Revised guidance could pave way for residential planning

AS many people will be aware, gaining planning consent for residential development and for the erection of agricultural facilities for livestock has become more or less impossible in Somerset over the last year.

This is because of a European Court of Justice case called the ‘Dutch N case’ which ruled on the need to limit damaging emissions of nitrates and phosphates into protected habitats.

Following that decision, Natural England wrote to the Local Planning Authorities in Somerset in August 2020 explaining that, due to the unfavourable conditions of the Somerset

Levels and Moors ‘Ramsar’ site, the authorities will need to undertake a Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) before determining any planning application which may give rise to additional phosphates within the catchment.

The HRA is meant to ensure the emissions from the project are nutrient neutral, but as many people involved in trying to gain planning consent will have found out, this process is fraught with problems. This is not least because of the uncertainty over the nature and scale of the mitigation measures required to deliver nutrient neutrality and how these can be implemented in the real world.

As a result, hardly any new planning consents for residential development have been granted across large swathes of Somerset from Shepton Mallet and Wells in the north to Taunton in the south and east to Bruton, Sherborne and beyond Yeovil.

However, a chink of light has recently arisen in respect of permitted development rights which could be very helpful to farmers and landowners who have found themselves caught up in this planning moratorium.

Nicola Quick, a planning specialist in Carter Jonas’s South West Rural Team, said: “Natural England and the Somerset Planning Authorities have recently both confirmed that in the majority of cases in Somerset, permitted development rights applications are no longer caught by the Dutch N case. This is because their legal advice is that this case does not apply to a ‘Ramsar site’ unlike other protected designations such as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) or Special Protection Areas (SPA) where it does apply”.

In practice, this is most likely to affect those people seeking the perMaking mitted development right to convert agricultural buildings to residential dwellings under what is commonly referred to as a Class Q application.

Nicola said: “We advise anyone who has recently had a permitted development right application determined, or is making or considering future applications, to seek specialist advice, to see how their project might benefit from this revised guidance.”

For any further information, readers are invited to contact Nicola Quick at nicola.quick@carterjonas. co.uk

■ James Stephen, Carter Jonas