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CHEDDON FITZPAINE IS AT RISK
27th July 2022 UPDATE - Developer has withdrawn application, pending re-submission. See here.
LARGE NUMBERS OF HOUSING PLANNED, CRAMMED IN AND AROUND THE VILLAGE
CHEDDON FITZPAINE'S HISTORIC CHARACTER CHANGED FOREVER
MORE CONGESTION AND DANGER ON OUR SINGLE TRACK ROADS
WILDLIFE HABITATS BUILT OVER
GREEN WEDGE BUILT ON
VILLAGE INFRASTRUCTURE UNABLE TO COPE
DEADLINE FOR OBJECTIONS EXTENDED TO 20/04/2022
DEVELOPER WITHDRAWS PLANS
We have heard today (27th July) that the developer has withdrawn the current planning application. We had previously heard the current plans would be refused by the council, so we aren't surprised the developer has instead chosen to withdrawn them, ahead of any official notification of refusal.
Whilst it is good news the current application is no more, we now wait to see what form any revised application takes.
As soon as there is news on this front, we will update savecheddon.co.uk
If you wish to be notified, please email us at info@savecheddon.co.uk, and we will inform you when there is news.
The Developer's Plans
The red shaded areas show the initial new housing estate plots. The red boundary line represents the full extent of the area the developer has requested to be turned from open countryside and farmland, into building land for housing estates. Historic Cheddon Village is lost in the middle.
The full planning application and details are available on the SWaT Planning Website - see here.
CAN CHEDDON'S LANES COPE?
No they can't. Proof of this is shown last time traffic levels increased.
Cheddon Fitzpaine saw first-hand in the Summer of 2021 how increased traffic flow caused major jams, accidents, property damage, disruption, anger amongst motorists and fear in and around the village.
The extra traffic was due to a nearby road closure, and some vehicles used Maidenbrook Lane to divert. This gave the village a terrifying future vision of what extra traffic will cause a delicate village with largely single lane roads. Just a small amount of extra traffic quickly overwhelms the village.
Worse still, the resulting jams prevented emergency services having a route through, as evidenced by this Ambulance having no option but to wait helplessly, and unable to provide its help as required.
News reached the local press with them reporting things were so bad that "people were cowering in their doorsteps".
Adding 86 new homes, each with 1-2 cars, simply cannot be coped with.
And if it rains, the capacity often reduces to zero due to regular flooding.
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LATEST NEWS
July 27th 2022 - Major Update
We have been told the developer has withdrawn the current plans. See here.
July 12th 2022 - Update from Planners
No decision made yet, council awaiting from some statutory consultees .
April 8th 2022 - Public Meeting with Developer
The Public meeting with the developer, Ben Ashton, to discuss the planning application was held on Thursday 7th April, at Cheddon Fitzpaine Village Hall.
Firstly, thank you for all who came - the main hall was full, with well over a hundred attendees. See comments from some, later in this section.
What was Ben Ashton's strategy?
To portray himself as a 'passionate' person who will protect the land from developers, and discussed at length various new footpaths and meadows.
This is slightly ironic as the land is already well protected by various planning policies and he himself is now a developer, planning to build on potentially all the land.
What did we learn?
The meeting felt exactly like one that should have happened maybe 6-12 months before any plans might be submitted. The developer explained the possible plans and residents asked questions. Concerns were voiced surrounding traffic, sewers, housing and logistics and Ben Ashton replied to most serious or technical questions with a stock "I'm not a developer" answer. We learnt very little, or is it just as accurate to say Ben Ashton didn't know the answers. Many times he suggested things would be looked at, or considered, or would be thought through to give answers. This would be an ideal response if we were 6-12 months ahead of any plans actually being submitted.
But plans were submitted weeks ago. The deadline for replies is a few days away. It is unacceptable to be so vague on so many key issues at this late date.
Ben Ashton was asked repeatedly if he would limit the build numbers to those proposed, and rather than directly answering, he claimed the phosphate issue would prevent this. This most certainly isn't true as they are many ways around this particular issue. It is equally telling he chose not to give a definite answer.
