Support for seafront apartment block

District planning officers have again said a new block of flats on Exmouth seafront should go ahead, despite opposition from Exmouth Town Council.

The plan is for a five-storey building, containing 14 apartments and three shops, to be built at Pier Head, near Exmouth Marina, at the corner of Victoria Road and Mamhead View.

This plan has been revised down from the eight-storey block which was rejected by East Devon District Council’s development management committee (DMC) last June.

Planning officers had supported that plan, and are also backing this one.

They say that the reduced height of the building should address councillors’ previous concerns, and maintain that it would provide a ‘landmark’ building for the site, as proposed by the Exmouth Masterplan.

They also say that the plan meets an ‘exceptions test’ for flood risk that justifies building on the seafront site.

When town councillors considered the plan last October, they recommended refusal on the grounds of overdevelopment, loss of light to neighbouring properties, inappropriate height and mass, and the unsuitability of the site, which they said was potentially contaminated.

The DMC will make the final decision on the plan at its meeting next Tuesday at the Knowle, Sidmouth.