Agenda and draft minutes

SWT Planning Committee
Thursday, 23rd June, 2022 1.00 pm

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

11.

Apologies

12.

Minutes of the previous meeting of the Planning Committee pdf icon PDF 163 KB

13.

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 M Blaker

    49/21/0030

    Ward Member. Spoke to applicant on previous application. Avoided any communication in the community. Discretion ‘not fettered’.

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr N Cavill

    All Items

     

    48/20/0050

    SCC & West Monkton.

    Contacted by Agent for the past two years. Discretion ‘not fettered’.

    Personal

     

    Personal

    Spoke and Voted

    Cllr S Coles

    All Items

    SCC & Taunton Charter Trustee

    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 R Tully

    All Items

    West Monkton

    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

     

14.

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 No.

    Name

    Position

    Stance

    48/20/0050

    Mrs J Kemp

    Senior Planning Manager – LNT Construction Ltd

    In favour

    49/21/0030

    J Pinn

    A Radcliff

    T Cherry

    Cllr Mansell

    Local resident

    Local resident

    Applicant

    Ward Member

    Objecting

    Objecting

    In favour

    Objecting

     

15.

48/20/0050 - Erection of a 66 bedroom care home (Class C2) with associated parking, access and landscaping at Heathfield Industrial Park, Hardys Road, Bathpool, HEATHFIELD INDUSTRIAL PARK, HARDYS ROAD, BATHPOOL, TAUNTON pdf icon PDF 289 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from Members of the public included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       The development was in keeping with the Local Plan and very attractive in design;

    ·       The development would bring local employment opportunities and would allow the ageing community to remain local in their later years;

    ·       No reason to warrant refusal of this development;

    ·       The development would look more attractive than the 4 industrial units in a prime corner position already on site;

    ·       The Council did not yet have a Phosphate Mitigation strategy in place so Planning permission should be approved;

    ·       There was extant planning permission on the site already for more steel cladded work units;

    ·       The applicants had attended meetings with the Quality Review Panel for design and layout;

    ·       The development was fully supported by residents and the Parish Council and Consultees over the steel units;

    ·       Public Art would have been provided as part of our scheme had we been informed that this was requested as part of our application;

    ·       The care home would be energy efficient from onsite renewable resources;

    ·       The site was a windfall site with the 66 beds adding to the 5-year land supply;

    ·       Cycle parking and electric vehicle charging points would be onsite as part of the sustainable Travel Plan;

     

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       No concerns with the care home being in this location;

    ·       Concerns with the look of the building as per QRP findings;

    ·       Lack of public art;

    ·       Concerns with the lack of a Phosphate Mitigation Strategy;

    ·       Concerns with the lack of sunlight in some of the north and east facing rooms;

    ·       Noise concerns from the industrial units and the nearby busy roundabout;

    ·       Traffic concerns with visitors needing to travel to this out of town site;

    ·       Concerns with the impact on Hardys Road due to inadequate parking on site;

    ·       Concerns with the design issues due to lack of communal and open space;

    ·       The development provided employment and would benefit the area;

    ·       The developer has listened to the residents and PC to accommodate the changes requested;

    ·       Local residents would like this development to go through as opposed to the steel cladded work units and the noise that it produced;

    ·       Sports pitches, open spaces and shops would be provided in the near future providing great benefits to the local residents within walking distance of this site;

    ·       The care home was an improvement on the existing industrial units;

     

    Councillor Hill proposed and Councillor seconded a motion for the application to be REFUSED as per Officer recommendation.

     

    The motion was carried.

     

     

     

16.

49/21/0030 - Erection of an agricultural building for the rearing of calves on Simons Holt Farm retained land, Whitefield, Wiveliscombe, SIMONS HOLT FARM RETAINED LAND, WHITEFILED, WIVELISCOMBE, TA4 2UU pdf icon PDF 127 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Comments from members of the Public included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       The application was for a stand-alone barn for the intensive raising of 97 calves in cramped conditions for veil production. Therefore, the operation to undertake this operation in a remote field at an unsupervised location miles away from any available farm staff should not be allowed to proceed;

    ·       Concerns with the negative impact of this development with regards to nearby residents complaining about the smell of ammonia and the noise of the calves bawling in distress all night;

    ·       The site at Langley Marsh was an area of unspoilt pasture with no other working farms in the area;

    ·       There was plenty of room for another barn on the applicants existing site with farm workers already in residence if another site was required;

    ·       Concerns with the lack of a Phosphate Mitigation Strategy;

    ·       Concerns that the application was incomplete due to lack of information regarding no dwelling associated on the site for an essential worker;

    ·       Concerns with a mail drop to the residents of Langley Marsh regarding misinformation regarding the application;

    ·       The proposed position of the agricultural building was a considerable distance from residential properties in the area and the topography of the landscape meant that it would be well screened from the local village and hamlets;

    ·       Our farming practices met with all animal welfare and environmental legislation;

    ·       Wiveliscombe was an agricultural area and agriculture was an important part of its economy;

    ·       The business generated employment and we traded with many local farms and businesses;

    ·       The proposed agricultural building was essential to the security and sustainability of the business model;

     

    Comments from Members included;

    (summarised)

     

    ·       Concerns with the lack of a noise assessment in the report and the impact on the neighbourhood;

    ·       Concerns with the lack of a Phosphate Mitigation Strategy;

    ·       Concerns with the lack of information regarding the numbers of animals that will be housed in the cattle shed;

    ·       Concerns on how the slurry on site will be contained and controlled;

    ·       A worker was needed to be on site to prevent noise;

    ·       Slurry will be minimal due to straw bedding;

    ·       Calves will bawl for a few days when they leave their mother. This will cease once they find fresh grass;

    ·       The shed roof would be gapped to dissipate noise in all directions. Unfortunately, the noise of animals travels in the quiet of the countryside;

     

    Councillor Hill proposed and Councillor Weston seconded a motion that the application be DEFERRED for the following reasons;

     

    1. A noise assessment;

    2. Further clarification on the phosphates issue;

    3. Whether we can impose a limit on the number of livestock in the    building via a condition;

    4. How slurry was going to be dealt with;

     

    The motion was carried.

     

     

17.

Access to information - Exclusion of Press and Public

    During discussion of the following item it may be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may be required because consideration of this matter in public may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The Planning Committee will need to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. Recommend that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the next item of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information). 9. Confidential report.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Access to information - Exclusion of Press and Public

     

    During discussion of the following item it may be necessary

    to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and

    public having reflected on Article 13 13.02(e) (a presumption

    in favour of openness) of the Constitution. This decision may

    be required because consideration of this matter in public

    may disclose information falling within one of the descriptions

    of exempt information in Schedule 12A to the Local

    Government Act 1972. The Planning Committee will need to

    decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the

    public interest in maintaining the exemption, outweighs the

    public interest in disclosing the information. Recommend that

    under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the

    public be excluded from the next item of business on the

    ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt

    information as defined in paragraph 3 respectively of Part 1

    of Schedule 12A of the Act, namely information relating to

    the financial or business affairs of any person

    (including the authority holding that information).

     

18.

Confidential report

19.

Confidential report