Plans to convert disused care home rejected

Plans to convert a disused care home on the edge of Dartmoor into holiday lets have been thrown out.

The owners of Tracey House retirement home, on the outskirts of Bovey Tracey, told Teignbridge Council's planning committee they wanted to create six units for holidaymakers after trying without success to sell the business.

However, the committee heard that Bovey Tracey Town Council opposed the plan and local people wanted permanent homes there rather than holiday lets.

The 23-bed care home closed in 2023, with owner George Zakrzewski saying it had become increasingly hard to keep it going since the pandemic and he and his wife wanted to retire.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, officers told the committee that the application complied with council policy, and councillors were recommended to pass it, but members said they had concerns about the loss of accommodation for local elderly people and the suitability of holiday homes.

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