SAVE Britain’s Heritage has written urgently to the Chair and Managing Director of Teignbridge District Council calling into question the decision-making process at a crunch meeting on the fate of a historic mill development in Newton Abbot.
SAVE, a national heritage charity, is deeply concerned that councillors were rushed into a hasty and ill-informed decision that will ultimately short-change the people of Newton Abbot.
We are concerned that key facts were also misrepresented or absent from briefing packs given to councillors at the Full Council meeting on 30th July.
Henrietta Billings, director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, said: “We are concerned about a range of issues relating to the decision-making process around this highly controversial decision.
“We remain confident that the buildings at Bradley Lane Mills, some of which have only been vacant since 2022, others which are still occupied, would make a fantastic addition to a new much-needed housing development on this site, as our alternative vision showed.
“It's not just SAVE that recognises the potential of these buildings, the Victorian Society, World Monuments Fund Britain, Newton Abbot & District Civic Society and Historic Buildings & Places have all raised concerns.
“We believe councillors should not be rushed into hasty and highly controversial decisions about demolishing their heritage buildings.”
Questions have also been raised in the local press, with the Mid-Devon Advertiser reporting: “Vote to demolish Newton Abbot site could be unlawful”.
SAVE’s formal complaint, submitted to the council on 5th August, raises a number of concerns:
Pressure to vote
We do not consider that councillors were given enough time to give full and proper consideration to the resolution they were asked to vote on (namely, the principle of demolishing the buildings at Bradley Lane Mills). Councillors themselves asked for a month’s adjournment so they could properly consider the facts, but their request was rejected.
The council’s proposal to divert public funds intended for a new cinema to instead demolish these historically significant buildings was only made public on 9th July. It represented a surprise U-turn by the council which had previously favoured reusing the buildings. The funds must be committed by the end of September and we believe this alone, rather than careful consideration of what is best for Newton Abbot, drove the council’s hurried decision.
Historic England’s concerns
Historic England’s recommendation that the buildings be retained and possibly granted conservation area status was omitted from the officers’ report which simply said the government’s heritage advisor did not consider them worthy of listing. (The bar for listing is very high so this does not mean a building is insignificant.)
Heritage significance
As a transcript of the debate reveals, councillors were ill-informed about the heritage significance of Bradley Lane Mills. It appears many had not had the chance to read the positive heritage appraisal of their own conservation officer. This is not surprising since his report was not included in the meeting pack.
Expression of interest
An expression of interest from an experienced developer interested in buying the site and reusing the buildings to create a vibrant mixed-use district of affordable homes and workplaces was made to the council on 24th July, once a previous agreement with a housebuilder had expired.
We were alarmed that this was only raised with the committee after an intervention by a member of the public. Even then the council’s deputy leader told the meeting he did not know who this had come from, despite the offer being emailed directly to him and senior colleagues by the developer himself with a request to discuss it.
Since the meeting, the developer has written to the council again restating his interest and sharing more detail about his proposal.
Image the buildings at Bradley Lane Mills in Newton Abbot are robust and ripe for reuse [Credit: NADCS]