Agenda and minutes

The Chairman will ask the Committee Administrator to draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 7

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

Apologies were received from Councillors Sharon Ball (substituted by Councillor Neil Butters), Councillor John Bull (substituted by Councillor Rob Appleyard) and Councillor Bryan Organ (substituted by Councillor Martin Veal).

Members who have an interest to declare are asked to state:

(a) the Item No and site in which they have an interest; (b) the nature of the interest; and (c) whether the interest is personal or personal and prejudicial.

Any Member who is unsure about the above should seek advice from the Monitoring Officer prior to the meeting in order to expedite matters at the meeting itself.

Councillor Martin Veal declared a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of application 4 of agenda item 10.

Councillor Brian Webber declared a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of application 5 of agenda item 10 as the applicant.

There was none.

(1) At the time of publication, no items had been submitted.

(2) To note that, regarding planning applications to be considered, members of the public who have given the requisite notice to the Committee Administrator will be able to make a statement to the Committee immediately before their respective applications are considered. There will be a time limit of 3 minutes for each proposal, ie 3 minutes for the Parish and Town Councils, 3 minutes for the objectors to the proposal and 3 minutes for the applicant, agent and supporters. This allows a maximum of 9 minutes per proposal.

The Committee noted that there were members of the public wishing to make statements on planning applications and that they would be able to do so when those items were reached on the agenda.

To deal with any petitions or questions from Councillors and where appropriate Co-opted Members

There were none.

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Senior Professional – Major Developments to provide an oral update

The Development Manager said that there was nothing to report.

Councillor Eleanor Jackson requested that a report on the redevelopment of railway land at Radstock be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Committee considered

• The report of the Development Manager on the applications

• Oral statements by members of the public, the Speakers List being attached as Appendix 1 to these Minutes

• The update report by the Development Manager, attached as Appendix 2 to these Minutes

RESOLVED that, in accordance with their delegated powers, the planning applications be determined as set out in the Decisions List attached as Appendix 3 to these Minutes.

NOTES: Decisions were made by the Committee as per the Officers’ recommendations set out in the Report with the Agenda, and were carried unanimously or without dissension unless stated otherwise. Where the Officer’s recommendation was overturned, or there were amendments whether lost or carried, or there were decisions on matters other than on planning applications, these are listed below.

Item 1: 2 Silver Street, Midsomer Norton: conversion of an existing building to 220sqm of commercial office space and 5no. 1 & 2 bed apartments and erection of 4no. terraced houses in adjacent car park (Resubmission) (10/03141/FUL) – the case officer made a presentation on the application and his recommendation to permit. He drew attention to the update report and informed the Committee that a further letter had been received from Norton Radstock Town Council stating that they still objected to the proposal. He felt that the current proposal had struck an acceptable balance between the desirability of retaining commercial space and the need for additional housing. He suggested that the recommendation be amended from permit to delegate to permit. The public speakers were heard. Councillor Willcox moved to refuse the application because of inadequate access, loss of parking spaces and loss of commercial space. Councillor Jackson seconded this motion. She believed that the proposal would cause additional traffic delays in the vicinity and an increase in air pollution, something that had not been addressed in the report. The town could not afford to lose commercial space and the loss of parking spaces would cause great inconvenience for those making deliveries to commercial premises. Councillor Whittock said that he was concerned that the report did not contain an assessment of potential demand for the commercial space and that he would support the motion to refuse. Councillor Darracott said that he was unable to support the motion to refuse. He was surprised that the report contained no information about potential demand for the commercial space, but he did not think that the loss of parking spaces was a significant issue. Councillor Curran said that he was unable to support the motion, though he would have preferred that a commercial use could have been found for the site. He agreed that a potential increase in air pollution was a relevant issue. Responding to a question from Councillor Curran, the case officer drew attention to the fact some of the new parking spaces would be available to bank customers. Councillor Coombes felt that a better solution could be found for the site than a small residential terrace; a couple of flats and a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 129.

To note the report

RESOLVED to note the report.