Agenda item

The Planning Officer presented the application and with the aid of a power point presentation she showed details of the site etc.  She confirmed that her recommendation was to refuse the application to vary a planning condition regarding extending the shooting hours as detailed in the report.

The committee were then addressed by Mr P Horsington of Ilchester PC opposed to the application, he had received 15 letters of objection.  Concern was raised about the noise impact to residents of Podimore, due mainly to the change of the direction of shooting. The PC did not wish to destroy a local business but it did have a duty to the local residents.

Mr P White spoke in opposition to the application on behalf of villagers of Podimore who were affected at the weekends due to shooting activity. There had also been an increase in traffic along the single track access.  Mr White had tried to negotiate with the applicant to cease firing on Easter Sunday for a short while during the church service but the applicant had not complied.

The committee were then addressed by Mr S Travers, the agent, in support of the application.  He explained that the applicant employed 5 local employees and the club had a membership of 150 which helped with tourism.  He asked members to approve the application which he did not think made much of a noise impact to an already noisy corner of the district due to the close proximity of the nearby Naval Base at Yeovilton.

Ward Member Cllr Tony Capozzoli felt that the needs of residents in the vicinity should be given priority and proposed that the application be refused per the officers recommendation.

During discussion, varying views were expressed, including:

·         Residents living in Charlton Mackrell were also affected by the increased noise;

·         If this was not a commercial venture anyone could shoot as much as they liked;

·         Suggested not allowing shooting to take place on Sundays but to allow the other proposed times;

·         This was a retrospective application, the extended opening hours had been in operation illegally for over a year.

The Senior Environmental Protection Officer explained that he had investigated the noise issue on this site a year ago and had worked with the applicant.  He had found that there was no issue with shooting on a Wednesday due to activity from the Air Base at Yeovilton, but the weekends were quieter therefore the noise impact from the shooting was more noticeable to residents.  The officer felt that it was a shame that the applicant had not submitted a noise assessment to determine the likely impact on surrounding settlements and nearby dwellings.

It was proposed and seconded to refuse the application as per the officer’s recommendation and to proceed with enforcement action.

On being put to the vote the motion was carried by 7 votes in favour; 3 against and 1 abstention.

RESOLVED: That Planning Application15/00425/S73A be refused as per the officer recommendation for the following reason:

The application has failed to demonstrate that the variation to this permitted shooting hours would not be detrimental to the residential amenity of local settlements and dwellings in terms of noise and disturbance.  As such, the proposal is contrary to policies EQ2 and EQ7 of the South Somerset Local Plan (2006-2028) and the National Planning Policy Framework 2012.

Enforcement action to proceed.

(Voting: 7 votes in favour: 3 against; 1 abstention)