Ben Ashton was asked about Glebe Farm requesting all its grade one farmland to be reclassified from farmland to prime building land. After some fumbled answers he did confirm this was the case.
The discussion on the Country Park was also interesting. For the first time we heard the grand visitor centre is actually a 'modular' design and the reality could be that only one or some of the modules actually happen. On the one hand this is good news and maybe a much more proportionate centre might be proposed. But on the other hand, the grand country park expansion was supposed to be the huge benefit to the community to help offset the harm caused by the housing plans. So a smaller park proposal would mean the housing is still net overall harm.
The overall feeling is summed up by this -
1. No clear or decisive answers to the biggest questions regarding traffic plans, limiting house numbers, sewerage and what happens if planning is refused.
2. Most people support the idea of a green, open country park - an area for local residents to walk in and enjoy the outdoors.
3. Very few people are in support of a more grand country park plan, and particularly not one that will increase non-foot based traffic to the park.
4. It is extremely frustrating and disappointing that the whole country park discussion is embroiled with unsuitable housing plans. It completely clouds judgement for anyone wanting to state opinions or feelings on the park. Those responsible for this direction have alienated many otherwise like-minded park-supporting people.
5. There was nothing said that altered the overwhelming negative feeling towards the housing proposals. Equally, no-one felt Ben Ashton will limit the building to the initial proposed numbers.
6. When asked what he would do if the plans were refused, he mumbled about selling to other developers and even mentioned gypsies using the land. Again, he dodged the simple question "Would you sell to a local farmer?". He did claim it wouldn't be profitable, and whilst true for his small farm, this is not the case for a larger farm incorporating his smaller one.
Feedback from some attendees is as follows -
"I personally felt insulted that he wants our support for a planning application that is supposedly a culmination of years of work, but leaves the big problems unsolved. He is basically asking us to take on faith that he will address those complicated problems without having to build more houses to offset their costs. He said they had budgeted for such issues, but therefore he must have a plan to solve them, yet that is missing from the planning application. I think we all know that should the costs become prohibitive, he will either not solve the problems or will build more houses - either way he will have the planning permission so can do what he likes."
and from another -
"Ben must have read the objections on the SWaT website and must have been aware of what questions and comments were likely to be asked. His preparation for the event was to evade giving a straight or any answer to questions and comments. How anyone would embark on such a costly project with such lack of insight as portrayed last night defies credibility."
We've heard what Ben Ashton had to say. Now it is your turn - please feed back to the council about his plans - you only have a few more days.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
F.A.Q.
Q. Why Is Cheddon Fitzpaine at risk?
A. A developer is planning to build 86 new houses in and around the village, more than tripling its current housing levels.
Q. Why is this a bad thing for Cheddon?
A. Cheddon Fitzpaine's unique character has remained untouched for over 150 years. Some of Taunton's early landowners and estate holders, The Portman Family, chose Cheddon as their final resting place. Since then the village has been rightly protected by historical covenants, placed by the Portmans or more recently by various council plans and conservation areas. Building 86 modern houses will destroy this character and diminish the green wedge between Taunton and villages to the east.
Q. Who are the developers, trying to undo these historical plans?
A. Glebe Farm Enterprises, within part of an overall group structure, understood to have shareholders Ben Ashton and Rhona Ashton (aka Rhona Gillmore), and under financial control from a foreign Swiss backer.
Q. Why are they doing it?
A. Glebe Farm and its land was bought by its current owners when the Crown Estate sold much of its property a few years ago. However, Glebe Farm is unable to run profitably as a farm, due to its relatively small size. Any local farmer wishing to buy the farm, combined with their current farmland, would allow profitable on-going farming. But the current owners have dismissed this possibility and instead decided to try building on the land, initially with 4 housing estates. In addition to this, they have also applied for all their land to be allocated as building land. We are told they have refused to sign documents limiting the housing numbers to those initially applied for, which suggests future plans will be additional building, infilling the green wedge and countryside further.
