A PLANNING application has been filed for the construction of 14 new townhouses with associated landscaping, access, and infrastructure on the site of Shell Cove House on Teignmouth Road.

The existing flats and other buildings are set to be demolished.

While the principle of developing this stretch of land was established in 2016, the application seeks to change the initial application from a complex of flats and cottages for later living to the new townhouse plan.

The developers argue that whilst the plans mark a ‘demonstrable change,’ the townhouses ‘provide an architectural improvement to that of the permitted three-four storey apartments and maintains the approved residential use class.’

The 14 homes are planned to be spread across seven buildings, making seven pairs of four-bedroom townhouses.

The development will also provide two parking spaces per residence, as well as five additional guest spaces.

The developer asserts that the new homes will be sustainable, and will ‘seek to respond to the local, coastal character of Dawlish.’

Areas around the buildings will remain green and all houses will have their own garden. The remainder of the site will be sown with wildflowers and the orchard trees will be retained ‘where possible’.

The new townhouses would be constructed with materials such as timber, buff brick and zinc-faced/aluminium-coated frames.

The design and massing of development are ‘intended to mirror the classic modernist domestic architecture found throughout south Devon.’

The proposal does not include any affordable housing on the site, nor will the developers make any further affordable housing contributions, as a contribution of £212,000 was made in the previous application.

The developer, a company known as Affinity, considers the proposal to be ‘a highly sustainable settlement with regular rail links to the wider South West region’, and that ‘the application should be approved by the local planning authority without delay.’