ILMINSTER NEWS: Fury over new plans for Shudrick Valley housing

A GROUP objecting to development in Shudrick Valley in Ilminster has hit out at the time being allowed for consultation over a new planning application for 220 homes to be built in the picturesque area.

Save Shudrick Valley Group says objectors have been given less than four weeks to respond to an application which has been in abeyance for over a year.

Dillington Estate and C. G. Fry & Son want to build 220 homes - reduced from an earlier application for 330 - on land in ShudrickValley and objectors have until March 23, 2016, to send in their views to South Somerset District Council.

The application goes against the Local Plan which was agreed last year. In the plan, the direction of growth is at Canal  Way and developers Persimmon are expected to make an application soon to build up to 380 homes there.

But the proposed development of Shudrick Valley is back on the table and amended plans have been submitted to the district council prepared by Ben Peatreath & Associates on behalf of C. G. Fry & Son and the Dillington Estate.

“It supports amendments proposed to an outline planning application originally submitted in June 2014 for a proposed residential development for up to 330 residential units,” said a spokesman for the applicants.

PHOTO - TOP: The proposed development area of Shudrick Valley is outlined.

PHOTO - RIGHT: Could this area be turned into a housing development?

“The amendments now proposed the demolition of existing farm buildings, the building of up to 220 homes, vehicle access from Shudrick Lane and Townsend Road, public open space and associated landscaping and engineering works.

Chairman of the Save Shudrick Valley Group, John Gidlow, said: “To pretend that this is a revised or amended plan is quite ridiculous. It is a new application with different submissions on every aspect - 22 documents are on line altogether with hundreds of pages.

“And the closing date for objections is March 23, 2016, the start of Easter weekend and in the middle of school holidays for some. We actually pointed this out to the district council some weeks ago but they seem to have ignored our request for an extension of time and also to avoid Easter.”

Mr Gidlow added: “The applicants have been granted three extensions by the district council dating back a full year - for the latest one they had a deadline of September but even that has been missed by six months, and of course they would have had expensive teams of consultants working on the application.”

Now the objectors to the scheme have been given under four weeks in which to prepare a proper objection.

Mr Gidlow said: “As a group we do not have the resources to employ a similar amount of consultants to work on a response. That is why we think that objectors to the scheme should be given at least six to eight weeks to make a proper examination of the application and then make submissions. That is only fair and would be democracy and localism at work.

“Of the application, we feel the district council has no alternative but to refuse it because it is not in line with the Local Plan and it would follow the decision in the High Court by Mr Justice Collins over the Chard Mount Hindrance application appeal. The judge said the Local Plan should be given time to succeed.

“There are many planning reasons for turning it down and they outweigh any advantages for having the development, even if there is no five year housing land supply in the district. With Persimmon about to submit their plans for up to 380 homes on the direction of growth at Canal   Way, the town’s services and infrastructure will not cope with a further 220.”

Mr Gidlow concluded: “Do we really want to lose our small, friendly market town under tiles and tarmac in a battle between national developers who will just walk away when they have finished building?”

The applicants have said in a report that public consultation was carried out in respect of the original plans back in 2014.

“While no further public consultation has been progressed in respect of the amendments to the proposal now submitted, the revised proposals have been developed as direct result of comments received during the course of the planning application, and particularly to address concerns raised regarding landscape and heritage effects,” said a spokesman.

There was large opposition to the original plans and it is expected that the Save Shudrick Valley Group will do all it can to fend off this latest amended application.

Residents have fought hard in recent years to get the district council to re-think its own Local Plan proposals which are to provide the foundations for future building developments in the years to come up to 2028.

Around 300 homes had been earmarked for Shudrick Valley as part of the council’s Local Plan, but was highlighted as an area of concern by a planning inspector during an examination of the proposals in 2013.

It looked as if Shudrick Valley was saved from development when it was eventually included in the Local Plan – but builders are still trying to press ahead with their opes of moving the bulldozers in.

It is understood that the 220-home proposals will be discussed at Ilminster Town Council’s planning meeting on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at Greenfylde First School in Ilminster at 7.30pm. Members of the public are invited to attend.

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