A PLANNING application for a ‘new recycling and refuse enclosure for The Grange Estate’ in Salcombe has been submitted to South Hams Council.

The application, submitted on behalf of the owner of The Grange, Alasdair Nicholls, is for a new store, to be used by all the properties on the ‘Grange estate’ - accommodating bins for five properties - The Grange, Upper Grange, Over Grange, Grange Cottage and Orchid Cottage.

The application states: ‘Currently each of these dwellings have their own external bin areas dotted around the site in a hap-hazard manner. Due to the significant travel distances and the steep paths, residents often store bins down by the main entrance gates which is unsightly.

‘The client has contacted each of the residents, all of whom are supportive of the combined refuse store.’

But Salcombe Town Council objected to the application at last week’s meeting, raising concerns of the proposed bin store and associated odours being only five feet from the Old Coachhouse balcony, and the loss of a raised bed affording privacy to a neighbouring property.

Cllr Mike Fice described the plans as ‘an unneighbourly place for a bin store.’

Cllr Fice raised concerns of the properties missing collection day, and the rubbish sitting in the bin store for several weeks, potentially expelling odours to the balcony of the Old Coachhouse.

The council took issue with the claim that all residents on the Grange estate had been consulted, stating that the Old Coachhouse hadn’t been consulted on the plans.

The council also raised safety concerns with the store being built at the most narrow part of the drive.

The application has received two letters of representation, one in support and one in objection.

Writing in support, Maureen McKee from Over Grange, said: ‘It is an excellent offer from the applicant, with vision, to solve an issue which for many years has been neglected to the detriment of The Grange.

‘Logically there cannot be an objection as it can realistically only be of benefit to all owners on site and significantly enhance the vision of the entrance to The Grange.’

Writing in objection, Penny Shuttleworth, who lives in the Old Coachhouse, took issue with a number of aspects of the application, including the loss of the raised bed and associated privacy, the smell of rubbish affecting the balcony of the Old Coachhouse, ‘the only place where elderly residents can sit.’

Ms Shuttleworth described the site has having been overdeveloped, with 27 planning applications submitted since 2010.

At the same meeting, Salcombe Town Council considered a retrospective application for the rebuilding of a stone wall at The Grange, raising no objections.

Cllr Mike Fice said: ‘It can’t be seen from the road and we can’t see anything wrong with it.’

South Hams Council is currently ‘working with the owner and agent’ of The Grange ‘to remedy outstanding breaches of planning control’ following a site visit in September that ’opened a can of worms’ in regard to unauthorised development that had taken place at the Grade II* listed building.

A spokesperson for South Hams Council said: ‘We served an enforcement notice requiring the removal of a shed in the grounds of the house. This was appealed and subsequently dismissed by the planning inspector and the shed has now been removed and the notice has been complied with.

‘We have given the owner a final opportunity to remedy the remaining breaches, otherwise we will have no option but to take formal action.’