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

61.

Apologies

62.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Planning Committee pdf icon PDF 186 KB

    To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Committee.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    (Minutes of the meeting of the Planning Committee held on 13 October 22 circulated with the agenda)

     

    Resolved that the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 13 October be confirmed as a correct record.

     

    Proposed by Councillor Hill , seconded by Councillor Hassell

     

    The Motion was carried.

63.

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

    Minute No.

    Description of Interest

    Reason

    Action Taken

    Cllr I Aldridge

    All Items

    Williton

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee. Ward Member for 38/21/0463

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr Mrs Hill

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr M Lithgow

    All Items

    Wellington

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr C Palmer

    All Items

    Minehead

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr B Weston

    All Items

    Taunton Charter Trustee

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr L Whetlor

    All Items

    Watchet

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr G Wren

    All Items

    SCC & Clerk to Milverton PC

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

     

    All Councillors declared that they had received correspondence for application No. 10/22/0015

64.

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 submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

     

    We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, but you can also access them on the Somerset West and Taunton webcasting website.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Application

    Name

    Position

    Stance

    34/22/0011

    Mr D Lausen

    Mr R Grant

    ROSAG

    Bloor Homes

    Against

    In favour

    10/22/0015

    Mr I Jewson

    Agent

    In favour

     

65.

38/21/0463 - Demolition of public house and garages and erection of 8 No. zero carbon dwellings for council owned affordable accommodation with formation of landscaping and access at The Oxford Inn, Outer Circle, Taunton pdf icon PDF 256 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Good scheme with the area in need of social housing;

    ·       Delighted that the development would incorporate Solar Panels;

    ·       Electric charging points needed in the development;

     

    Councillor Hill proposed and Councillor Weston seconded a motion for the Officers be given delegated authority to GRANT Conditional Approval of the application subject to no objections or new issues being raised by Natural England;

      

    Amended Condition 9 to read;

     

    No occupation of the new dwellings hereby approved shall take place until the demolition of the seven flats located in Wordsworth Drive, Taunton and identified in the updated Phosphate Mitigation Strategy dated 15 August 2022 has been completed.

     

    REASON: To safeguard phosphate levels in the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar site and protect habitat as required under Policy CP8 of the Taunton Deane Core Strategy and in accordance with Regulation 63 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulation 2017;

     

    The motion was carried.

66.

38/22/0279 - Demolition of conservatory and garage and the erection of a single storey extension to the side and rear of 6 Orchid Close, Taunton pdf icon PDF 198 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       On street parking concerns;

    ·       Concerns with the scale of the development;

     

    Councillor Lithgow proposed and Councillor seconded a motion for permission to be GRANTED subject to Conditions;

     

    The motion was carried.

     

67.

34/22/0011 - Application for Approval of Reserved Matters for the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale following outline approval 34/16/0007 for the northern ecological buffer, public open space, drainage and landscaping for Staplegrove West Phase 1, north of Staplegrove Road, Taunton pdf icon PDF 5 MB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from members of the public included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Concerns with downstream drainage and flooding;

    ·       Concerns with the proposed access road;

    ·       Concerns with the green wedge;

    ·       This development would be phase 1 for the Staplegrove development;

    ·       The development would be creating a garden community;

    ·       Native hedgerows would be incorporated into the development;

    ·       Arrangements regarding looking after the attenuation basin after development would be in place to allay concerns from residents;

     

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Access concerns, construction access to use Mill Lane only;

    ·       Concerns with regards to the maintenance of the attenuation basin after development;

    ·       Concerns with flooding;

    ·       Concerns with the capacity of the basin;

    ·       Residential disruption needs to be kept to a minimum;

    ·       Power cables needed to be buried before the infrastructure commenced;

    ·       A construction management plan was needed to ensure the safety of road users as lorries left the site.

    ·       Pleased that the green infrastructure was installed before development;

     

    Councillor Whetlor proposed and Councillor Hassell seconded a motion for permission to be GRANTED subject to Conditions;  

     

    With respect to the future discharge of Condition 09 of the Outline consent 34/16/0007 (CEMP) the Council is minded to allow construction access to the Mill Lane field only (for the purposes of constructing the approved attenuation basin and carrying out the associated landscaping) to be achieved via Mill Lane.  The Council reiterates the need to install a passing place suitable for HGVs at the earliest part of the works as not to disrupt the day-to-day use of Mill Lane and to prevent queuing and conflict on the A358. The CEMP should set out the location and exact dimensions.

