Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 19^th January 2022.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 19 January 2022 were approved as a correct record and would be signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tricia O’Brien and Sue Osborne.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the agenda for this meeting.

Members are reminded that they need to declare the fact that they are also a member of a County, Town or Parish Council as a Personal Interest.  Where you are also a member of Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council within South Somerset you must declare a prejudicial interest in any business on the agenda where there is a financial benefit or gain or advantage to Somerset County Council and/or a Town or Parish Council which would be at the cost or to the financial disadvantage of South Somerset District Council. 

Planning Applications Referred to the Regulation Committee

The following members of this Committee are also members of the Council's Regulation Committee:

Councillors Jason Baker and Sue Osborne.

Where planning applications are referred by this Committee to the Regulation Committee for determination, Members of the Regulation Committee can participate and vote on these items at the Area Committee and at Regulation Committee.  In these cases the Council's decision-making process is not complete until the application is determined by the Regulation Committee.  Members of the Regulation Committee retain an open mind and will not finalise their position until the Regulation Committee.  They will also consider the matter at Regulation Committee as Members of that Committee and not as representatives of the Area Committee.

Councillor Paul Maxwell declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in Planning Applications 21/02927/HOU and 21/02927/HOU – Chapel Cottage, Lower Street, Merriott, as one of the joint applicants.

Councillor Brian Hamilton declared a personal interest in in Planning Applications 21/02927/HOU and 21/02927/HOU – Chapel Cottage, Lower Street, Merriott, as he worked with Councillor Paul Maxwell outside of the Council.

Councillors are requested to note that the next Area West Committee meeting is scheduled to be held at 5.30pm on Wednesday 16^th March 2022 and will be a virtual meeting using Zoom.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Area West Committee would be held on Wednesday 16^th March 2022 at 5.30pm and would be a virtual meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public present at the meeting.

The Chairman announced that he had attended Chard Leisure Centre for the unveiling of a plaque dedicated to Jeb Farrah who was instrumental in the foundations of the Leisure Centre project.

The Lead Specialist, Built Environment explained that he was attending Area West Committee to give an update of where the five Somerset Councils were in terms of managing phosphates but also to explain what work was being done to engage other national parties to be involved with the increasing problem of the phosphate impacts on development across Somerset and beyond.

Some of the key points mentioned included:

·         The history of the phosphate situation and the areas impacted in South Somerset.

·         The five Somerset Councils have worked together and commissioned Royal Haskoning to look at how Councils can plan their way through the situation. 

·         The phosphate calculator was a tool that defined land types and allowed applicants and agents to understand the likely phosphates emissions before and after development to create a differential which was the level of phosphate mitigation they would need to deliver.

·         Guidance in relation to land management solutions would be available in March and would give developers a steer about the types of solutions that would work i.e.  woodland planting and wetlands.

·         Habitat Regulation Assessments were currently required for every development.  The aspiration was to produce a supplementary planning document that set out how phosphate mitigation could be delivered so that applicants would not have to produce individual mitigation solutions.

·         The level of mitigation required was dependent on the efficiency of local sewage treatment works.

·         The five Somerset Councils wrote to Defra and the Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities setting out their view in that it shouldn’t just be a Somerset problem and there needed to be a focus and co-ordination centrally at government level also involving Ofwat, Natural England and the Environment Agency to produce solutions.

·         The Council was working with housing associations to see if they could free up development opportunities by retro fitting current housing stock, however this was only a short term solution.

·         Entrade (Wessex Water commercial business) were promoting land management schemes and project solutions.

The Lead Specialist, Built Environment responded to members’ questions.  Responses given included the following:

·         At the moment there was no specific clarification on the trigger regarding retro fitting current housing stock.  Discussions were currently taking place with Natural England regarding how it would work.

·         Reserved matters planning applications were also affected by the phosphates issue.

·         Development could not be determined without undertaking Habitat Regulation Assessments.

·         Wessex Water had resisted doing any more than they had committed to do in their Asset Management Plan, approved by Environment Agency in the first part of 2020.

·         None of the upgrade solutions would get the Sewage Treatment works to a point of zero phosphate emission.  Developments would always produce some residual phosphate impact.

·         The five Councils were working together and meeting regularly to look at what solutions could come forward, assessing current blockages and legal challenges and this work stream would feed into the new Somerset Council.

The Chairman thanked the Lead Specialist – Built Environment for attending the meeting to give an update.

Members noted the report submitted by Councillor Brian Hamilton.

There was no discussion and Members were content to note the Area West Committee Forward Plan as outlined in the agenda.

Members noted the Schedule of Planning Applications.

Application Proposal: Formation of an internal window opening and the installation of 10No. solar panels on 2No. garages

(Having declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in the application, Councillor Paul Maxwell left the meeting during consideration of the item).

The Case Officer presented the application as outlined in the agenda report together with Planning Application 21/02928/LBC.  He explained that the proposed formation of an internal window would be located within an existing partition wall within the interior of the Grade II listed building.  The installation of 10 solar panels was proposed on an external garage attached to the south side of the building.  The dwelling was located within the Merriott Conservation Area and was located close to another Grade II listed building.

The Case Officer proceeded to show members the south and west elevations of the property and overview of the roof layout plan with and without the solar panels in place.  There would be a total of four panels on the lower garage and a total of six on the higher garage.  The parapet wall on the far west face of the garage would conceal the solar panels due to the thin profile of the unit and the low pitch of the panels.  The Case Officer referred to the proposed minor internal works and advised that a small window would be formed within a brickwork partition that separated the dining room with the chapel. The new window would resemble the original architectural features of the listed building.

The Case Officer advised that as the partition which formed the divide between the chapel and the dining room was not part of the original listed building and was a blocked up brick work partition the formation of a small opening within the area was not considered to be harmful to the significance of the listed building and therefore deemed acceptable.  With regard to the installation of the solar panels, the Conservation Specialist had concluded that the impact on the setting of the listed building and conservation area was deemed to be acceptable however it was established that there would be low level less than substantial harm to the setting but given that the panels would be installed about the roof of non-historic addition to the property it was deemed that the level of harm would be at the lowest end of the scale.  As a level of harm had been identified, the development required a public benefit in order to be considered acceptable and in this case it was considered that because the development would contribute to tackling climate change this would provide an environmental public benefit and would on balance off set the low level of substantial harm identified.  The applications for household and listed building consent were both recommended for approval.

There were no questions from members.

The Committee was addressed by the Applicant’s Agent.  She advised that the formation of the proposed window opening was to provide visual connection between the chapel and the dining room, the chapel currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

Application Proposal: Formation of an internal window opening and solar panels on 2No garages

(Having declared a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in the application, Councillor Paul Maxwell left the meeting during consideration of the item).

The Case Officer presented the application as outlined in the agenda report together with Planning Application 21/02927/HOU.

It was proposed and seconded to approve the application as per the officer recommendation as outlined in the agenda report. On being put to the vote, the proposal was unanimously carried.