There’s been little to report on CRAG (Congresbury Residents’ Action Group) v developers in recent weeks. But now M7, the company seeking to build 90 houses on land behind Park Road, has placed ten new documents on North Somerset council’s planning website.
One of those documents is a revised plan that somehow ignores the fact that in recent weeks much of the land resembled a lake rather than a field. More on this when the documents have been examined.
At the other end of the village, developer Vistry has agreed to halt putting in foundations to the 50 new houses off Wrington Lane after CRAG pointed out that no such work could start until the continuous footway had been constructed.
Although the objections to the creation of a footway down part of Wrington Lane had to be abandoned because of the potentially enormous costs involved CRAG is still keen to ensure that Vistry keeps to the conditions of the application, by not starting work until the pavement is installed all the way along the lane. The company has also agreed to stop making early morning working which was causing annoyance to local residents.
Prior approval request for the erection of a single storey rear extension with a pitched roof that would 1) extend beyond the rear wall of the original house by 6.0 metres; 2) have a maximum height of 3.60 metres and 3) have eaves that are 3.20 metres high
Change of use of land for the proposed siting of up to four glamping units for short-stay tourism accommodation purposes. Creation of parking area for 5no. vehicles, proposed sewerage treatment plant and creation of new access track connecting to Iwood Lane.
Proposed erection of a garage to the North-West elevation. Material alteration to existing cladding and replacement of 1 No. Door to match proposed garage door.
Proposed demolition of existing side extension and garage. Proposed erection of rear extension, side extension and small front porch extension. Erection of a Garage at the Front of the Property and internal structural alterations.
T1 Himalayan Birch trees 2-3 metre crown reduction. And 10% crown thin; T2 Himalayan Birch trees 2-3 metre crown reduction. And 10% crown thin; T3Himalayan Birch trees 2 metre crown reduction. And 10% crown thin
Reserved matters application for appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the erection of 13no. dwellings pursuant to outline planning permission 18/P/2532/OUT (Outline planning application for a residential development of up to 13 no. dwellings and associated infrastructure with access for approval and appearance, landscaping, layout and scale reserved for subsequent approval)
Modification of Section 106 Legal Agreement on approval 16/P/1521/O to allow amendments to the enforceability clause to include those who have exercised a preserved right to buy into the exclusion; to amend the mortgagee in possession clause so that it is suitable for charging purposes and to amend the initial share purchase percentage to reflect the current Homes England Model Share Ownership Lease
Certificate of Lawful development for the proposed stationing of a mobile home incidental to the main dwelling, within the curtilage of the property at 25 Pauls Causeway.
The Trustees of the King George V Playing Fields in Congresbury have announced that there will be a public meeting to discuss their plans to rebuild the Recreation Club and answer questions. The meeting will be held on Thursday August 4th at 6pm in the club.
The Trustees have also published a leaflet giving more details of the project. The leaflet, below, will be distributed to villagers over the coming days.
Minor material amendment to planning permission 17/P/1052/F (Proposed sub-division of existing dwelling into 2no. dwellings to include the erection of a first floor side extension) to allow for reduction in size of first-floor extension (front and rear), replacement of a pitched gable roof with a smaller flat roof at the rear, and the removal of side windows and replaced with rooflight to rear elevation.
Exciting new plans to rebuild Congresbury’s ageing Recreation Club pavilion have been submitted to North Somerset planners.
The plans involve a two-storey building on the same footprint as the existing club which is now 60 years old and in a poor state of repair.
These revised plans follow feedback from both North Somerset planners and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to initial pre-planning submissions made in November 2021.
The major change to the external appearance is the addition of a pitched roof, recommended by North Somerset.
An artist’s impression of how the rebuilt Rec Club will look, built on the same footprint as the existing clubhouse
The ECB supports a two-storey building with a viewing balcony because of the constraints of the site. This allows for four separate unisex changing rooms and showers for both the cricket and tennis clubs for men, women and children to use on the upper level. This layout creates far more space for the social activities of the club on the ground floor.
The decision to press ahead with the redevelopment of the Rec Club was taken by the Trustees of The King George V Playing Fields when plans to build a new village hall on land adjacent to the Rec Club and tennis courts were halted through lack of funding despite the huge efforts of those involved.
Echoes of the original new village hall plan can be found in this redevelopment with the ground floor social area capable of being divided into two so both private and members’ use is possible at the same time.
The Trustees are submitting the plans for the new building which will serve the needs of the cricket, tennis and football clubs as well as the social members of the Recreation Club.
Chairman of the trustees Les Owen explained that the pandemic had caused some inevitable delays to the project. “We consulted villagers on our plans more than a year ago and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
“Since then we have spoken to North Somerset planners and been in regular contact with the ECB to make sure our plans are acceptable to them since they are potentially a key grant funder. I’m confident that the plan we now have will not only meet the needs of the sports and recreation clubs but also the whole village.”
The cricket club wants to provide first class facilities for its members with a particular focus on the development of women’s and girls’ cricket and improving facilities for juniors.
The club regularly hosts junior county matches but has had to turn down requests to host junior county girls’ matches because of the current inadequate changing facilities.
“New changing rooms are essential for us to meet the demands of the modern game, increase participation and attract the calibre of players we need,” said chairman Geoff Wilcock. ‘’Four flexible use changing rooms will enable us to grow our girls’ and women’s section and to increase the amount of girls’ and women’s cricket played through the ability to host away teams.’’
For the tennis club, which has ambitions to build a fourth ‘pay and play’ court, a new pavilion with more flexible changing rooms and enlarged social facilities would allow it to recruit more players while raising additional funds through more social events.
“We want to increase junior coaching, offer cardio tennis and walking tennis for injured, less mobile and older players, and provide disabled access to the courts with the potential for wheelchair tennis,” said chairman JL Hagger.
Stu Smith, chairman of the football club, believes that wider community participation in the Recreation Club “can only bring the football club to more people’s attention and would hopefully lead to more support in terms of volunteers, spectators or players and may even help in the formation of new teams.” A lack of volunteers means the club does not at present run junior teams but it is keen to reintroduce them as well as adding women’s and veterans’ teams.
Winged cavalry in the shape of horseshoe bats have joined forces with CRAG in an effort to thwart the building of a new housing estate behind Park Road, Congresbury.
In a review of the developer’s Ecological Impact Survey, the Natural Environment Service office finds that more information is needed to comply with UK wildlife law and both national and local policy. The office states that before determining the outline application for 90 houses on land north of Mulberry Road, developer M7 must show clear proposals for “replacement horseshoe bat foraging habitat to be provided.”
If that was not enough to stop the development in its tracks, the review continues: “Lighting strategy to be provided demonstrating habitats retained as dispersal corridors and foraging habitat for horseshoe bats will remain unlit.”The office also wants to know how the developer will create a wildflower grassland on site; the location of a reptile receptor site, and the location of compensatory hedgerow planting.
The office concludes that: “An application should be refused (or withdrawn) if there is insufficient information to form an evidence-based assessment or if it cannot be demonstrated beyond reasonable scientific doubt that there will be no significant negative impacts on the SAC (Special Area of Conservation).It sounds to CRAG as if the best way to meet all these requirements, is to leave the field exactly as it is.
