A WIVELISCOMBE group has asked the Government to examine a planning decision to approve 94 new homes in the town for potential maladministration.

The decision to approve the homes at Sandys Moor was the last-ever planning decision taken by the former Taunton Deane Borough Council, on March 27, but now Wiveliscombe Civic and Historical Society has asked the Ombudsman for Local Government to examine the case and is awaiting a reply.

If maladministration is proved, the society has asked that a potential £2 million which could go to the district and county councils as a result of the development instead goes directly to the local community.

“[We] feel most strongly that this approval, taken at the end of a very long meeting, was not given the smallest amount of attention by the last ever Taunton Deane planning committee,” Pauline Homeshaw, chairman of the society, told the Free Press this week.

She said she had now written to the Ombudsman as the society considered there was a case to be made for investigating the council’s process and integrity in arriving at its decision to approve the 94 homes, which went against the council’s own core strategy and site allocations plan.

In the letter the society claimed there were inaccuracies and misleading justifications in the committee report presented to members of the planning committee.

It said the length and duration of the committee meant members were too tired to properly consider the application.

And it argued that potential monetary gain to the council (through community infrastructure levy and new homes bonus) and to Somerset County Council (as part landowner) may have influenced preparation of the report in favour of an approval, contrary to decisions being required to be based on sound planning reasons and ‘development plan led’.

Mrs Homeshaw said the planning committee meeting had been going nearly five hours when the Sandys Moor application came up for consideration, and the vote was taken after 10pm.

For the full report, see today’s Free Press,