Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: The John Meikle Room - The Deane House. View directions

Contact: Tracey Meadows Email: t.meadows@somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk 

Webcast: View the webcast

Items
No. Item

18.

Apologies

19.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Planning Committee (to follow)

20.

Declarations of Interest or Lobbying

    To receive and note any declarations of disclosable pecuniary or prejudicial or personal interests or lobbying in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

     

    (The personal interests of Councillors and Clerks of Somerset County Council, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes.)

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Members present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor or Clerk of a County, Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:-

     

    Name

    Application No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr S Wakefield

    42/21/0004

    Ward Member. Correspondence received from members of the public. Spoken to the Planning Specialist about the site.

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

21.

Public Participation

    The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

     

    For those members of the public who have requested to speak, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic

    Due to the temporary legislation (within the Coronavirus Act 2020, which allowed for use of virtual meetings) coming to an end on 6 May 2021, the council’s committee meetings will now take place in the office buildings within the John Meikle Meeting Room at the Deane House, Belvedere Road, Taunton. Unfortunately due to capacity requirements, the Chamber at West Somerset House is not able to be used at this current moment.  

     

    Following the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), the council meeting rooms will have very limited capacity.  With this in mind, we will only be allowing those members of the public who have registered to speak to attend the meetings in person in the office buildings, if they wish (we will still be offering to those members of the public that are not comfortable in attending, for their statements to be read out by a Governance and Democracy Case Manager).  Please can we urge all members of the public who are only interested in listening to the debate to view our live webcasts from the safety of their own home to help prevent the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19).

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Application No.

    Name

    Position

    Stance

    Attended

    42/21/0004

    Mr T Smith

    Local Resident

    Against

    Via Zoom

    Ms C Warburton

    Local Resident

    Against

    Via Zoom

    Mr E Orr

    Higher Comeytrowe Farm

    In favour

    Via Zoom

    Mr M Oliver

    Local Resident

    Against

    In person

    Tessa Dean

    Chair Neighbourhood Plan Group

     

    Statement read out

    Mr L Turner

    Associate Director, Boyer

    In favour

    In person

    Cllr D Johnson

    Ward Member

     

    In person

     

22.

42/21/0004 pdf icon PDF 344 KB

    Application for approval of reserved matters following outline application 42/14/0069 in respect of the appearance, landscape, layout and scale for the erection of 166 No. dwellings, hard and soft landscaping, car parking including garages, internal access roads, footpaths and circulation areas, public open space and drainage with associated infrastructure and engineering works together with additional details as required by Condition No's. 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 23 on land at Parcel H1d, Comeytrowe/Trull

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Application for approval of reserved matters following outline application 42/14/0069 in respect of the appearance, landscape, layout and scale for the erection of 166 No. dwellings, hard and soft landscaping, car parking including

    garages, internal access roads, footpaths and circulation areas, public open space and drainage with associated infrastructure and engineering works together with additional details as required by Condition No's. 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 23 on land at Parcel H1d, Comeytrowe/Trull

     

    Comments from members of the public included;

     

    ·       Concerns with the developer’s noncompliance of conditions;

    ·       Concerns that the homes were not adapted for climate change;

    ·       Issues with access, flooding, and designs;

    ·       Concerns that the allocated Public Open Space was to become fallowed land for the foreseeable future;

    ·       The current closure of footpath T29/11 has highlighted the dangers of crossing the A38 close to or at the Jeffreys’ Way junction. Clearing and levelling that land will facilitate construction of the footway and greatly improve forward visibility towards and beyond the road’s existing bend, that will extend and tighten as you approach the new offset roundabout.;

    ·       Extending the proposed footway on the south side of the A38 roundabout to Jeffreys’ Way would allow pedestrians to cross safely in two stages via the new roundabout’s splitter island that has a footway proposed across it;

    ·       The allocated S106 monies would be better spent on the A38;

    ·       Disappointed that this fourth parcel of land has come forward for consideration today;

    ·       The houses were not aligned with the Garden Town requirement to respect traditional settlement pattern and respect the integrity of historical settlement forms;

    ·       The homes were generic, mostly semi-detached and crammed together as tightly as possible;

    ·       The Placemaking Specialists recommended refusal for this application;

    ·       The Neighbourhood Plan called for Lifetime Home Standards in at least 25% of new homes and bouses built to Wheelchair Design Standards in at least 10% of new homes. We had neither and in addition a high proportion of houses had several steps to the front door further limiting access;

    ·       Concerns that the application did not have an acceptable SUDS scheme in place;

    ·       A huge amount of public consultation has been undertaken over the years. The applicants were committed to work with the Council to deliver this important site that delivers new and affordable homes that Taunton needs to help young people get onto the housing ladder;

    ·       Many of the issues raised by members of the public had been resolved with the Planning Officer and would hopefully provide some comfort and clarification;

    ·       There were no objections on the application from consultees;

    ·       The application pre-dated the Council’s Design Guide, Garden Town and Climate Emergency agenda status by several years;

    ·       An approved high-quality landscape scheme that would provide Parks and Gardens, Children’s play spaces, allotment, orchards and the planting of nearly 500 new trees and over six acres of new native pitches woodland for future residents to enjoy;

    ·       Concerns that comments from the place making specialist were yet again dismissed;

    ·       The development  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

23.

Latest appeals and decisions received ( Previous meeting 10 June 21) pdf icon PDF 389 KB

24.

Appeals received pdf icon PDF 106 KB