OFFICER: Andrew Collins 01935 462276 APPL.NO: 07/05484/COU APPLICATION TYPE: Change of Use PARISH: WARD: TOWER DESCRIPTION: Use of land for siting of a marquee from 15th April to 15th October annually. GR (367484/134256) LOCATION: Gants Mill Gants Mill Lane BA10 0DB APPLICANT: Mr And Mrs Shingler AGENT: Mr D Carpendale Brimble Lea & Partners Wessex House High Street Gillingham Dorset SP8 4AG DATE ACCEPTED: 30 November 2007

Reason for Referral to Committee

The proposal is brought to committee at the request of the Chairman due to amount of public interest and as he feels there is a case both for and against the application.

Site Description and Proposal

The site is located outside of the development area. The mill is Grade II* listed and the dwelling and other buildings on the site are Grade II listed.

A Certificate of Lawfulness for a Proposed Use or Development was granted which considered that the use of wedding ceremonies and receptions for 28 days in any year was lawful. However, a informative was attached to the decision that said that any marquee could only be left on the site for 28 days in any year and would need to be taken down between events.

Meeting: AE10A 07:08 20 Date: 13.02.08 It is now proposed to retain the marquee on site between 15th April and 15th October. No elevation details have been submitted but the block plan shows a red line measuring 24 metres by 12 metres.

History

03/00047/LBC - The installation of additional turbine and generator within mill building - Application permitted with conditions - 10/11/04

07/04428/COL - Application for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the proposed use of land for not more than 28 days in total in any calendar year for wedding ceremonies and receptions - Application Permitted - 19/11/07.

Policy

Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 repeats the duty imposed under S54A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and requires that decision must be made in accordance with relevant Development Plan Documents unless material considerations indicate otherwise,

Relevant Development Plan Documents Regional Spatial Strategy: VIS1 VIS2

Somerset and Exmoor National Park Joint Structure Plan STR1 (Sustainable Development) STR6 (Development Outside Towns, Rural Centres and Villages) Policy 5 (Landscape Character) Policy 9 (The Built Historic Environment) Policy 48 (Access and Parking)

South Somerset Local Plan (Adopted April 2006) ST3 (Development Areas) ST5 (General Principles of Development) ST6 (The Quality of Development) EC3 (Landscape Character) EH5 (Development Proposals Affecting the Setting of Listed Buildings) EP2 (Pollution and Noise)

Consultations

Area Engineer - "No comment"

Climate Change Officer - "It has been brought to my attention through my involvement with the South Somerset Hydropower Group that one of its members - Gants Mill - is making a planning application to erect a marquee for the purpose of holding wedding receptions each summer.

This will provide an income for the site owner's daughter and son in law who have recently moved into the cottage at Gants Mill.

Gants Mill is an exemplar sustainable tourist destination and B&B (Green Tourism Award) with electricity generated by hydropower and heating provided by wood. The site owner has held - and continues to hold - the position of secretary within the hydropower

Meeting: AE10A 07:08 21 Date: 13.02.08 group and also organises hydropower tours of the installations, which were facilitated by grant funding achieved by SSDC. The mill building has been restored and is a useful example of both the historic and modern use of water power that attracts a steady stream of visitors to the area and is also used by local schools.

Permission from the council to run up to 28 events a year has already been granted with a "Certificate of Lawful Use." The planning application is to ensure that the marquee does not need to be taken down between each event but only at the end of the summer weddings season.

It would seem that the planning application should be supported because; • The marquee will not impact the views of neighbours (from where it cannot be seen) • It will enable the extended family to continue earning a living from this site thus reducing the need to travel • It supports the growth of rural, family run, sustainable tourism • It helps secure future management of site that is an asset to and closely associated with the district."

Landscape Officer - "I view a structure with a 5 month period of permanence as a very different proposition to that of an occasional use to a maximum presence of 28 individual days within the calendar year. Given the close proximity of the listed building, and the historic footprint of built form associated with the mill group within the enclosed scale of the valley, I would view a large marquee static for 5 months as imposing a form whose scale and colouration is at variance with the mill site's intrinsic character, and thus suggest refusal on landscape grounds (policy ST 5 para 4)."

Conservation Officer - "I agree with the comments made by Robert Archer, Landscape Officer. The buildings have an important group interest as well as individual value. The erection of a large marquee in a prominent position for 5 months of the year will have an adverse affect on this group of associated buildings and is therefore contrary to Policy EH5 of the Local Plan."

Area East Regeneration Officer - "I would like to put in comments from the Regeneration perspective in Area East:

The Gants Mill proposal is entirely acceptable from the Regeneration perspective and is put forward by a national prize-winning commercial enterprise seriously interested in preserving Heritage and Environment aspects of the property. The proposal is supported by Tourism and Economic Development Officers and also by many local people.

I refer to policy ME5 which favours well conceived proposals for rural diversification schemes for Business purposes, consistent in scale and where no unacceptable harm is caused. The proposal is in a narrow valley just outside Bruton which is enclosed by a railway embankment on one side and a hill on the other, and at each end by trees, so the site is only seen by those who deliberately visit.

