Planners behind the proposed Holsworthy Agri-Business hub have explained their drainage plans after Devon County Council raised an objection.
The objection relates to a hybrid planning application for the project. It has two parts: full planning permission for enabling development, including access, highways infrastructure, groundworks, drainage, landscape, entrance signage and the formation of development plots, plus an outline application for agricultural business centre buildings.
If approved, the application would allow Torridge District Council to carry out the infrastructure work, such as the site layout, connecting roads and enabling works. The construction of the agri-business centre itself would be driven by third parties.
Devon County Council's flood risk team objected to the plans. Its criticism included the proposal to use an underground drainage system, with six attenuation tanks across seven plots and permeable paving. Water would discharge into an attenuation basin, then flow at a restricted rate of 23 litres per second via a hydrobrake into an existing ditch within the site boundary.
The flood risk team said underground systems cannot be considered truly sustainable drainage because they do not provide the required water quality, public amenity or biodiversity benefits.
However, the planning team for Torridge District Council said it appreciated the intent of the requests but could not meet them because of the hybrid nature of the application. In a response to the objection, it said: "A number of the comments present a challenge to fully address at this stage due to the hybrid nature of the application. In particular, we are being asked to demonstrate specific above-ground drainage features and detailed SuDS layouts within the outline development parcels. Whilst we fully appreciate the intent of these requests, the final development form, building layouts and internal parcel arrangements have not yet been fixed and will ultimately be determined through future reserved matters applications. As such, it is not currently possible to develop detailed above-ground drainage proposals with sufficient confidence that they would remain representative of the eventual development. Our approach has therefore been to demonstrate that appropriate drainage strategies can be accommodated within the parameters of the proposed masterplan and that sufficient land has been safeguarded to deliver drainage solutions at the detailed design stage. Given the tight programme associated with this application, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss a number of the comments directly to ensure we are aligned on our eventual planning response."
The Environment Agency has said it has no objections.
The full application can be viewed on the Torridge District Council planning portal under reference 1/0502/2026/LA.
Planners Respond to Devon County Council Objection on Holsworthy Agri-Business