Local residents are being invited to find out more about revised plans to turn farmland owned by the makers of Exeter’s renowned Orange Elephant Ice Cream Parlour into an inert soil landfill site and temporary recycling centre. It’s now seven months since amended plans were submitted for the project after a huge backlash.
Significant opposition was sparked when applicant BT Jenkins submitted a planning application at the beginning of 2022 to turn Lower Brenton Farm at Kennford into a replacement for the Trood Lane landfill site at Matford in Exeter. Just over a week before a decision was due to be made on the proposals, BT Jenkins withdrew the application but at the time did not reveal the reason to DevonLive.
However, last November, it admitted it “got it wrong” and said it should have done things “differently”. It then shared amended plans which are said to be “significantly different” from plans proposed previously. Local feedback already given has resulted in the proposed site size being made smaller to help protect local wildlife, the entrance on the A379 has been removed and the small recycling centre has been moved to a less visible position in the southern valley.
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BT Jenkins says its plans will prevent soil from local developments from being transported many miles across the region. It claims there will be no increase in traffic in the area as vehicles will use the same route as the existing site at Trood Lane.
It added the plans for Lower Brenton are temporary, with three phases each lasting three to four years. All public footpaths will remain open throughout the operation.
Community drop-in events are being held in Kenn, Shillingford St George and at BT Jenkins’ existing site, Trood Lane, for local residents to meet the project team and find out more about the proposals. The planning application will be submitted this summer but a definite date is yet to be confirmed.
Russell Lowton at BT Jenkins said: “Our plans will provide capacity for the region to develop and grow, without the need to send local soils across the county and beyond. We understand that planning can be confusing.
“We want to make it easy for people to learn more about the proposals and ask any questions they may have. We have already consulted extensively and made changes after carefully considering feedback. We recognise there’s still some confusion about what’s proposed so we’re creating more opportunities for people to understand what we’re trying to do.”
Previous community consultations included sending local residents a newsletter, holding a public webinar and a meeting with local people. A month after the revised plans were revealed last November, campaigners set up a fundraiser to fight the proposals. When the original planning application was submitted, the number of objections amounted to more than 700.
A community drop-in event will be held at the Trood Lane site on Monday, July 10, between 12.30pm and 4.30pm. It will give people the chance to get an idea of how the new site will work as they will be able to see how the existing site operates.
Further events will be held at The Kenn Centre on Tuesday, July 11, between 1pm to 5pm, and at Shillingford St George Village Hall on Monday, July 17, between 3pm to 7pm. A newsletter inviting local residents to these events is being sent to more than 2,500 addresses.
The Taverner family has been farming at Lower Brenton for five generations. The farm itself is more than 800 years old.
The addition of the landfill site would have formed part of its Dadmore Dairy project, named after an old, half-forgotten field name, to help renew the way they grow food and secure the farm’s future. It would have allowed parts of five of its steepest fields to be filled with inert material from nearby excavation, demolition and construction schemes, before being returned to productive pasture as soon as the valleys are filled and the slopes reduced.
To find out more about the consultation residents can call a freephone number 0800 148 8911 or email [email protected]
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