Bell Cornwell is acting as planning consultants for Barratt David Wilson Homes and has helped to secure a reserved matters approval for 200 homes as part of an urban extension for North West Cullompton in Mid Devon. The reserved matters application provided for approval full details of the access, layout, appearance, scale and landscaping of the development. The submission also included information to satisfy a number of the conditions attached to the outline planning permission that either needed to be submitted for approval at the reserved matters stage or prior to the commencement of the development.
Detailed negotiations with the local planning authority were required, both pre and post submission of the application, to work up and agree the detailed design for the development, which included a comprehensive landscaping scheme.
Amy Roberts and Dan Rogers worked with a large multi-disciplinary team to prepare a robust application submission, supported by a full suite of technical reports. The development was particularly complex due to the topography of the site (it is very steeply sloping) and was sensitive as the site sits prominently in the local landscape and next to an Ancient Scheduled Monument. It was necessary to engage with key statutory consultees both prior to the submission of the application and during the determination period, including Devon County Council Highways and Historic England. Transport/access is a very hot topic locally due to congestion in the town centre and, for this reason, there was a lot of dialogue with the Town Council regarding traffic management during both the construction and operational phases of the development.
Bell Cornwell also advised on ES matters, as the original outline planning application was an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) development. This was co-ordinated expertly by Brigid Taylor. Bell Cornwell was able to agree with Mid Devon District Council that the reserved matters submission did not require a further EIA (and that concurrent full planning applications for phase 2 of the development and for the spine road to serve the development only needed to be supported by an ES Statement of Conformity).
Following several comprehensive design revisions, the application was recommended for approval by planning officers and members of the planning committee voted unanimously to support the officer recommendation and approve the application.
North West Cullompton Urban Extension