The Business already has substantial numbers of visitors as a tourism attraction. It also runs many events attended at any one time by over 100 people.

The proposals put forward to extend into weddings is quite within their rights and is fully justified for economic viability and sustainability in a family devoted to environment and heritage.

The proposals put forward mean that a temporary structure would be in place for several months. To continually erect and take down this structure would mean tripling the

Meeting: AE10A 07:08 22 Date: 13.02.08 damage to the local environment which seems to deliver no benefit, so I welcome the sensitive and sensible suggestion put forward by Gants Mill for this structure.

I do not believe that Robert Archer's view based on policy ST5 applies.

Were a site visit to occur, I believe everyone would see that this is a sensible minor change which will provide extra services to the area and improved economic viability to the business with minimal effect on the property and no damage at all to the landscape or the area."

Environmental Protection Unit - "EP have no observations regarding this application."

Pitcombe Parish Council - No comments received.

County Highways - "I refer to the above planning application received in my Department on 12 December 2007.

I also refer to my detailed discussions in respect of the history of this site and application and the fact that I have previously given my views on the question which I was asked by the applicant as to whether weddings would be permitted at the site.

My comments to the applicant and to your Authority were such that I was not at all satisfied with the safety of the access from Gants Mill Lane out onto Cole Road; coupled with this is the fact that if wedding receptions are held at the site, there could potentially and effectively be 200 vehicles on the single track of Gants Mill Lane which would lead to traffic chaos in the area. However, I understand that a Certificate has now been issued allowing these uses but for only 28 days per year. I would think it difficult to enforce this issue as to when the marquee is and is not in use and to this end I would suggest that it should be erected and removed at such times as wedding parties are booked for the site. It is a matter for your authority to determine and it is difficult for me to recommend the refusal of a marquee as such and can only object to its use as such - which is not stated in the planning application as a description.

In the event of permission being granted, I would recommend that the following condition is imposed:

The marquee hereby approved shall only be erected and brought into use on no more than 28 days in any calendar year.

Reason: In the interests of highway safety due to the capacity of the approach roads to the site."

English Heritage - No comments received to date.

Previous comments received in relation to this site:

County Archaeologist - "As far as we are aware there are limited or no archaeological implications to this proposal and we therefore have no objections on archaeological grounds."

Environment Agency - "We have no comment to make on this application."

Natural - "Based on the information provided Natural England have no comment to make on the proposal."

Meeting: AE10A 07:08 23 Date: 13.02.08 Representations

40 letters of representation have been received in support of the application. These have come mainly from residents of Bruton but there have also been letters from individuals in Templecombe, Warminster, Cole, Wincanton, Martock, Castle Cary, Crewkerne, Shaftesbury and Pitcombe. Included in this number are letters from Somerset County Tourism, SW Tourism, the Benefice of Bruton, Bruton Primary School, Bruton Town Council's Deputy Leader, the local Member of Parliament and the New Business Group in Bruton.

Most of these letters state that they have been contacted by the applicants in relation to the planning application and give details of the history and support the on going ventures at the site, including the hydro-electric project and the proposal to diversify.

Considerations

As a Certificate of Lawfulness has been granted for this site, the use, for weddings, has been allowed for 28 days per year. At present the marquee has to be removed after each event and only be on the site for a maximum of 28 days. As such the main considerations are visual aspects of the marquee remaining on site for six months a year and the on going affect upon the setting of the listed buildings.

Visual Assessment The agent has submitted a copy of a photograph in the accompanying statement indicating that the site is not visible from the public viewpoint. I am unsure as to where the precise location of this photograph was taken from, but on viewing the site from Gants Mill Lane, whilst acknowledging that it is Winter it is possible to view the site. This is due to a gap in the vegetation. In considering the fall back position, the marquee would be visible for 28 days, but in considering that the application is now for it to be displayed for 6 months of the year, this would have a greater visual impact upon the area. Also in relation to these considerations, the landscape officer's comments need to be taken into consideration.

Setting of Listed Buildings In the ‘granted permission’ case, the marquee would only be put up for when the wedding / reception is occurring and would be taken down between times. This is at variance to what is now proposed with the marquee on site for half the year. This, it is considered, would have a much greater impact upon the setting of the listed buildings.

Whilst the important work the applicants are doing on the site in relation to the tourist attraction, the work to the listed buildings and the hydro-electric scheme is acknowledged, it is not considered that the retention of the marquee on the site for 6 months a year overrides the above concerns. As such I am unable to support the current application.

RECOMMENDATION

Refuse permission for the following reason:

Given the close proximity of the listed buildings and the historic footprint of built form associated with the mill group within the enclosed scale of the valley, a static marquee for 6 months of the year would be an imposing form whose scale and colouration is at variance with the mill site's intrinsic character. As such the proposal is contrary to Policies ST5 and EH3 of the adopted South Somerset Local Plan 2006.

Meeting: AE10A 07:08 24 Date: 13.02.08