Minutes of the 131st planning meeting of Wellington Town Council held in the United Reformed Church Hall in Fore Street, Wellington, on Monday 3rd March 2008 at 6pm
PRESENT: Councillors P. Critchard (vice-chairman) who presided, R. Bowrah, C. Hindley, J Clark, A. Govier, G. Goodwin, S. Walters, J. Reed, J. Govier, G. Copley, J. Lloyd, V. Stock-Williams, and N. Wilson and R. Henley (who both arrived at 6.05pm) and the clerk Mr A. Brown, the assistant to the clerk Mrs J. Thorne, and Taunton DBC planning manager Mr J. Hamer. There were apologies from Councillor D Mitton. There were 6 members of the public present (who all arrived at 7pm).
14620 DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS
Councillors Critchard and Bowrah stated they were members of Taunton DBC planning committee and reserved their right to vote differently at Taunton DBC planning committee meeting than at the town council planning meeting as different facts could be placed before them. Councillor Bowrah declared an interest in the application at 32 Seymour Street as he knew the applicant and said he would like to make a comment but would not vote. Councillor Clark declared an interest in the application at Wellington School because he was the town council representative for the school. Councillors A and J. Govier also declared interests in the application at Wellington School because they had children that attended the school.
14621 APPLICATION FOR 21 MITCHELL STREET, WELLINGTON
The council received details of the following application: Construction of dormer window to south elevation at 21 Mitchell Street, Wellington (43/2008/014). The council had received no letters of objection. Mr Hamer said the planning officer was recommending refusal because the proposed dormer window would be out of keeping with the character of the building and would adversely affect the visual amenity. The extension to the hipped gable would imbalance the terrace and would also make it out of keeping with the existing character of the building as well as affecting the visual amenity. He said it would need some drastic alterations to overcome this. Councillor Copley said she did not feel it would adversely affect the street scene because the proposal was for the back of the property and proposed approval which was seconded by Councillor Reed. Councillors voted 4 to approve and 4 against, with 5 abstentions. Councillor Critchard had the casting vote as chairman of the meeting and agreed with the planning officer and voted against it and therefore the application was refused.
COUNCILLORS HENLEY AND WILSON ENTERED HERE AT 6.05PM
14622 APPLICATIONS TO BE DETERMINED BY TAUNTON DEANE BOROUGH COUNCIL AND SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL
The council considered the following applications: (a) Demolition of building, erection of retail A1 food store comprising about 2,580sq.m. gross internal floor area with associated parking, servicing and landscaping served by an improved access off Bulford and a new pedestrian access via Fore Street, Wellington Medical Centre and South Street car park, Wellington (43/2008/013). Mr Hamer explained this was an outline application and a renewal of previously approved applications, the last renewal was only 3 years ago. The planning department were happy with the application and were likely to recommend approval. Councillors raised concerns about the impact the new store would have on the area such as the increase in traffic and also an increase in early morning noise with additional delivery lorries. Mr Hamer reminded councillors that under the section 106 agreement for the application traffic calming measures were included. There was further concern raised about the effect the new development would have on traffic in Bulford and at the South Street mini roundabout which already saw congestion at particular times of the day. It was agreed to recommend approval on condition the concerns above were raised with the planning department and assurance was sought the traffic calming measures stipulated in the section 106 agreement would be carried out.
14622 APPLICATIONS TO BE DETERMINED BY TAUNTON DEANE BOROUGH COUNCIL AND SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL (CONT)
(b) Erection of public house/restaurant and hotel with ancillary parking, access and landscaping on land at Chelston House Farm, Chelston, Wellington adjacent to the B3187/A38 roundabout (43/2008/012: a reserved matters application following outline approval 43/2006/016). Mr Hamer explained this application was a detailed application as outline permission had already been given. He considered it to be broadly acceptable and thought it should be of benefit to the area. The development was welcomed by councillors who felt it would make a good addition to the town especially with the growth of the food town. Councillors agreed to recommend approval.
(c) Extended opening hours till 2am on Friday and Saturday nights (non compliance with condition 2 of permission 43/1994/128), Mr Scrumptious, 8 South Street, Wellington (43/2008/017). A petition had signed by more than 500 people in favour of the application and there were also about 6 letters of support. The council had also received one letter of objection from Lorraine, Trish, and Richard Lettley of Teare’s Newsagents who felt if the application was approved it would lead to more people loitering in the town centre for even longer periods and also it would create more litter. Mr Hamer explained there had been a chequered history regarding applications on these premises. The existing permission had been in place since 1994. There had been another application to extend the opening hours to 1am in 2005, however that was refused. The current proposal was to extend the opening hours to 2am on Friday and Saturday nights. Mr Hamer said the police were against the application in 2005 but were now reported to be happy with it. He also said the applicants were already staying open longer than they already should be. Councillors felt the current condition of midnight was more than acceptable and were concerned if the hours were extended to 2am it could result in the establishment staying open longer than that. The clerk read a letter from Sgt Stuart Bell of Wellington Police which stated he had no evidence to oppose the application on the grounds of additional crime or disorder but was concerned the owners were disregarding the current licensing conditions which had been documented by the police and Taunton DBC. Councillors agreed to recommend refusal by 12 votes to 1 with 1 abstention.
