PLANNING permission is being sought to allow Cheriton Fitzpaine’s former post office and shop to become part of the house it shares a building with.

The vacant shop is a single room located at the front of a four-bedroom house known as Rostadkag, which occupies the building above and behind.

It can be accessed from the High Street and from inside the home. No interior or exterior changes are being asked for – just to allow the room to be used as residential living space.

Cheriton Fitzpaine’s post office and shop closed in 2016. It was run by the current owners of the property, who were “forced to close” the business as it “was not financially viable”, planning documents say.

There is “no prospect” of it reopening, and when the owners reportedly marketed the shop between December 2022 and October 2023 there was “no interest in the property whatsoever”.

After it shut, a community shop was opened in a cabin on land to the right of the former Methodist church, which itself is to the right of the former post office.

A mobile post office also visits the village’s parish hall twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Cheriton Fitzpaine Community Shop opens six days a week and stocks everyday essentials as well as newspapers, stamps, cards, fresh vegetables, frozen food and other items.

Villagers are currently fundraising to buy the former Methodist church, which closed for worship in 2024, and move the community shop inside as temporary planning permission for the cabin runs out in November 2026 and its lease expires in December 2027.

You can see the application on Mid Devon District Council’s website under reference 25/00300/FULL.

Members of the public have until Tuesday, March 25 to comment on the proposals.

To see more public notices and planning applications, visit: publicnoticeportal.uk.