Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutions.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Helen Kay, Claire Sully and Adam Boyden. Councillor Ros Wyke was substitute for Councillor Boyden.

To approve the minutes from the meetings held on 7 January 2025 at 10am and 2pm.

The Committee was asked to consider two sets of Minutes of the meetings held on 7 January 2025 at 10am and 2pm.

Councillor Nick Cottle proposed a change to the 10am minutes to incorporate a question raised by a public speaker during his objection to an application and responded to by the Legal Advisor at the time. Councillor Tony Robbins seconded the proposal and the amendment and minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record.

The minutes of the meeting held at 2pm were proposed by Councillor Edric Hobbs and seconded by Councillor Tony Robbins and were accepted as a true and accurate record.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

Councillor Edric Hobbs declared that in relation to Planning Application 2024/1270/REM he wanted it noting that his brother had owned this land prior to the outline planning permission was granted in 2023. He had no interest in the site and would take part in the debate and vote in full.

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.

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, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

Requests to speak at the meeting under Public Question Time must be made to democraticserviceseast@somerset.gov.uk  by 5pm on the Wednesday prior to the meeting.  For those wishing to speak on an application, requests must be made by 5pm on the Thursday prior to the meeting.

There were none.

To consider an application for approval of reserved matters following outline approval 2021/2433/OTS demolition of the existing farm buildings and farm house and replace with 7no. new build dwellings. Matters of access/appearance/landscaping/layout/scale to be determined on planning consent 2021/2433/OTS.

RESOLVED

That planning application 2024/1270/REM be APPROVED in accordance with the Officer’s recommendation with additional conditions as follows: 

• that the roof lights in all buildings are fitted with blinds which close automatically  during hours of darkness.
• hat the “lighting design for bats” referred to in Condition 13 – External Lighting, be approved in conjunction with the Chair, Vice-Chair and divisional Members for the Mendip Hills Division. 
• That the dry-stone wall along the north east boundary of the site shall be retained in perpetuity. 

Votes – 6 for, 5 against

The Officer’s Report stated that this application was for the approval of reserved matters which included the approval of the scale, appearance and layout of the development and for the means of access and landscaping. Outline permission for the demolition of the existing farm buildings, farm house and former public house, and replacement with up to seven new build dwellings had already been approved in October 2023 under planning application 2021/2433/OTS.

The Officer’s Report continued that the Divisional Members had referred the application to the Planning Committee to ensure that the design could be carefully considered given its prominent location. Since referral of the application to the Chair and Vice Chair, the applicant had agreed to remove 4 roof lights on units 3 and 5 and install mechanical black out blinds on the remaining roof lights to mitigate light spill.

Historic England had raised concerns on heritage grounds in particular the harm that could be caused to the setting of the Scheduled Monument, located in the field adjoining the site.

After a full assessment of the application including design of the development and the street scene and surrounding area, the Officer’s Report stated that to retain the agricultural character of these buildings and protect against overly domestic paraphernalia in this countryside location, it was considered reasonable to remove permitted development rights for extensions and alterations to the dwellings and outbuildings, as well removing permitted development rights for additional outbuildings. Also, an external lighting condition would be imposed to protect the dark skies and wildlife in this area. Details of any external lighting would have to be submitted to the Local Planning Authority before installation. Overall, it was considered that the ‘reserved matters’ relating to layout, scale, appearance and landscaping of the proposed development were acceptable and had regard to the local context.

In conclusion, the application was considered to be policy compliant. Whilst there were outstanding matters, these would be dealt with through the discharge of conditions or associated legal agreement and therefore the recommendation was for approval.

The Planning Officer explained the application to the Committee with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation.

The architect for the applicant was then invited to speak by the Chair. He said that remote location of the site in open countryside needed a special approach to the design and layout to ensure it was suitable as it was a very prominent location in open countryside. He explained that the site had been designed to represent a large farm complex with two farmyards enclosed by barn-like houses with garages grouped to represent stables or byres. The barn-like houses would be simple in form and would avoid the usual chimneys, porches and other features of modern houses.

He continued that the materials used would be a muted palette and that the natural timber finishes was representative of local cattle sheds. The historic dewpond would be restored and the development would be very eco-friendly and energy efficient. Fresh would be supplied from a new borehole and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of the appeal decisions made by the Planning Inspectorate between 14 February and 14 March 2025.

The Principal Planner went through the 10 appeals in this month’s report. He advised that 9 of the appeals were dismissed and 1 allowed. One Member commented that this was a good record which showed that the Planning Committee and Officers had made very sound decisions, upheld by the Planning Inspector.

A discussion regarding problems with Planning Enforcement ensued and Members were pleased to note that there was to be 3 new recruits in the enforcement team. This would hopefully address the issued with existing delays in enforcement.

A question was raised regarding the decision of the Council not to defend certain appeals and whether there was a problem with the current scheme of delegation. The Principal Planner agreed that this process needed to be looked at and advised that consultation was not currently consistent. He would provide more clarity on the process and also an update on the emerging policies would be given to Committee Members.