A new primary school and nursery with places for more than 700 children has been approved by planners. The school, on the edge of Cranbrook near Exeter, will have space for 630 pupils and 80 nursery places. The site, Cobdens Primary School, will also include a grass sports field and an all-weather floodlit artificial pitch for community use, according to the proposers.
Officers at East Devon District Council had raised concerns about the landscaping and the building's appearance, but amendments to the plans led to full approval.
Building first started in Cranbrook in 2011, and the town has a planned population of about 20,000. The planning report for the school, to the north of London Road, said the site formed "a critical part of the infrastructure that is necessary to support the Cranbrook expansion". Planning officers said the appearance had "improved markedly" from previous plans by Devon County Council, with a "monotonous rhythm" now "broken and given a coherence" by changes to the materials.
The school had previously been given outline planning permission as part of plans for more than 1,400 homes that were approved in 2024, external.
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New Cranbrook School and Nursery Approved