Village Meeting on Zoom 16 September 2020

CHILTHORNE DOMER VILLAGE MEETING 16 SEPTEMBER 2020

A Village Meeting was held on Zoom at 7pm on Wednesday 17 September 2020. The meeting was arranged at short notice to discuss the outline planning application to build 73 houses on land to the south of Tintinhull Road opposite Little Sammons. The meeting closed at 8.30pm.

The meeting was chaired by a trained facilitator from outside the village (Andy Wistreich) and was attended by 19 people from the village. It was agreed at the meeting that notes would be kept but that the meeting would not be recorded. These notes summarise the key points made.

The attendees recognised that there was pressure to develop more houses, and there was general support for the provision of more affordable housing in the village, especially for those with a historic link to the village. It was also considered that expansion of the village could help its community, for example by making a Youth Group viable.

However, the location of the proposed development was not considered suitable and was contrary to recent Prime Ministerial statements on reducing the pressure to build on green field land by making brownfield development easier (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-build-build-build dated 30 June 2020). The location would reduce access to open spaces, reduce habitats for wildlife,reduce the quality of life of existing residents and could also create a precedent for further development south of Tintinhull Road. The location was also separated from the rest of the village by a busy road, making it harder to integrate the new residents.

There was concern over the impact of the proposal when considered with other proposed developments. These include the completion of the Brimsmore Key Site development, the outline proposal for 185 homes between the Brimsmore Garden Centre and the A37, the outline proposal for 28 new homes next to the Carpenters Arms and the outline proposal for 28 new homes in Tintinhull. There was also severe concern that if the YV2 site proposed in the South Somerset Plan should go ahead, there would be less than 150m remaining green space between Chilthorne Domer and Yeovil. All of these developments would put extreme pressure on local infrastructure, and the impact needed to be considered collectively.

If the proposal were to be approved, the attendees considered that several aspects would need addressing:

Traffic. The traffic assessment was considered inadequate and misleading. Existing traffic levels made access to Tintinhull Road from Main Street difficult, especially during school runs. The addition of a further T-junction serving 73 homes was considered to exacerbate this and there was support for a new roundabout, either at the Main Street junction or the Carpenters Arms, with the site access coming off this. It was considered essential that a Pelican crossing was a provided to facilitate access by residents of the development to the school and other village resources. It was also considered that there was a risk of Main Street being used increasingly as a shortcut to the A37 and that measures might be needed to prevent this.

School. It was noted that the capacity of the Chilthorne Domer School was limited, and that it had no assembly hall; there was limited opportunity to expand the school, but a study should be carried out to determine if it could support the proposed development. It was considered that if additional school capacity were not provided, the impact on traffic, especially during the busiest periods, would be made much worse. Parking for access to the School was also needed to reduce the impact on residents of the school run traffic.

Drainage. It was noted that the development was considering connection to the existing Village run-off and sewage systems. It was noted that these were already stretched, with flooding occurring on Main Street and at the bottom of the Village when there was heavy rain. The capacity of the existing sewage works to cope with the increased demand was questioned.

Broadband. It was noted that the current broadband provision to the Village was poor, and did not readily support Working From Home. To reduce the need for travel to work, the provision of improved connectivity should be considered as part of the development.

Access to Yeovil. It was noted that existing access to Yeovil, other than by car, was limited. The current arrangements on the road through Thorne were difficult for pedestrians and cyclists, and a dedicated cycle route should be introduced. There was also a need for an all-weather path to provide more direct access to Central Yeovil along the line of Tintihull Road.

It was agreed that attendees should encourage as many people as possible to raise comments on the proposal on the SSDC planning web site.

The meeting closed at 8.30pm. Thank you to all contributors.