Friday 6 January 2012

Box Hedge Farm and Wessex Water applications approved

Yesterday the planning committee approved applications for outdoor activities at Box Hedge Farm and a Wessex Water sewage holding tank in a Badminton Road layby.

Westerleigh Councillor Claire Young reminded the committee of residents' concerns about noise and dust, highway safety and safety issues associated with the activities proposed in the Box Hedge Farm application. The committee had a lengthy debate on highways issues and some members were concerned that there still wasn't sufficient information about the passing spaces. However Pat Hockey's motion to defer the application again, so that the information could be provided, was defeated 8-3 with two abstentions and a motion to approve the application was then passed with the votes reversed.

The Wessex Water application had been deferred from the last meeting so that the committee could visit the site. After their visit, they asked for landscaping plans and last week Wessex submitted new plans and a photo montage in which the verge was restored to a gentle slope, as it is now, rather than a sudden drop and then a flat area. Claire explained that residents were happy with the revised scheme but officers were concerned that the plans did not show what was being described. The committee approved the application with a revised landscaping condition which should allow Wessex to landscape the site as the residents wish. The scheme is intended to stop sewage flooding in houses in Vicarage Road.

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