People living near The Batch have spoken out against plans to let businesses build on the fields around it without planning permission.
About 20 people from Midsomer Norton and surrounding villages such as Farrington Gurney braved heavy rain on Friday, 13th October to protest the plans to develop several fields off the A362 stretching from Old Mills Lane to the edge of the woods by the Old Mills Batch “volcano.” Many of the protestors’ signs were made by children with additional needs at a local school.
Protest organiser Angharad Barber said: “It really shows the passion for people to turn up in this weather and to have spent so much time making the signs. It’s really important to the community that we don’t lose our green space.”
As part of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s plans to attract businesses to the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone, the council is consulting on a local development order (LDO) for the site. If passed, the LDO would allow businesses to develop the site without needing planning permission, provided they followed a masterplan and design code set out by the council.
The zone is hoped to bring 1,300 jobs to the area, replacing 400 which the council say have been lost between 2010 and 2020 and reducing the need for people to commute out of the Somer Valley area. But locals who turned out to protest questioned the logic behind the move.
Ms Barber said: “What those figures don’t show is the job gains during that time. It’s only showing one side of the story.”
Fellow protestor Sara Evan-Lainchbury said: “There are plenty of areas within Midsomer Norton which are derelict which could be rejuvenated.”
Ms Evan-Lainchbury lives at Springfield Buildings, a row of cottages outside Midsomer Norton currently surrounded by fields. But, located right next to the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone and with an industrial estate on the other side recently granted planning permission to expand, one councillor has warned that the cottages could soon be “sandwiched between two new industrial zones.”
Also among those at the protest was Ann Morgan, councillor for the High Littleton ward on Bath and North East Somerset Council which includes Farrington Gurney. She said that, although more jobs and less traffic was a “great concept,” local people had been raising their concerns about the site to her and she questioned some of the potential uses.
She said: “Personally I feel the development should be rethought. We are village communities and a warehouse and hotel really don’t fit in; are they necessary? A more compact development with a larger buffer zone to mitigate the impact on wildlife and the environment should be considered.”
Sam Cross, councillor for nearby Clutton, attended too. She said: “I know there’s a lot of outcommuting, but there’s no guarantee that just putting this here means everyone who’s out commuting is suddenly going to get a job on this site.”
The plans for the site have recently been updated to reflect local people’s feedback. Bath and North East Somerset Council is now running a consultation on their revised plans which is open until 5pm on October 20th.
You can respond to the consultation here.
LDRS, John Wimperis