Somerset Council is the Planning Authority responsible for making all planning decisions where they take into account the views of the Town Council. Wincanton Town Council is a statutory consultee and is invited to make observations on all planning applications in the parish. Wincanton Town Council has no authority to approve or refuse a planning application. The Town Council’s role is either to ‘support’ or ‘object’ to an application and provide reasons, if necessary, to support their decision.
If the Town Council wishes to object to any application, it must highlight matters that are of “Material Planning Consideration” (see below). If the Town Council makes objections that are non-material it risks its comments being ignored for individual applications and its viewpoint not being taken seriously by Somerset Council’s planning department in the long term.
For the majority of planning applications the impact to the Parish as a whole is such that this consultation process is contained within the Town Council Meetings. Where applications that could have a much larger impact on the Parish are brought to the Town Council then more extensive consultation including engaging fully with the Parish would be appropriate to ensure that the electorate has the opportunity to make their views known.
In all cases there could be non-material considerations, worthy of highlighting, that should be documented and shared with the planning authority. The Town Council may also acknowledge in its response to planning applications, any strong feelings to an application brought to it by Parishioners. The Town Council always encourages those Parishioners to also make personal representation directly to Somerset Council.
Copies of planning applications relating to Wincanton area are available for inspection on the Somerset Council website
Material Planning Considerations
Planning Material considerations include:
- Design and appearance of the structure being considered
- Visual Impact of the development
- Conservation impact
- Highways issues – including safety, traffic, parking
- Adverse effect on neighbouring properties – e.g. Privacy, Overlooking, Noise, Overshadowing
- Drainage and Flood risk
- Adverse impact on Nature, Biodiversity or Trees
Issues such as loss of view or negative effect on property values are not material considerations.
Further information on Planning Material Considerations can be found at https://www.planningportal.co.uk/faqs/faq/4/what_are_material_considerations