and Somersetshire Coal Canal Policy Consultation

Overview of the Plan

BANES Council is currently working on a new local plan. A local plan is how local councils implement the national government plan for new housing and related development with respect to considerations such as design, impact on the Green Belt, sustainability, historic environment and natural environment amongst others.

The BANES Local Plan consultation will be about possible sites for new houses and new planning policies along with amendments to current planning polices.

BANES consultation will be in the autumn of this year. The parish council will be responding to this consultation but wanted to inform parishioners of aspects of this plan that you may also wish to respond to by taking part in the consultation yourself.

• Possible sites for new houses.

• Possible changes to the existing planning policy relating to the Somersetshire Coal Canal called policy HD/SCCW Somersetshire Coal Canal and the Wansdyke.

Policy HD/SCCW Somersetshire Coal Canal and the Wansdyke

As parts of the parish in Dunkerton, Withyditch and Tunley are on the route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal the parish council would like to inform you that BANES will be consulting on 2 possible versions of this existing policy.

Protection of the route

Retain the existing policy which aims to prevent further loss of the route from building development.

Or

Restoration/Creation

Amend the existing policy option so that it supports restoration/creation of the route (by the Somersetshire Coal Canal Society) with the creation of a new buffer route, and consideration of the deletion of routes already lost to development. Any restoration works would require the agreement of landowners before any works take place.

If you live close to the historic route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, these options to varying degrees may limit or inhibit development you may have in mind for your property, so it is important you are aware of them and, through the consultation, express your preferences.

If you have any questions relating to this please contact our planning leads Cllrs Martin Robinson and Hannah Willert or the clerk.

Parish Council Contact	Telephone	E Mail
Cllr Robinson	07484 768021	martinrobinson1188@gmail.com
Cllr Willert	07971 001202	hannahwillertcouncil@gmail.com
Clerk Kathryn Manchee	01761 411305	Clerk.dunkerton@googlemail.com

The BANES Local Plan can be viewed on the BANES website at

https://bathnesplaces.co.uk/localplan/

BANES Council ‘s Community Engagement Team (CET) holds periodic meetings to try to engage face to face with local communities. Information about these meetings – called Community Engagement Forums – is published here:

https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/area-forums

We are in the Bathavon Area Forum.

Prior to COVID, these meetings had drifted to a point where they were mainly attended by parish councillors. That wasn’t the intent, as the meetings duplicated a lot of stuff that was being done at other BANES meetings held specifically for parish councillors!

Post COVID, the BANES CET has made a real effort to get these meetings back to what they should be: meetings of interest to BANES residents – particularly residents running local organisations, clubs and businesses.

It should be an opportunity to hear directly from, or flag up directly to, the BANES Team those things that are causing problems today or might help or hinder your future plans.

The next Bathavon Area Forum meeting will be on Wednesday 25 June from 6.00pm at Camerton Community Hall, Meadgate. Do plan to drop in if this opportunity sounds of interest.

David Orme

Chairman, Dunkerton & Tunley Parish Council

On their eighth year of delivering RiverBlitz the Bristol Avon Rivers Trust is hopeful that enthusiastic citizen scientists will sign up in record numbers to help gather important data on the health of rivers and streams across the Avon catchment.

 If you would like to get involved in this year’s project, please register for your kit using the link here: https://bristolavonriverstrust.org/riverblitz/register