Agenda and draft minutes

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:

Webcast for 83.

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 & Shadow Taunton Town	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr S Griffiths	Item 7		Personal Interest	Spoke and Voted
Cllr Mrs Hill	All Items	Taunton Charter Trustee & Shadow Taunton Town	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr M Lithgow	All Items	Wellington	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr J Lloyd	All Items	Wellington & Sampford Arundel	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr C Palmer	All Items	Minehead	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr R Tully	All Items	West Monkton	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr B Weston	All Items	Taunton Charter Trustee & Shadow Taunton Town	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr K Wheatley	All Items	Wellington	Personal	Spoke and Voted
Cllr L Whetlor	All Items	Watchet	Personal	Spoke and Voted

All committee Members apart from Cllr Aldridge and Hill declared that they had received email correspondence from Mr Smith for item 6.

84.

Public Participation

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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:

Webcast for 84.

Minutes:

Application No.	Name	Position	Stance
3/21/22/105	Mr Martyn	Neighbour	Against
42/22/0042	Mr T Smith S Warren Mr & Mrs Stainthorpe T Dean L Turner M Keal Cllr Johnson Cllr Farbahi	Resident Resident Resident Chair of Trull PC Agent SCC Ward Member Ward Member	Against Against Against Against Boyer Against Against
3/37/21/012	A Mills M Varvell S Westmacott J Lander M Woollam Revd Dr A Tatham A King H Williams Dr Evans R Fitter T Taylor Cllr Wren Cllr Iven P Grubb	Resident Resident Resident Resident Resident Resident Geckoella Ltd Chair, CPRE Somerset Chair, Watchet Conservation Society Entram Khift Ltd Via zoom Watchet TC Agent	Against Against Again Against Against Against Against Against Against Against Again Against Against In favour

85.

3/21/22/105 - Erection of ground mounted solar panels Avondale, Martlet Road, Minehead, TA24 5QD PDF 232 KB

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Additional documents:

Webcast for 85.

Minutes:

Comments from members of the public included;

(summarised)

· Concerns regarding the detrimental impact of the wildlife underneath the panels;

· Concerns that the panels were squeezed into a small space in the garden falling foul of building control;

· This application would set a dangerous precedent;

Comments from Members included:

(summarised)

· The application was acceptable in a planning point of view;

· Pleased that other sources of energy were going to be used to reduce the energy on the grid;

Councillor Habgood proposed, and Councillor Aldridge seconded a motion that permission is GRANTED subject to conditions.

The motion was carried.

86.

42/22/0043 - Variation of Condition No. 2 (approved plans), for the inclusion of a turning head at the entrance of the approved pumping station compound, of application 42/20/0042 at Orchard Grove New Community, Comeytrowe Rise, Taunton PDF 6 MB

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Additional documents:

Webcast for 86.

Minutes:

Comments from members of the public included:

(summarised)

· The application was manifestly dangerous. HGV’s would be forced to reverse down the narrow Lane, to cross a principle cycleway/footpath, on a school access route;

· Alternatives for the turning head have not been presented;

· The application breaches its own Condition 7 regarding the visibility splay;

· The application makes no provision for on compound surface water drainage. Under Condition 9 precludes its direct, the piped drainage to the Galmington Stream;

· The surface water drain is insufficient to hold floodwater, placing the infrastructure at risk;

· The application was in direct conflict with the set-out Master-Plan;

· Concerns that all other options for the turning head were not considered;

· The development was dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists;

· Parents were raising safety concerns for children going to and from the school;

· Concerns with flooding on the site;

· The turning head was safe for all users and fundamental to the opening of the Primary School as the present schools cannot be expanded to accommodate the new housing development;

Comments from Members included:

(summarised)

· Speed restrictions need to be assigned to this stretch of Lane;

· Warning lights need to be installed to warn children of the dangers coming into the Lane;

· No reason to refuse this application as a lot of thought has gone into it;

Councillor Habgood proposed, and Councillor Palmer seconded a motion that Planning permission GRANTED subject to conditions. Given the view of the Highway Authority that the original scheme remains acceptable in highway safety terms it is not felt necessary to change the original officer’s recommendation (save for the amended plan DrNo 1083/03-J-GA-1051 RevD Off site Signs and Lines Plan) and the amendments made to Condition 06 via the Update Sheet to the previous meeting, attached as Appendix 5;

The motion was carried.

