Plans for a controversial landfill just off the A38 at Kennford may be scuppered after Devon’s planning manager recommended that council bosses refuse to approve the planning application.

The fate of the proposed landfill, on fields at Lower Brenton Farm, home of the orange elephant, will be decided at a Devon County Council Development Management Committee meeting on Wednesday (February 5).

A report published by Devon’s County Planning Manager earlier this week has recommended that the council refuse planning permission because ‘the proposed development would have an unacceptable landscape and visual impact’.

Developers BT Jenkins have been eyeing up the Kennford site for some years. The firm’s original planning application for a landfill of 1.2 million cubic metres of inert waste and a recycling facility was withdrawn in 2022. BT Jenkins then submitted a revised application in 2023 for a smaller landfill for 700,000 cubic metres of inert waste with a ten-year tenure.

The Clyst St Mary-based earth-moving, plant hire and landfill firm currently operates the Trood Lane recycling and inert landfill site which is about a kilometre away. But this site is nearing the end of its life, having exhausted its permitted capacity. The site at Lower Brenton Farm was intended as a replacement.

BT Jenkins said it had listened to feedback after its original planning submission and had changed its plans in its subsequent planning application in response to the concerns that had been raised.

However, there are still fears about the safety of people using public rights of way around the site and about the impact the site will have on the character and view of the nearby Peamore Park and Garden heritage site. The County Planning Manager also points out that the planning application and accompanying environment statement ‘fail to adequately address the human health implications of the proposed development’.

Although the County Planning Manager’s recommendation carries weight, members of the Development Management Committee may consider additional comments from Devon County Council’s ecologist and public rights of way manager and any additional information provided by BT Jenkins before it makes a final decision at next week’s meeting.

Members of Residents Against the Landfill, which has been campaigning against the development, were encouraged by the latest report. ‘We are optimistic that the members of the Development Management Committee will accept the recommendations of the county planning manager and vote unanimously to refuse the planning permission,’ said spokesperson Mike Elliott.

The controversial planning application has numerous opponents. Objections have been logged by 701 individuals or households. A petition opposing the proposed landfill site with 3,325 signatures was presented to Devon County Council in November 2024. Additional objections have also been submitted by the parish councils in Exminster, Kenn and Shillingford St George, a local primary school, garden and wildlife groups, cycling and walking groups and Action on Climate Change in Teignbridge.

Teignbridge District Council’s planning department are also unhappy with the landfill scheme amid concerns that the it will disrupt proposed house building in the area.