(d) Erection of signage at the Co-op Food Store, Longforth Road, Wellington (43/2008/015A). Mr Hamer said the planning department had no objections. Councillors agreed to recommend approval.
(e) Erection of two dwellings on land opposite 11a Rockwell Green, Wellington (Near cemetery lodge: 43/2007/189). Mr Hamer said the planning department were happy in principle with the application, however although the applicants had provided a flood risk assessment there were still concerns about flooding. Councillors expressed concerned about the risk of flooding on a very low lying site and thought the development would only make the situation worse. Councillors agreed to recommend refusal because of the flood risk to the very low lying site.
(f) Erection of two dwellings with car ports and bike store on land opposite Bridge House, Westford, Wellington, amended plans (43/2007/061). Mr Hamer said there were highway and tree concerns on the previous applications but with this application there were no concerns about either. Councillors agreed to recommend approval subject to a footpath being constructed in the frontage of the site.
(g) Retention of fence at 32 Seymour Street, Wellington (43/2008/016). Mr Hamer said this was a retrospective application the planning department were not happy with the fence. It was felt the fence was too harsh and it would be recommending refusal. However councillors felt the fence was big improvement on the previous Leylandii hedging and felt it not only improved visibility for motorists but was more visually pleasing too. Councillors agreed to recommend approval.
14622 APPLICATIONS TO BE DETERMINED BY TAUNTON DEANE BOROUGH COUNCIL AND SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL (CONT)
(h) Erection of classroom block with examinations hall, land adjacent to Princess Royal Sports Centre, Wellington School, South Street, Wellington: amended scheme (43/2008/026). Mr Hamer said this proposal was for some minor changes and the planning department were happy with it. Councillors agreed to recommend approval.
(i) Installation of 15m high radio monopole with 1 x 0.3m microwave dish at Wellington Telephone Exchange, Scotts Lane, Wellington (43/2008/018TEN). There was a letter by the applicant BT in support of its application. The planning department advised the council the sole issue was to consider the effect of the development on the landscape in terms of visual amenity. Mr Hamer said there were a couple of masts in the area and the planning department were likely to be relatively happy with the proposal. However, councillors were not happy with the application and thought it would result in too many masts in a small area. Members agreed to recommend refusal on the grounds there were too many telecommunication masts in close proximity and they also objected on the grounds of the negative visual impact it would have.
14623 NORTHERN RELIEF ROAD AND LONGFORTH FARM DEVELOPMENT
Taunton DBC principal planner Ian Ayre gave a short presentation to members on future of development in the town particularly regarding the Northern Relief Road and the Longforth Farm development. Mr Ayre said he felt the wrong message had been sent out in some of the media about the future plans for the relief road. He explained the independent panel which had looked at the draft Regional Spatial Strategy felt it should not include Wellington in the same policy as Taunton and Bridgwater because it was too small. It felt Wellington should be included in another strategy. Mr Ayre said this should not affect the level of housing growth that had been proposed for Wellington as it could be adequately covered under a different policy. He pointed out the housing allocation had been increased by 15 per cent for Wellington and the area outside Taunton and a total of 3,800 would be constructed in that area. He felt the majority of this should occur in the town. His advice in the meantime was to seek the support of community organisations in the town for the new housing development which would enable the Northern Relief to go ahead. He suggested any letters of support received from organisations in the town should be sent to the forward planning unit at the county council. Councillors explained support had been expressed by two large companies in the town, Relyon and Aerosols International, and also by different groups at the Market and Coastal Town Initiative’s visioning events that were currently taking place. It was also noted that individuals were welcome to send their comments and support to the county council.
14624 VALIDATION OF PLANNING APPLICATIONS
A letter had been received from Somerset County Council about new procedures for the submission of planning applications which were due to come into effect on the 6th April 2008. Mr Hamer thought the new rules would be of benefit to everybody because it would require applicants to submit more information than at present which would make it easier to access applications and hopefully make it easier to make decisions and process applications quicker.
THE MEETING CLOSED AT 7.10 PM
