UPDATE (2/7/22): Appeal Allowed - Development To Go Ahead - Wyke Farms Castle Cary Monstrosity REFUSED TWICE

UPDATE (2/7/22)

 

We have asked Wyke Farms to respond to our articles about them and the advocacy done by David Warburton MP, who is under investigation as reported on this website and in the national news.

 

The appeal was allowed by the Planning Inspector, as reported here.

 

Wyke Farms and Hopkins have got their development approved, despite local residents not wanting it. The Inspector noted that "Local opposition to the development has been considerable", with it previously being refused twice, but approved it anyway.

 

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UPDATE (10/11/21): The Public Inquiry by the Planning Inspectorate was adjourned, after "IT issues". Castle Cary Town Council said:

 

"Due to IT issues at Caryford Hall that cannot be resolved by SSDC,  the Inspector has announced that the Public Inquiry will be adjourned and will reconvene as a virtual event on 24th November, 1st, 2nd & 3rd December. More details to follow."

 

SSDC is South Somerset District Council - the same Council that tried to cover up the councillors who did not pay their council tax, as revealed by the investigations by Somerset Independents.

 

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UPDATE (10/10/21) Our investigations into Wyke Farms questionable "100% Green" claims are now reported in a new article on our website, here.

 

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Councillors on committees at South Somerset District Council have TWICE refused the hugely unpopular and unsightly Wyke Farm Ltd and Andrew Hopkins Concrete Ltd development next to Castle Cary Railway Station.

There were 68 written comments from the public, with 67 objecting and only 1 supporting. This is a large number of objections and shows how unpopular the proposal was with local people and the parish councils.

To give just two examples, Ansford Parish Council called it "opportunistic" in their objection and "a highly conspicuous scar upon our countryside". It was also described by a member of Castle Cary Town Council as "mad in planning terms that one small market town should be swamped just because land has become available thanks to greedy local landowners".

The proposal was:

"APPLICATION NO 19/01840/OUT
APPLICANT Wyke Farm Ltd And Andrew Hopkins Concrete Ltd PARISH: Ansford
DESCRIPTION: Erection of 200 dwellings (70 affordable and 130 open market) with
associated highways, drainage, landscaping and public open space.
LOCATION: Land North Of Ansford Hill Ansford Castle Cary Somerset BA7 7PD
(GR:363280/133315)"

The Council's Regulation Committee is what other councils call their Planning Committee. In June's virtual Regulation Committee, councillors refused the application. The planning officer's recommendation had been to refuse. So councillors agreed with the recommendation.

And at the preceding meeting, the Council's Area East Committee in May, the officer's recommendation had also been to refuse the application.

Due to the Council's Constitution, the Regulation Committee has the final say. It could have been overturned by that Committee, or the Chief Executive (due to the Council giving this officer more powers during the Coronavirus National Emergency). But it wasn't.

Somerset Independents applauds both Committees' refusal and congratulates the councillors that made the decision. This is the much-maligned planning system at its best - listening and acting on residents concerns. This is what Somerset Independents encourages.

However, Somerset Independents Spokesperson on Planning Denise Wyatt asks:

"How did the recommendation become a refusal recommendation?

Was the Council following its own policy?

Is it consistent with other decisions?

Will the applicants appeal?"

The official reason for refusal given to Wyke Farms and Hopkins Concrete was:

"The development, by reason of its scale and location, represents a visually obtrusive encroachment beyond the town's obvious physical and topographically informed limits and into the open countryside, to the detriment of local and landscape character. This harm would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the proposal and would be contrary to policies SD1, SS1, SS5, EQ2, EQ3, LMT1 of the South Somerset Local Plan (2006-2028), policy DP1 and the aims and objectives of the Castle Cary and Ansford Neighbourhood Plan (2019), and the provisions of the NPPF."

Other questions are being raised about planning at South Somerset.

This week, at the virtual Full Council meeting South Somerset District Council, which Somerset Independents spoke at, we heard several party political rants from Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors.

One such rant was from Conservative Councillor Sue Osborne, who sits on the Regulation Committee. She claimed that Simon Fox, Lead Specialist in Planning, had left the Council. Mr Fox's name appeared on the refusal letter sent to Wyke Farms. Councillor Osborne also claimed that 3 other planning officers had left and that the planning function was in disarray.

Leader of Somerset Independents Andrew Pope says:

"It could well be that Councillor Osborne was off on another party political rant. But if there is a problem in the planning function, and these departures have occurred as symptoms or a cause of these problems - and not due to the Council's  'transformation programme' that includes redundancies - the public need to know.

Somerset Independents is seeking the truth. Just like at Mendip District Council planning, we want to know what is happening in planning at South Somerset District Council. If they are reliant on temporary staff, that will cost local residents in terms of taxpayers money and suffer in the quality of work due to a lack of local knowledge and experience.

Local plans, neighbourhood plans, national policy - they all seem to be so open to interpretation that they might as well not exist!

Meanwhile, Somerset residents are suffering from bad decisions - at least the councillors intervened on the side of residents in this case. Other residents are not so lucky."