A few months earlier, in January 2022, the Society had written to the District Council to ask that officers should investigate environmental damage that could be occurring on a field to the north of Beadon Lane. We had witnessed a dumper truck carrying the remnants of the demolished Sandnes building from that site and tipping the material on to previously unspoilt land.

Given the construction management plan for that application had stated any demolition material would be dealt with onsite, this was in essence fly tipping.

In response, Council enforcement officers had suggested the offenders should submit a planning application. Were it to be approved, we argued, the LPA would be permitting the addition of a detrimentally ugly and incongruous feature on the landscape within the scenically beautiful North Sands Valley, part of the South Devon AONB, and severely compromising the protection objectives of the statutory AONB and Heritage Coast Designations.

The case officer agreed the proposed development would not only fail to conserve 'the scenically beautiful North Sands Valley, which is part of the South Devon AONB', but would also 'result in levels of noise disturbance which exceed the levels generally experienced in the locality currently. The development would therefore have a harmful impact on the amenity of neighbouring properties in Platt Close'.