Van sales to make way for bungalow
by NIGEL CANHAM 
(This is an article from the local press regarding a successful planning application dealt with by our very own Amanda Burden of our Totnes Office)
A COUPLE have been granted permission to build a wheelchair-friendly bungalow for their disabled daughter on the understanding they bring their commercial vehicle business to an end.
Gerald Greet has sold secondhand vans from the hamlet of Beaston near Broad-hempston for more than 30 years but only gained a certificate of lawfulness in 1994. The operation has been described by Teignbridge planning officials as 'alien and out of keeping' with the area. Now in their 60s and suffering from poor health, Gerald and his wife Barbara want to provide for their 41-year-old daughter Helen. She is blind and has a full-time companion but the family home
cannot be adapted to meet her growing needs.
Mr and Mrs Greet had offered to end the business in exchange for building on land that is currently used to access the workshops. The couple's planning agent Amanda Burden told Teignbridge Council's development control committee meeting that allowing the development to go ahead, something which would not usually be allowed in the countryside, would improve Helen's quality of life, and give Mr and Mrs Greet peace of mind should anything happen to them. 'It will allow Helen to have full-time care while giving a woman of her age the independence she needs,' she said. Despite opposition from Broadhempston Parish Council on the grounds of sporadic development in the countryside, councillors lined up to support the bid.
Cllr Mary Colclough said: 'It provides an opportunity to extinguish the commercial van business on this site.'
Cllr Jeremy Christophers said that unless the project was given the green light Helen would eventually need state care at a time of shrinking budgets.
Cllr David Corney-Walker added: 'This would be a major gain for the area. This is a win-win situation.'
Councillors voted unanimously in favour of the application.
After the meeting, Mr Greet said: 'Amanda Burden has been dealing with it for us and she has got exactly what we wanted. 'I am very pleased with the outcome, but I am giving up a business that I have built up over the years, we're all sacrificing. All right, people say I am coming up 69, don't I want to cut back, and that's true. But we have got three years.' Mr Greet said he was semi-retired and had been scaling back his business for some time. He added: 'I am very grateful to the neighbours who have given 100 per cent support.'
• Gerald Greet Commercials is a separate enterprise to Ron Greet Nostalgic Transport which operates from nearby Bickaton and is unaffected by the planning decision.
You can contact Amanda Burden's office on 01803 869921 or by email: amanda.burden@luscombemaye.com