Application submitted for new Garden centre

Combe Estate are pleased to announce that a Planning Application has now been submitted for a Garden Centre to be built at our Meadow View Nursery site.

Historically Meadow View Nursery has been used as a Wholesale Nursery producing plants for sale to the trade as well as incidental sales to the members of the public.  More recently the site has been taken back in hand by Combe Estate and has been used for storage, retail sales of fertiliser and compost as well as a nursery site for the walled garden at Combe and Forestry and Orchards on the Estate.

The site is not within the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and sits sandwiched between the A30 to the north and the railway line to the south.

This area of land is seen as a natural extension to the Heathpark Industrial Estate where there is an existing mixture of retail and employment use.

The intention is to develop a high quality Retail Garden Centre which will deliver a range of goods to the public and will also act as an outlet for other Estate products.

Whenever we carry out any form of development within the core of the Estate we have serious considerations to the visual and social impact of the development on the surrounding area.  The proposed site rests outside of the East Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty however we still intend to deliver a high quality design.  This design will incorporate environmentally friendly methods of heating, rain water harvesting and if possible power generation.

It is anticipated that once up and running the proposed business could provide employment for up to 20 individuals both full time and part time.

Our market research has led us to believe that there is a need for this type of establishment in the area and we feel that this business will be complimentary to our existing operations on this traditional but forward thinking rural estate.

The Combe Estate is committed to good quality diversification upon the Estate which will stimulate the local economy, generate employment and sustain the Estate into the future.  The windfall income that we have received from the sale of the land west of Hayne Lane for residential development has been earmarked for reinvestment into the Estate and this is one example of just such reinvestment which ensures that the money generated does not leave the area and can directly and indirectly benefit local people and the wider community.