shared ownership properties. The site could deliver nearly 30% of the entire number of affordable homes completed in 2018/19 in the whole of Torbay. It could also help redress the complete absence of starts of new socially rented homes in 2018/19 and provide attractive homes for local people and families in housing need in Brixham.

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

Our Proposal – Key ElementsThe key objective of the proposals is to introduce a new, high quality residential development comprising affordable and private sale homes. The western tip of the site has already been allocated by the Neighbourhood Plan for residential development.

Tenure/unit size 1-bed 2-bed 3-bed 4-bed Totals

Social rent 2 6 6 1 15

Affordable rent 2 6 6 1 15

Intermediate 0 9 5 0 14

Total affordable 4 21 17 2 44

Private sale 0 44 32 25 101

Totals 4 65 49 27 145

Indicative Masterplan

Given the AONB designation of the site, a masterplan approach has been followed to show the layout, design, landscaping, open space provision and access arrangements.

Some 145 new homes are currently envisaged of which 30% will be affordable either as social rent, affordable rent or intermediate (part sold, part rented) with 70% offered for private sale. The unit sizes and tenure mix are shown in the table.

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

Our Proposal – High Quality DesignThe proposals aim to provide attractive amenity space, playspace and public open space. Some 28.8% of the entire site will be public open space.

The publicly accessible parkland/open space proposed for the south eastern part of the site is located at the highest point of the site and where it is most visually prominent.

All of the existing trees at the site are retained and new landscaping will be introduced to create an attractive environment.

The aim of the proposals will be to create an ecological enhancement and biodiversity net gain which can be achieved by retaining and enhancing habitats. New planting could include native scrub, hedges, trees and wildflower grassland.

A range of detailed habitat and protected species surveys have been completed in line with best practice. These surveys have informed the masterplan design and will ensure that the opportunities for identified species will be maintained and enhanced for the long-term.

There is also the opportunity to enhance the site for roosting birds and bats through the bat and bird bricks/boxes. The site is close to a protected zone for Horseshoe Bats and to ensure no adverse impacts occur, hedgerows will be maintained, buffered from new development and not subjected to any bright lighting.

Indicative house types by Westcountry Land

View of proposed location of parkland/open space View of retained hedgerow along southern boundary of site

The layout has been designed carefully to ensure adequate separation distances between existing neighbouring properties and those proposed. The gardens of the new properties along the northern boundary of the site are located to the rear to maximise separation distances and ensure privacy.

The new homes will be two-storey in nature and will be terraced, semi-detached and detached. Although the precise designs will be subject to later approval by the Council, the intention is to bring forward new homes which are sympathetic in scale and design to the local character. The visuals shown on this board are examples of new homes at other Westcountry Land developments which incorporate high quality materials.

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

View of Upton Manor Park/St Mary’s Road junction

View looking down St Mary’s Road towards Castor Road

View looking along St Mary’s Road from existing entrance to campsite

Access and TransportationIt is recognised that the current roads around the site are narrow and that there is a particular issue with the visibility for vehicles and pedestrians at the Upton Manor Park/St Mary’s Road junction.

Pedestrians walking along St Mary’s Road also do not have a segregated footpath and this is a particular issue at peak holiday times when vehicles and pedestrians associated with the neighbouring holiday park are at their highest.

The masterplan envisages an improvement to the junction at the western tip of the site which will involve drawing back the new properties from the existing building line to remodel the junction and improve visibility splays.

St Mary’s Road itself offers the potential to be slightly widened up to and beyond the proposed main access to the new development. There will be the need to slightly reposition a short section of the existing hedgerow to achieve this, but this will be fully replaced. In addition to ensuring the two-way flow of vehicles this improvement will have the added benefit of improving the access to the holiday park.

Within the boundary of the site, a new footpath can then be created meaning that pedestrians can have a safe route rather than use the road with the risk of conflict with vehicles.

In line with the Torbay Local Plan which seeks sufficient car parking for two vehicles per dwelling as well as some visitor parking, some 300 car parking spaces are provided in the masterplan. Electrical car charging facilities will be included as well as secure cycle storage.

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham

Summary and Next StepsThank you very much for attending this exhibition.

We welcome your feedback. Please fill in a feedback form and leave it with us or visit www.umfc.info to give us your comments.

The proposals for Land at Upton Manor Farm have been designed to deliver the following benefits:• Use of an infill site surrounded by existing

development which naturally extends the urban edge of the town;

• Masterplanning of a site to deliver much-need housing for Brixham;

• Extending the Neighbourhood Plan allocation at the western end of the site to deliver a comprehensive proposal;

• High quality design and materials;• Contemporary high quality architecture

providing visual interest as well as being sympathetic to local character and causing no harm to the wider Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty;

• Protection of the amenity of neighbouring residents;

• Significant improvement to the visual appearance of the current site;

• An improved road junction and widened St Mary’s Road;

• Provision of a new pedestrian route within the site for use by existing and new residents as well as visitors;

• New homes of varying sizes to meet local need including 30% provision of affordable properties;

• Introduction of landscaping and green amenity space to bring ecological enhancements and biodiversity net gain; and

• Parking provision to meet local standards and ensure that there is no off-site parking on nearby residential streets.

Indicative Masterplan

Land at Upton Manor Farm, Brixham