PLANS to install an air source heat pump at Bovey Tracey’s Riverside Community Centre have been rejected over concerns about noise affecting nearby residents.

Teignbridge Council refused the proposal, which would have seen the building’s existing gas boiler replaced with a lower-carbon heating system providing heating and hot water.

The proposed heat pump was due to be installed in a courtyard at the rear of the centre, which houses Bovey Tracey’s library, public toilets, local information centre and council offices.

The building was completed in 2020 and sits within the Bovey Tracey Conservation Area.

Planning documents stated the new equipment would be hidden from view from the road and neighbouring properties.

However, the council said the location of the unit, combined with the surrounding surfaces and proximity to homes, would create unacceptable noise impacts.

In its decision, the authority said: ‘The proposed air source heat pump, by reason of its location within a confined courtyard area containing several hard reflective surfaces and in close proximity to neighbouring residential properties, would result in unacceptable noise impacts and harm to the living conditions of nearby occupiers’.

It added that the proposal failed to provide an acceptable standard of residential amenity and was contrary to the Teignbridge Local Plan 2020-2040.

The scheme was intended to help reduce the community centre’s carbon footprint, supporting the authority’s 2019 climate emergency declaration and its pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The project was expected to cost £22,225, with a potential £7,500 Government grant available.

Funding could also have come through developers’ contributions via the Community Infrastructure Levy.