A NEW multi-storey hospital car park, converting a pub to holiday lets and new homes near the A358 are among the schemes people are trying to get planning permission for in Somerset.

Every week, hundreds of planning applications are submitted to Somerset Council for determination – and we have selected some of the most interesting proposals.

Most plans will be decided by council planning officers, using their legally delegated powers, but some of the most significant or contentious will go before one of the council’s five planning committees.

Planning committees are made up of elected councillors, but the decisions they make should be decided based on the council’s planning policies, not local politics.

Parkfield Drive, Taunton.

Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton was one of 40 hospitals which were to be rebuilt, enhanced or replaced as part of the new hospitals programme (NHP) instituted by Boris Johnson’s government in late-2020.

Patients and staff can currently use the Cedars multi-storey car park, operated by Q-Park, which opened at the southern edge of the hospital campus in October 2006.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, teased plans for a second multi-storey car park in early-February, providing hundreds of additional spaces for staff, patients, carers and visitors.

The plans have now formally been submitted, with the new car park expected to provide up to 307 new spaces (including 140 space which have been lost through previous stages of the hospital’s redevelopment).

The proposed car park (which will include new public artworks) will be built at the south-east corner of the hospital site, replacing the current Duchess 2 car park (near the day surgery) which is predominantly used by staff.

Delivering a new car park is part of the conditions for the new £87m surgical centre, which is currently under construction following the Treasury’s approval of the final business case in January 2021.

Planning reference number: 38/24/0060.

Station Road, Hatch Beauchamp.

West of England Developments (Taunton) Ltd. has numerous small housing developments at various stages of delivery across Somerset – including 28 homes on Derham Close in Creech St. Michael and a further 15 homes on St. Peter’s Close in Ilton.

This latest proposal from the Trull-based company will see nine new homes delivered on Station Road in Hatch Beauchamp, halfway between Taunton and Ilminster.

The new homes will range from two-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses, with just over half of the properties being affordable.

Planning reference number: 19/24/0007.

Adsborough Lane, West Newton.

West Newton Farm, owned by P. J. Hill and D. Collins, is located in the hamlet of West Newton, a stone’s throw from the M5 between Taunton and Bridgwater.

The couple wish to convert two underutilised agricultural barns within the farm’s footprint to deliver three new market properties.

The development is not expected to have any negative impact on the strawberry farming which occurs in the neighbouring parts of the farm.

Planning reference number: 37/24/00027.

Tower Hill, Bruton.

The Mill On The Brue Activity Centre is an outdoor educational and activity centre, which has been based on Tower Hill at the western edge of the town since its inception in 1982.

The centre has long prided itself on its green credentials, using a solar drying room to dry clothes and using ground source heating and wood-burning stoves throughout its buildings.

To further improve its environmental impact, the centre wishes to install 94 new solar panels near the entrance of the site, not far from an existing bridleway.

Planning reference number: 24/00537/FUL.

To comment on any of these applications (and others), visit www.somerset.gov.uk/planning-buildings-and-land/view-and-comment-on-a-planning-application.

Categories: Transport Planning Permission Housing Health