Stoke Trister with Bayford Parish Council
Minutes of a Site Planning Meeting of
Stoke Trister with Bayford Parish Council held on 6 March 2020 at10.00 am
Present: Cllrs: N Linsley (Chairman), M Grant (Vice Chairman), J. Garret and M Summerfield.
Public: Mark Warren, Richard Cummins, Jane Wallace, and Jane Murray. Melanie Giles joined the meeting on neutral ground in the street.
1. Apologies – Cllrs: J Macfarlane and J McKenna
2. Declarations of Interest – None
3. Planning
Planning Application No: 19/02905FUL
Applicant: Mr R Cummins
Location: Unicorn Inn, Bayford, Wincanton. BA9 9NL
Proposal: Change of use of former public house and curtilage to residential (Use Class C3) & extensions to form 3 No. dwellings with associated parking.
Decision:
The Chairman asked the owners if the Councillors could go in to the car park which was agreed. However, the general public were refused entry to where the meeting was being conducted, with the owners stating it was private property. Therefore, the Chairman moved the meeting to the pavement outside. Most of the residents had gone by then, only Melanie Giles remaining.
The owners purchased the pub in 2007 and tried to sell it a few years ago for £355,000. This was advertised on a business site for 9 months.
The Chairman stated there were 25 comments online on the day, 23 against the application and 2 supporting.
Councillors discussed that building 3 houses within the existing footprint of the pub + a 4th residence of the existing annexe would be far too small with very little recreational space. There was also very little space for parking for visitors. This would mean people would have to park on the narrow road in Bayford where there are already several accidents now because of cars parking on the road.
An environmental inspection is requested to check if bats are roosting in the building. At this stage Mr Warren got very aggressive threatening to record the meeting. The chairman reminded him of the data protection act.
The Chairman also stated that many of the residents requested the Unicorn inn to be placed on the SSDC Assets of Community Value Register. The public input concluded with the developer saying “you won’t like plan Bâ€.
Therefore the Stoke Trister with Bayford Parish Council took a unanimous decision at the Parish Council Meeting on 12 March 2020 for refusal of the application and to place the Unicorn Inn on the Assets of the Community Value Register with immediate effect.
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Chairman Date