Q. Taunton seems to have new building sites everywhere. What makes this one at Cheddon different?
A. Yes, there are several established and new build areas, all having capacity for many thousand new homes. But these sites are extending existing urban areas which have had prior major modern development, don't erode areas designated as green wedge and proportionately are only small increases on the urban area they are attached to. The proposed development at Cheddon Fitzpaine is totally different as meets none of these criteria.
Q. But if Cheddon Fitzpaine is so well protected, as mentioned earlier, how can the developers try to build there?
A. The council, at a pre-planning meeting, have already stated they would advise on rejecting the housing proposals, clearly stating the housing planning is unsuitable.
Q. If the council said the housing is deemed to be unsuitable, why have the developers still submitted plans?
A. The developers are looking to use two different methods to try to sidestep Cheddon's existing protective planning rules. This potentially could let them build what would otherwise be deemed illegal housing.
Q. Is that really possible? What are these methods?
A. One is a complicated legal issue. In simple terms, many larger developments around Taunton have been placed temporarily on hold until a Phosphate issue is resolved (requiring correct sewerage treatment). Due to this hold-up, there is pressure for the council to allow otherwise unsuitable or questionable applications to be agreed, in an attempt to keep the overall house build numbers up to target. Morally, this is highly questionable, and we are challenging this legally.
The other method is to attempt to effectively buy the permission.
The developers and their agent had a paragraph inserted in the Local Neighbourhood Plan, which, if agreed, would allow them to sidestep many planning rules if they pay for something 'for the wider community benefit'. This paragraph is currently under legal review (many people have already complained to the council about this as they rightly feel developers shouldn't be allowed to buy permission), and as of 18/03/2022, the paragraph is not approved. But the developers in the planning application, highlight it in bold as justification for the the plans to be allowed.
Q. So what 'wider community benefits' are they offering?
A. They are planning to slightly extend the current park area in Maidenbrook Lane. Currently this is two fields, with trees, a small walking area and a War Memorial. A pond and shelter are also being built by the local parish councils. The developers are offering a small extra field, and a gigantic 100m long visitor centre. On paper it does look very grand, but is completely out of proportion to a small local parkland. To give some perspective and proportion, England's National Westonbirt Arboretum with over 500,000 visitors p.a., and a huge overall size, 24 times larger than the Maidenbrook park, has a centre only around 40m long. Again, the Council agreed and in the pre-planing ruling, stated the planned size was completely out of proportion.
Q. Why should I care about Cheddon Fitzpaine?
A. You don't have to live here to enjoy and appreciate Cheddon Fitzpaine. It is extremely rare to find a village, so close to a County Town and yet still completely untouched by any modern, major development. For example, one of many details keeping Cheddon special - several years ago, the residents jointly paid to have all electric and telephone cables buried and hidden out of sight - a minor detail, but one of many characteristics, keeping Cheddon special and unique . The proposed plans will unfortunately change Cheddon's character and identity forever.
Q. I'm worried the plans might go ahead - what can I do?
A. Please object to the plans. You must use you own words, but we have guidelines to help here.
Q. Who wrote the 'SaveCheddon' website?
A. The contents of this website is a combination of contributions from many local residents in Cheddon and neighbouring parishes. The content is not from a single individual. Please contact info@savecheddon.co.uk if you have anything you feel might benefit the site, or if you can see any inaccuracies that need correcting.
HOW TO OBJECT TO THE PLANS
Please respond by the extended deadline, currently 20/04/2022.
Please DO NOT cut and paste (i.e. directly copy) the text below, but use as guidance to formulate your own letter. If the council receives multiple copies of the same letter, it only counts as one objection. SO MAKE YOUR LETTER UNIQUE and MAKE IT COUNT. Thank you.
OVERVIEW
What makes a good objection?
Objections have to be around planning policy, or concerning key areas as listed below here. Read through, decide which are important to you and create your own uniquely worded objection.
