Developer still 'banking' brownfield land despite acute need for housing

THE owner of a prime patch of building land once dubbed ‘Chernobyl-on-Sea’ insist it stills has plans for it even though it has been derelict for more than a decade.

- by GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter

A busy gasworks once stood on the land at Hollicombe, on the coast road between Paignton and Torquay. But the huge gas holders have long since gone, and the large patch of land has been empty ever since. A lengthy operation to clear the land of toxic chemicals left behind from its former use was completed 10 years ago.

Although permission was granted for 185 homes on the land as long ago as 2012, it remains a patch of largely overgrown waste land.

However, a spokesman for owner Vistry Homes said in a statement: “The scheme remains under active review, and we will bring forward any deliverable development opportunity as soon as it becomes feasible.”