Calls for Teignbridge District Council to bring in expert legal professionals to amend a restrictive covenant on the Lawns in Bishopsteignton so the local scout group can build a new hut have been denied.

Bishopsteignton Scout Group had hoped to construct a new scout hut on the Lawns recreation area in the village after its previous premises had fallen into disrepair and been condemned. The group said it had spoken to Teignbridge District Council at an early stage and been assured that the covenant would not be an issue and that they should go ahead with a planning application.

However, after the group successfully gained planning permission from Teignbridge for the new hut in March 2023, the District Council said it had no knowledge of having given any assurances about the covenant. The project then stalled when Teignbridge expressed concerns that the Scout hut would breach the restrictive covenant on the land, opening the door for the land to be further developed.

Bishopsteignton Parish Council purchased the Lawn from Teignbridge District Council for £25,000 over 20 years ago. Under the terms of the acquisition, a restrictive covenant was put in place to ensure the land would always be used for recreational purposes.

Bishopsteignton Scouts and the village Parish Council argue that, as the scout hut would be used for community and recreational use, it falls within the scope of the covenant.

However, Teignbridge District Council argues that any building would require the covenant to be lifted, and that its legal team had advised that this would then pose a financial and legal risk to Teignbridge District Council.

‘Planning permission does not override a legal covenant and legal restrictions remain enforceable unless formally removed through proper legal processes,’ noted Teignbridge District Council executive member for economy, estates and major projects David Palethorpe.

In a motion presented to the Teignbridge District Council Executive meeting on Tuesday (February 11), Councillor Andrew MacGregor asked that Teignbridge District Council ‘engage an expert legal professional in the specifying and writing of covenants’ to ‘amend the covenant to both allow this recreational community building to proceed as approved by planning officers and to strengthen the covenant for the future protection of this recreation land’.

However, Teignbridge councillors voted that any further action should be taken by Bishopsteignton Scouts and Bishopsteignton Parish Council rather than Teignbridge.

Councillor Palethorpe suggested that it was ‘bizarre’ that a councillor was ‘asking a (Teignbridge) legal team to bring in external legal people to advise them on the advice they’ve already given’.

‘The legal position on restrictive covenants is well-established, and any removal would require formal legal processes that could be subject to legal challenge, which would expose the Council to potentially substantial legals costs to the taxpayer’, Councillor Palethorpe noted.

He said that, while he empathised with the scouts and wanted to support local groups, he believed that the Teignbridge District Council Executive Committee should formally accept the current advice from its legal team and reject any request for Teignbridge to spend taxpayers’ money to bring in external advice.