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Plan-it Somerset
Planning policy news
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 We're pleased to announce that we have received £85,000 of funding from the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities under Round 4 of the PropTech Innovation Fund.
The funding will allow us to use Placemaker, a digital tool produced by award winning Urban Intelligence Ltd, which will significantly speed up our current approach to assessing the suitability of potential development sites. Later this year, we're anticipating undertaking the call for sites for the Somerset Local Plan.
The funding will allow us to work with Urban Intelligence Ltd to develop a new Placemaker module specifically for assessing the suitability and priority of off-site land parcels to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain. This will help us make sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before the development took place.
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 We're undertaking a formal consultation to review and reconsider housing sites for at least 505 dwellings in the Mendip area following a High Court Order to make amendments to the Mendip Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2).
The consultation began on Wednesday 28 February and will run until Friday 12 April 2024. We're keen to hear from as many people as possible – residents, community groups, town and parish councils, landowners and promoters, as well as developers and their agents.
As we're making changes to a development plan, proposed sites are subject to formal consultation before submission for public examination. The consultation only makes proposals in the former Mendip District (Somerset East) area and is intended to:
- Ensure that views of statutory consultees, communities and other stakeholders are captured and considered
- Inform the final proposals for inclusion in the Local Plan Part II
- Demonstrate that consultation has been undertaken to comply with our Statement of Community Involvement and to fulfil the legal requirements set out in planning and environmental legislation
To have your say, visit our Mendip Local Plan Part II consultation webpage.
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Credit: Jo Milling
The Wells Neighbourhood Plan has been developed by the City Council over a number of years, working with the community. Extensive consultation was carried out in 2014, 2022 and 2023.
The Neighbourhood Plan was submitted to us in March 2023. In line with the legislation, it was subject to Independent Examination. The Examiner’s Report was received on 2 October 2023. The report concluded that a modified Neighbourhood Plan, in accordance with the Examiner’s recommendations, could proceed to referendum.
 The Ruishton and Thornfalcon Neighbourhood Plan was also made part of the development plan on 14 February 2024. Neighbourhood Plans are material planning considerations and will be used by our officers when assessing planning applications in their respective Neighbourhood Areas.
Other Neighbourhood Plan Updates
Kingston St Mary
The Kingston St Mary Neighbourhood Plan is at Independent Examination.
Oake
Oake Parish Council has recently been consulting on the draft Oake Neighbourhood Plan.
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Image courtesy of Piotr Łaskawski on Unsplash
On 12 February 2024, the Government’s new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules came into force. We covered this in previous editions of this newsletter and effectively, this means that planning applications for new major developments made from 12 February which then go on to be granted planning permission must, by law, achieve at least a 10% improvement in biodiversity value.
This is part of the Government’s plan to ensure that development leaves the natural environment in a measurably better state than it was beforehand.
Whilst the rules apply only to major development right now, from 2 April 2024, they'll extend to cover small developments as well. At this point in time, BNG does not apply to householder applications such as extensions or self/custom-build schemes, amongst other development types.
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Coast cottages Porlock Weir village, Somerset
The first set of 78 heritage assets across the county were added to the Local Heritage List (LHL) on 19 February 2024, following a collaborative effort with the South West Heritage Trust (SWHT).
This initiative helps us acknowledge and protect heritage assets that are of significant interest to local communities but may not meet the criteria for national listing. This includes assets nominated by the public and partner organisations, as well as legacy sites identified by Historic England which were reviewed by a panel of heritage professionals, our conservation officers and other stakeholders. There have been four panel meetings between August 2022 and November 2023.
These listings will be considered in planning decisions. Updates, including digital map layers for these assets, will be implemented in Council systems and reflected on the website. Coordination with Land Charges will also ensure these assets are included in Local Searches. SWHT will also update the Historic Environment Record (HER) with the new status for the local list assets. Future panel meetings will prompt timely approvals of LHL recommendations.
To find out more, visit Historic England’s Local Listing webpage and to nominate an asset, visit SWHT's Local heritage list webpage.
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