Plans for landmark landfill site rejected

Plans for a controversial landfill site on the edge of Exeter have been rejected.

Devon County Council members voted against the plans for a building waste landfill site near Kennford at a development management committee meeting attended by about 50 members of the public.

The proposed site is owned by the Taverner family which also owns the Orange Elephant Ice Cream company with its landmark orange elephant by the side of the A38 Devon Expressway.

The meeting heard there had been more than 700 objections to the scheme and "personal attacks" made against the applicant.

The plans for the site near Kennford would have involved three phases of landfill over about a 10-year period.

County council planning officers recommended refusing the application and stated in their report "the scale, design and nature of the proposals would result in significant adverse effects on the distinctive agricultural character and scenic quality of the area".

Developers said changes to the landscape would be "barely noticeable" following restoration work.

Janet Lillie, from the Residents Against Landfill group, spoke against the plan in the meeting and described the site as "undulating pastoral landscape" that needed to be protected.

She said: "A landfill site would alter this tranquil rural scene completely and replace it with an industrial landscape".

Freddie Palmer, who has worked on community engagement for the developer, BT Jenkins, said there had been "countless personal attacks" made against the Taverner family.

He said: "All we have is a local contractor wanting to put soil on farmers' fields."

The committee voted unanimously to reject the plans.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].