ILMINSTER NEWS: Shudrick Valley saved as appeal is rejected

THE Ilminster-based Save Shudrick Valley Group is celebrating after finally winning its six-year battle to safeguard a picturesque part of the town from the bulldozers.

A Planning Inspector has ruled in support of the SSVG and dismissed an appeal made by developers C. G. Fry & Son and Dillington Estate to build 220 homes on the picturesque Shudrick Valley site on the edge of Ilminster.

An eight-day public inquiry was held earlier this year after the developers appealed against a decision by South Somerset District Council who rejected the plans in May 2016.

But the SSVG has said that the inspector has come out in its favour and upheld the decision of the council to refuse the development plans permission.

And although the SSVG is delighted over the final dismissal of the appeal, it is jubilant that its six-year campaign has been a success.

A SSVG spokesman said: “But democracy has won in the end. This development was not needed in the Local Plan, was opposed by all those people who wanted what was best for the town and shows that a residents’ group can be successful with a lot of work and knowing that the main issues are stacked up in your favour. Having conviction in knowing what is right and the facts to back it up has been the key.

“The inspector has agreed with the two remaining reasons for refusal put forward by South Somerset District Council.

“But he has also supported our landscape case for refusal, putting forward a very strong response in dismissing the appeal.

“Anyone can see that a stroll into open countryside on a permissive footpath alongside a stream with medieval field patterns, beautiful landscape valley slopes, small woodlands, a pond and the wildlife which accompanies such a scene should be protected.

“Consider the alternative: the developer and land owner’s case was that building 220 homes and a big relief road right through the middle of what has just been described above would actually improve the landscape. How could that be argued?”

The spokesman added: “The inspector’s view was that the proposals failed to conserve and enhance the landscape character of the valley and the effects were unacceptable.

“We were disappointed that our cases for refusal on flooding and highways grounds were not supported by the inspector. But he did not dismiss them, instead finding that in their own right they were not sufficiently strong to dismiss the appeal. With further resources SSVG could have paid for consultants to fight these issues more strongly but that wasn’t possible.

“If this development had gone ahead, the fact remains in our opinion that flooding would still have existed certainly down Shudrick Lane and in Ditton Street, and the town would have been left with immense problems over the use of the relief road by HGVs especially in Shudrick Lane, Ditton Street, Orchard Vale and Canal Way.

“But we do have a very strong and positive dismissal of this application on heritage and housing policy grounds and also on landscape.

“The inspector also had very strong comments about the appellants’ case put forward against SSDC’s housing policy and over the town’s direction of growth, where he stated: “The adverse effects arising from conflict with these policies would be significant and demonstrable.”

“He also dismissed the appellants’ claims that the effects on heritage would be negligible. He gave “considerable weight and importance” to the desirability of preserving the setting of listed buildings.

“He added that the Shudrick Valley “contributes positively” to the Conservation Area’s significance and the development would have harmed its setting and significance.”

The SSVG spokesman concluded: “We are very happy with the decision but also pleased that such a long episode which right from the start was obviously not necessary, is over.

“The decision will now allow the town to grow in the way that was anticipated in the Local Plan, and the decision can be incorporated in the town's Neighbourhood Plan deliberations which are now under way for the proper and correct way forward for the town’s development.”

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