- Brunel Park was formerly a major Dairy Crest plant in Totnes which closed in 2007. Dairy Crest was acquired by Saputo in 2019.
- The eight-acre site alongside Totnes railway station has been derelict since the plant closed in 2007, with local people keen to see the site redeveloped.
- The site has been allocated for mixed use regeneration in the Development Plan since 2011.
- Brunel Park was acquired from Saputo by Essex-based company Fastglobe in January 2021 for £1.35 million.
- The Brunel Park Partnership is the name of the development team established by Fastglobe to deliver the regeneration of Brunel Park. It is led by locally-based property consultant and developer Patrick Gillies, who has been a Totnes resident for the last seven years.
- In July 2021 South Hams District Council confirmed that the Community Right to Build Order it originally granted in March 2017 had lapsed, along with the related planning permission.
- The High Court confirmed on 15th October 2021 that a fresh and separate planning permission was now required to lawfully develop the site.
- Since acquiring the site, the Brunel Park Partnership has been working up a planning application which has now been submitted. It has also carried out clearance works to provide maintenance access to the leat, ecological surveys and some essential health and safety works.
- A major flood modelling project began in April 2021 in partnership with the Environment Agency and has since been completed. This supersedes previous plans and provides for a one in a 100 year flood event.
- Further ecological surveys are ongoing.
- In March 2022 the Brunel Park Partnership submitted a planning application to South Hams District Council for a bat house to create an alternative habit for protected bat species on site, which has since been approved.
- In September 2022 the partnership submitted a planning application to regenerate the site to South Hams District Council. This includes a full planning application for permission for the change of use of the Brunel Building to provide community space, and a Listed Building Consent application for the demolition of some of the adjoining modern structures which impact negatively on the Brunel Building’s historic setting. There is also an outline planning application for the mixed use redevelopment of the site including approximately 25 residential dwellings (a mixture of houses and apartments), approximately 20 holiday lodges with a related amenity building, and 10 commercial/retail units ranging from 70 sqm to 220 sqm.
- In May 2023 a revised proposal was submitted to South Hams District Council to increase the number of homes being provided on the site and to remove all the holiday lodges, both in response to feedback from the community and the Council on the original application. The rest of the scheme remains the same.