Planning news in and around Frome this week :

Applications include:

The area behind Number 25 Catherine Hill has put in a change of use application from a workshop into a home (so to Class C3). Under Ref. No: 2022/1604/FUL the application states: The application site is a two storey terraced building to the rear of 25 Catherine Street. The building is currently in use as storage and a workshop. While it forms part of 25 Catherine Street it is separated from the terraced shop unit fronting Catherine Street by a courtyard and has a separate access via Morgan's Lane. There is currently a large, sliding, wooden, garage style door on the Morgan's Lane elevation which provides independent access into this property. The site is in the Frome Conservation Area

At 1 South Parade in Frome an application has been made to rebuild a non-structural boundary internal wall and put up a 'For Sale' sign. The building has an interesting history, standing on the corner of Christchurch Street West and South Parade and on what was the old 'Turnpike Road', which avoided the steep descent for the horses down Gentle Street and Catherine Hill. It is highly likely that it was Thomas Bunn, the local dignitary and benefactor of Frome in the early1800s who influenced the decoration of the property. Thomas wanted to gentrify the buildings of Frome to copy the grandeur of Bath. He lies buried directly across the road in Christ Church. It was once a newsagents and previously a workshop for carriages, and is now a Foot Clinic but now under 2022/1437/LBC there are plans to turn the property into a dwelling.

An application is in to fell a Bay at 10 Whittox Lane in Frome. Ref. No: 2022/1663/TCA |

There is also an application to fell a Beech tree at Rockfield House on Horn Street in Nunney. Ref. No: 2022/1649/TCA

An application to feel two Ash trees at The Tallat House on Silver Street in Kilmersdon. Ref. No: 2022/1650/TCA 

Decisions include:

A resubmission of an application to build a detached home on land at 24 St Johns Road in Frome, have been approved.

An application to fell a Pear tree and cut back a Yew tree at 12 Gentle Street in Frome have been approved.

Plans to put in solar panels at Bleets Farm on Feltham Hill in Frome have been ruled lawful.

An application for a loft conversation at 14 Clumber Drive in Frome has been withdrawn.

Approved an application for a two storey side extension at 62 Christchurch Street East in Frome.

Approved, plans for a garage at May Cottage on East Woodlands Road in East Woodlands.

Plans for  a new two storey and single extension to the south and west elevations at 2 Cranmore View in Frome have been approved.

Approved, plans to fell three Ash stems at Prospect Cottage on Top Lane in Mells and to pollard a Sycamore at Rossendale on the same road.

Also approved, plans to prune back a Sycamore at The Old Vicarage in Vicarage Street in Frome.

In case you did miss it, the alternative Saxonvale proposal for the centre of Frome led to huge jubilation at the Silk Mill. See the reaction HERE. Now the hard work begins in getting all the other details ready to move ahead. Find out exactly what is next for the planning HERE.

And over in Cheddar another attempt to build homes on the Wedmore side of the village has failed for a fifth time

This from the Local Democracy Reporter

Numerous developers have attempted in the last decade to secure permission to build homes at Steart Bushes on Wedmore Road at the southern end of the village.

Horizon Construction Ltd., which is based in Nailsea, put forward the latest attempt to develop the site, comprising 17 homes and six flats to make a total of 23 properties.

But Sedgemoor District Council has refused permission once again, arguing the flats would "fail to conserve and reinforce the local character" of Cheddar.

The site lies between Wedmore Road and the Steart Farm site, where Keepmoat Homes intends to deliver 58 new homes after acquiring the site from Sainsbury's.

Access would have been from the western end of Wedmore Road, with green buffers being provided between the site and the nearby Cheddar Business Park, as well as the proposed homes to the south.

A spokesman for Avec Design (representing the applicant) said this was "a sustainable and well-designed development" which would "enhance the vitality of the town [sic]."

However, the council's planning officers disagreed, refusing permission on two grounds through their delegated powers:

This is the fifth time that plans for the Steart Bushes site have been refused, either by planning officers or the council's development committee, since 2013.

Crest Nicholson (South West) Ltd. – which is currently delivering the Grange Meadows development in Cannington – was refused permission for 28 homes on the site by the development committee in September 2013, a decision which was subsequently upheld by the Planning Inspectorate following an appeal.

The development committee also refused plans by LITT Holdings for 21 homes in January 2016.

Planning officers subsequently turned down proposals for 21 homes in March 2019 (from Cheddar Homes Ltd.) and 19 homes in November 2021 (proposed by Highridge Construction Ltd.).

Cheddar is already experiencing significant housing growth, with permission in places for 96 homes on the A371 Upper New Road (approved in January), 60 homes on Helliers' Lane (approved in May 2021), and 100 homes and a 60-bed care home on the former Yeo Valley site on Axbridge Road (approved in November 2020).

Gladman Developments sought to build a further 115 homes on the B3151 Lower Road, but these plans were refused in May after a four-year wait.

The council recently submitted (with Mendip District Council) a £19.3M bid to the government's levelling up fund, which includes an extension of the Strawberry Line between the A371 Station Road and Old Bridge Lane to provide a link between the village centre and new developments.