As mentioned, DO NOT simply copy the text directly as the council will ignore duplicated letters.
Once you are ready, click here to be taken to the SWaT page to give an objection - it asks you to register, but there is a link below on that page that lets you object without registering if you prefer. Let your voice be heard!
PLANNING POLICY
Cheddon Fitzpaine Neighbourhood Plan (NP)
The NP is a set of rules governing development in and around Cheddon Fitzpaine. The rules state that Cheddon Fitzpaine is classed as a 'village', has 'defined settlement boundaries' and 'will have no further allocations made' for housing. They also state only 'small scale' allocations will be considered - this is single digit number (i.e. 1-9 houses).
PLANNING POLICY
Conservation Area
Cheddon Fitzpaine is defined as a Conservation Area. This means no major development can take place within, and as importantly, adjacent to a Conservation Area, as this also significantly impacts on the purpose, principle and protection of Conservation Areas.
PLANNING POLICY
Transport
The local roads in an out of Cheddon Fitzpaine are an awkward mix of single track and areas wide enough to just take two cars passing. In 2012 a Somerset Council study showed that such lanes can reach full capacity with traffic flows at as little as 100 vehicles per hour. Already these limits are breached during the morning and evening peaks. As there are no bus services in the village, there is a higher than average proportion of car ownership in the village and adding over 86 new vehicles will be beyond what the roads can take. We all saw a preview of how bad the roads can be with gridlock, damage to property and an increased sense of danger to pedestrians, once a handful of extra cars used our roads during the Monkton Heathfield road closure in the summer. Pictures of this here.
But before even that, during the building phase, there is no capacity for multiple HGVs and construction/building lorries all needed for a major development as is proposed.
PLANNING POLICY
Infrastucture
Cheddon Fitzpaine's sewerage system is at capacity. The pumping station at the top of Maidenbrook Lane is frequently overloaded, which results in a discharge of raw sewage into the street and onto residents' properties. The pumping station and main sewer pipe simply cannot cope with any extra volume.
The developers plan to discharge all their sewerage directly into this existing sewer, which is of course, not feasible.
PLANNING POLICY
Wildlife
Hestercombe and the surrounding area down towards Cheddon Fitzpaine is protected as a bat protection area. In the village we are treated to see many species of bat as a result of this careful protection. Unfortunately, there is no doubt, building 4 new housing estates will discourage bats due to the unavoidable light and noise pollution, in addition to the removal of open countryside habitat caused by the scale of the proposed housing development.
PLANNING POLICY
Listed Buildings
Cheddon Fitzpaine has an unusually high number of listed buildings among the 30+ properties in the village. Having housing estates or car parks built directly opposite them is a clear breach of listing objectives.
NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY
What does this planning serve?
There are several substantial housing developments either ongoing or approved in and around Taunton which meet Taunton's housing need, especially now the Phosphate hold up is being resolved. There is no data showing Cheddon Fitzpaine needs to be massively increased in size.
THE COUNTRY PARK
What should, and shouldn't be done here.
The Maidenbrook Country Park (MCP) is a plan and vision of our local parish councils. The premise is to make use of the existing green wedge between Taunton and Monkton Heathfield and turn it into a protected outdoor space for a variety of uses - walking, exercise, woodland, memorials etc. It is difficult to imagine how anyone could not be supportive of such an idea, and any promotion or expansion of the Park is of course a good idea.
But not at any cost.
A small field and an inappropriate public building should not allow a developer to sidestep planning rules.
The proposed 100m long visitor centre is vastly out of scale and proportion - as a guide and mentioned earlier - England's National Arboretum in a park over 24 times the size as MCP, has only a 40m facility, and this is combined with extensive car parking and A-road access - neither of which MCP has.
The developers proposals also duplicates many amenities already in place in the local community. We already have Farm Shops and Cafe's on our doorstep, at local farms and Hestercombe. There is no extra need here.
CONTACT
