Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notification of substitutions.

Apologies were received from Councillors Andy Kendall, Sue Osborne and Oliver Patrick.  There were no substitute Councillors in attendance.

To approve the minutes from the previous meeting.

Resolved that the minutes of the Planning Committee - South held on 25^th July 2023be confirmed as a correct 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 )

Somerset Councillors who are members of Planning Committee South who are also City, Town and/or Parish Councillors – noted for items on this agenda:

Tim Kerley – Somerton Town Council

There were no other declarations of interest.

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.

Requests to speak at the meeting at Public Question Time must be made to the Monitoring Officer in writing or by email to democraticservicesteam@somerset.gov.uk  by 5pm on Wednesday 16 August 2023.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To consider an application to vary part 2 of the second schedule of the S106 Agreement dated 2^nd November 2020 relating to planning application 15/03585/OUT.

The Planning officer introduced the application to the committee with the assistance of a powerpoint presentation.  He explained the application was to vary a Section 106 agreement to remove the requirement to provide lighting to the link footpath.  He also provided the following updates:

·       Clarified the confusion in terms of the third-party representations as set out in the report.

·       Updated representations to reflect the comments of which the majority were regarding concerns for wildlife, particularly bats and light pollution.

He referred to the key considerations and detailed the benefits of both installing and not installing the lighting.  The recommendation was to agree to variation of the Section 106 Agreement in relation to the changes as requested to vary paragraph 1 of Part 2 of the S106 agreement dated 22 March 2017.

A representative from Somerton Town Council addressed the committee.  Some of her comments included:

·       The installation of lighting would allow for the safe inclusive and convenient access to local facilities that addresses the needs of all.

·       Acknowledge the concerns regarding bats but that suitable low lighting should be installed.

·       Once the footpath is fully surfaced it will be far more accessible and safer for pedestrians.

Division member Councillor Dean Ruddle addressed the committee.  He felt strongly that some form of lighting was essential on the bridleway as this was the only safe access from the site to the nearby town centre and local facilities.

The Applicant then addressed the committee.  Some of his comments included:

·       Development was well through construction stage with two thirds occupied.

·       Local residents were not in support of any lighting columns.

·       Illumination of the area would have an impact on the ecology and in response to the Ecologist and latest legislation there was the need to protect bats and safeguard wildlife in the area.

The Planning Officer responded on a visual representation made by Somerton Town Council of the bridleway and stated that in his opinion there was sufficient room to locate lighting columns should this be required. 

Following a question from a member on whether consultation had been sought from the Police Crime Prevention Officer the meeting was adjourned for a few minutes so that the Planning Officer could clarify this information.

On reconvening the meeting, the Planning Officer confirmed that the Crime Prevention Officer had been consulted but that no response had been received.

The Planning Officer then responded on the points raised by the public speakers and on points of detail and technical questions raised by members including:

·       Clarified that members simply needed to agree whether there was a requirement for the lighting or not and not on the specific detail.

·       Confirmed an Ecology survey had been carried out for the whole site and not just the bridleway and highlighted the conclusions made within the survey.

·       Confirmed that at reserve matters stage there was a discharge of a condition associated with this development and that the lighting design met the bat friendly requirement. The Highways Authority and Council’s Ecologist had also agreed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.