Two extensions of 30 minutes was proposed and seconded at 4:05pm and 4:45pm.

87.

3/37/21/012 - Outline application with all matters reserved, except for access, for the residential redevelopment of agricultural Land for up to 136 dwellings with the creation of vehicular access (closure of existing), provision of estate roads, pathway, public rights of way, cycleways and open recreation space. Also, partial re-alignment of public highway (Cleeve Hill, Watchet) (Resubmission of 3/37/18/015) PDF 8 MB

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Additional documents:

Webcast for 87.

Minutes:

Comments from members of the public included:

(summarised)

· Concerns with the reduction of affordable homes on the site;

· The development was unsustainable as there was no local infrastructure;

· Concerns with the cumulative impact of the development;

· The development would damage the historic character of the village setting;

· Concerns with pedestrians with reduced mobility;

· Flooding concerns and drainage issues;

· Concerns that access for pedestrians and traffic to the site had not been addressed;

· Due to the lack of public transport, private cars were needed to the nearest town;

· Concerns with the local ecology and heritage of the site;

· Works to the cliffs was needed for nesting birds;

· The site was of special scientific interest;

· The residents of Watchet oppose this development due to concerns regarding unstable land;

· The development does not comply with the local plan;

· Concerns with the stability of the B3191;

· A transport assessment was needed for the site;

· Costal erosion concerns;

· Not allowing this development to proceed would result in loss of economy for the area, constrain regeneration and undermine other developments and increased isolation for the town;

· The replacement road is absolutely essential for the town;

· No policy scheme to refuse this application;

· Due to the costings of the new road, affordable housing cannot be delivered on site;

Comments from Members included:

(summarised)

· Concerns with daily traffic congestions on Cleeve Hill;

· This development was not sustainable;

· Concerns that more instability of the site would be found if this development went ahead;

· Concerns with the lack of affordable housing on the site;

· B3191 realignment concerns;

· Concerns with pedestrian access;

· Concerns with the effect on the local economy;

Councillor Habgood proposed, and Councillor Whetlor seconded a motion for the application to be REFUSED as per Officer recommendation. With an Amended Condition (additional wording in bold) 04. The application has failed to demonstrate that there will be adequate, attractive, safe and accessible pedestrian access to and from the site, including for those with disabilities and reduced mobility and fails to adequately improve linkages from the town centre to facilities and amenities, including the Primary School, south of the railway. As such the application is not in compliance with the adopted policies of the WSC Local Plan to 2032 namely Policy TR1 ‘Access to and From West Somerset’, TR2 ‘Reliance on the Private Motor Car’, WA1 ‘Watchet Development’ and NH13 ‘Securing High Standards of Design’.

New reason 10 The applicant has failed to demonstrate that any significant impacts from the development in terms of highway capacity and congestion or on highway safety can be mitigated to an acceptable degree contrary. As such the application is not in compliance with Paragraphs 111 and 112 of the National Planning Policy Framework and the adopted policies of the WSC Local Plan to 2032 namely Policy TR1 ‘Access to and From West Somerset’, TR2 ‘Reliance on the Private Motor Car’, WA1 ‘Watchet Development’, NH13 ‘Securing High Standards of Design’ and ID1 ‘Infrastructure Delivery’:

The motion was carried.

88.

42/22/0054 - Erection of a care home (use Class C2) comprising of 68 No. bedrooms with associated staff facilities, access, landscaping, parking and associated works on land at Comeytrowe, Taunton PDF 434 KB