New buildings approved for rural skills project

A rural skills company that has been helping disadvantaged students for 13 years in Devon is getting new buildings.

The Wholelife Project, which runs a farm between Barnstaple and Chivenor for adults and young people with social, emotional, behavioural and learning disabilities, submitted plans to North Devon Council.

Its plans included a new building with a vegetable patch, workshop and commercial kitchen to teach catering skills.

The council's planning officers approved the proposals under delegated powers.

As part of the plans for the new catering building, Wholelife asked for permission to remove a kitchen-dining building, storage containers and polytunnel and put them all in a new building.

Planners were also asked for permission for a new larger dwelling for Wholelife, which would free up an existing property to provide overnight respite care for clients.

On top of this, Wholelife wanted to update its toilet-changing area for clients who need help with personal care.

The proposals originally included tourism accommodation but this element has been scrapped, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The size of the residential dwelling was also scaled down by removing the first floor, lowering the eaves and reducing the footprint of the building.

When approving the plans, officers said although the location could lead to conflict with the Local Development Plan, they supported the proposals because of the nature of the business.

Officers said they also supported the plans because of the site's public transport links and nearby cycle routes, combined with the positive nature of the work serving people with specialist needs.

The need for suitable accommodation on the site for security was also acknowledged by planning officers.

Wholelife said cooking was the most popular activity it ran and it had been contracted to sell sustainably local, healthy products made by the students.

It said it planned to freeze meals for local families affected by food poverty.

The company has partnered with Petroc College to provide internships allowing students to train in its kitchens, with the long term aim of providing jobs.

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