     

    The Council encourages the applicant to carry out the tree planting and associated landscaping as a whole as soon as possible so as to provide the necessary bat mitigation and landscaping screening to the proposed development;

     

    The motion was carried.

68.

38/22/0176 - Formation of public realm to include landscaping and associated infrastructure works (includes Environment Statement) referred to as The Southern Boulevard at Firepool, Canal Road/Priory Bridge Road, Taunton pdf icon PDF 753 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Concerns with the EA comments in the report;

    ·       Concerns with the shared space with walkers and cyclists. Safer segregation was needed;

    ·       Concerns with the size of the Amphitheatre;

    ·       Concerns with the style of the buildings, they needed to match up with the surroundings;

    ·       Good scheme;

     

    Councillor Hill proposed and Councillor Lithgow seconded a motion for permission to be GRANTED subject to Conditions with additional Conditions and additional Note;

     

    Additional Condition 20

     

    Save for any works in the highway on Canal Road, no development shall commence on site until a scheme of protection works and a method statement for working within 6 metres of existing public sewers including all necessary consents from the sewerage undertaker, has been submitted to, and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The agreed scheme shall thereafter be followed throughout the period of the works.

     

    Reason: To ensure the risk of damage to the public sewer network during construction activities has been mitigated. 

     

    Additional Condition 21

     

    Save for any works in the highway on Canal Road, no development shall commence on site until a scheme of appropriate access arrangements to current and proposed public sewer assets which have been agreed with the sewerage undertaker, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The agreed access arrangements shall thereafter be retained until such time as the LPA is content it is no longer required. 

     

    Reason: To enable future unfettered access for the maintenance and repair of the public sewer network.

     

    Additional Note, No. 11

     

    The applicant is reminded of the comments and advice of Wessex Water in the email to SWT Planning and copied to the applicant dated 04 November 2022;

     

    The motion was carried.

69.

10/22/0015 - Replacement of bungalow with a two storey detached dwelling at The Beeches, Taunton Road, Churchinford (resubmission of 10/21/0016) pdf icon PDF 249 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from members of the public included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       The proposal was to replace an old bungalow with a new energy efficient home;

    ·       The development now includes timber and chert stone making it visually acceptable in long and short distance views;

    ·       The ANOB did not raise any objections to the application;

    ·       The footprint of the proposed development was the same as the existing property;

    ·       The proposals were strongly supported by the Parish Council, Ward Member and members of the community;

     

    Comments made by Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Concerns with the appearance of the building;

    ·       Concerns with the sustainability of the development;

     

    At this point in the meeting a 30-minute extension of time was proposed and seconded.

     

    ·       The existing bungalow needed a refit;

    ·       Concerns with the colour and the waterproofing of the cladding to be used in the development;

     

    At this point in the meeting a further 30-minute extension of time was proposed and seconded

     

    ·       Concerns that the development was contrary to numerous policies;

    ·       The AONB needed to be protected;

     

    Councillor Lithgow proposed and Councillor Hill seconded a motion for the application to be REFUSED as per Officer Recommendation;

     

    Reason; The proposed replacement dwelling is located within the Blackdown Hills AONB, a nationally designated protected landscape within a prominent corner plot. The proposal by reason of its scale, form, orientation, design and materials would be substantially larger than the existing dwelling and would not reinforce or preserve the distinctive landscape and build character of the area. Accordingly, the proposed swelling would appear incongruous within its setting to the detriment of the street scene and the landscape character of the area. The proposal is therefore contrary to Policies DM1, DM2 and CP8 of the Taunton Deane Core Strategy, Policy D& (b) and (d) of the Taunton Site Allocations and Development Management Plan, Policy PD2 of the AONB Management Plan the advice within the Districtwide Design Guide SPD and Chapters 12 and 15 of the National Planning Policy Framework;

     

    The motion was carried.

     

     

70.

Latest appeals decisions received pdf icon PDF 455 KB