Axminster Gymnastics Club will be moving to a new home at the Axminster Carpets site in Woodmead Road, after permission was granted to convert a industrial building to a gymnasium.

Axminster Gymnastics Club was launched by Emma Rowe in March 2017 with classes first being held at local village halls.

The club later took up regular slots at Axminster Leisure Centre before eventually moving to its own premises above the Axminster Carpets shop on Musbury Road in November 2018.

Having its own premises allowed the club to increase the number of classes it holds, now operating six days a week from Monday to Saturday outside of lockdown, both during the day and in evenings.

But the club's 300-strong membership has now outgrown its current home, which is also not fully accessible and has limited height restrictions.

East Devon District Council has now granted approval of plans to convert Unit 23 at the Axminster Carpets site from industrial use to a new gymnasium, which will be twice the size of its current gym, along with toilet and changing facilities and office space.

New classrooms for primary school

St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Axminster has received permission to build two new classrooms on site.

Planning permission has been granted for a single-storey modular building, which will consist of two classrooms and toilet facilities, and associated site works.

Other planning applications recently approved in the Axminster area include the following:

Agricultural storage building at Great Trill Farm, Musbury; seven non-illuminated fascia signs and one non-illuminated hanging sign at Trinity House, Trinity Square; construction of single-storey side and rear extensions at 13 West Close; single-storey lean-to side extension at 3 Little Old Park Cottages, Woodbury Lane; single-storey rear extension at 31 Woodbury Way; construction of single-storey front and rear extensions at The Beagles, Cooks Lane; roof work following are damage plus other repairs at Weycroft Manor, Weycroft; retention of raise terrace and outbuilding at 74 Foxhill; formation of two bin stores at Ridgway Court.

Permission for a two-storey rear extension and loft conversion at 8 Foxhill, and the erection of an agricultural barn at Rose Farm, Wyke, was refused by East Devon District Council.

Plans submitted for three new bungalows

Plans have been submitted for three new bungalows on King Edward Road in Axminster.

If granted planning permission, the three detached bungalows would be built on land of Allwood in King Edward Road, along with car parking provision.

The existing house Allwood and an existing shed would be demolished, and replaced with three two-bedroom bungalows.

Access to the site would remain in the same place off King Edwards Road, bit the access would be widened and the dropped kerbs and pavement surface would be upgraded.

The application currently being considered by East Devon District Council is for outline planning consent, meaning matters relating to appearance and landscaping will have to be approved at a later date.

Click here to view the plans in full on the East Devon District Council website.

Proposal for new industrial units at Weycroft Avenue

A proposal for the construction of six industrial units on land at Whitty Court in Weycroft Avenue, Axminster, has been submitted to the district council for approval.

The application has been submitted by Axminster Property for a site which first became available for development in 2016. Children's nursery Tick Tocks was developed on a third of the site, and a proposal to build light industrial units on land opposite the nursery was approved in 2019 and is now nearing completion.

The application said: "It has since become apparent there is still a requirement for additional industrial units, hence the applicant now wishes to further develop the remaining area of the site to provide six additional industrial units."

Click here to view the plans in full on the East Devon District Council website.

Other applications under consideration

An application has also been submitted for a new dwelling at land east of Fairacre on Lyme Road in Axminster.

The development would see an existing garage replaced with a singe-storey, detached dwelling.

Matters relating to appearance and landscaping will have to be approved at a later date as this is an outline planning application.

Click here to view the plans in full on the East Devon District Council website.

Other planning application currently under consideration by East Devon District Council for the Axminster area are as follows:

Agricultural storage building at Higher Uphay Farm, Members Road; erection of front entrance porch at Selwood, Sector Lane; construction of two-storey rear extension and raised patio at 8 Foxhill; construction of two-storey extension at Benvenuto, Cooks Lane; erection of buildings to cover dung stores and erection of roof over silage store at Lower Westwater House, Westwater; construction of decking in rear garden at 5 Foxhill; erection of barn and lean-to shed for mixed ancillary residential and agricultural use at The Old Farmhouse, Castle Hill; single-storey timber frame flat room extension to the rear at 30 Cherry Tree Road; construction go single-storey front extension at 5 Cawley Avenue.