WILLITON businessman David Gliddon is to appeal against the decision of West Somerset Council’s planning committee to throw out his plans for a £7 million supermarket development in the village against the advice of its planning officers,

After last week’s dramatic two and a half-hour meeting, frequently interrupted by the 90-strong public gallery, the committee turned down the project for the third time in four years.

This went against the advice of planning officers, who had warned that they would struggle to defend the decision if there was a legal challenge.

And now there is. Mr Gliddon told the Free Press this week that he intends to appeal against the refusal to let him build a supermarket and car park behind his hardware and agricultural stores.

He is also asking the planning committee to reconsider its decision to turn down a second application for four retail units, a mini-roundabout and access road off Bank Street.

“The decision flies in the face of advice from planning officers,” Mr Gliddon said.

”I am inviting the committee to think again on this one but will certainly go ahead with an appeal against the supermarket decision. If the officers can’t defend the committee’s decisions, there will obviously be a question of costs.”

In his second application, Mr Gliddon asked for permission to build pedestrian access into Fore Street, which would involve the removal of Lloyds, Williton’s last bank, which had been offered space in the new development.

“On the second application I cannot reasonably see any reason for refusal,” said the council’s assistant director of planning and the environment Tim Burton, after the committee had voted against it by six votes to three.

Before the decision to turn down the supermarket application by nine votes to two, Mr Burton said: “You have to make your judgment as to whether the impact of the proposal is such that it will cause material harm to the viability and vitality of the town-centre as a whole.”

Referring to a 1,100-strong protest petition, the council’s legal advisor Martin Evans warned that the number of objections alone was not a valid reason for refusal: “You must look at the planning evidence and bringing up highway concerns would be difficult to defend at appeal.

“As officers we have to advise what is able to be defended – and what evidence do you actually have as good grounds for a refusal?”

Explaining why the proposals had been recommended for approval, area planning manager Bryn Kitching said there had been significant changes since the last planning application in 2013.

One was the inclusion of a “high quality link” to Fore Street with further retail units and landscaping which would lessen the impact on the town centre of the previous application.

Mr Kitching said that the second proposal fell within a retail boundary agreed in the council’s emerging local plan within which councils are encouraged to promote retail development.

He reminded the committee that, when the application had previously been turned down, the reason centred round the impact the development would have on the viability of the town centre, not because of objections to the road layout.

So because the second application fell within the local plan’s retail boundaries and had not been turned down for highway reasons when previously considered, Mr Kitching said that he could see no good planning reason for councillors to reject the second application.

Nearly a dozen members of the public and consultants queued to speak for or against the scheme and were greeted with cheers, boos or loud applause from the packed public benches.

They included three speakers from the local pressure group Keep Williton Special. The first, Alan Stiven, claimed that there would be delays in ambulance response times of up to four minutes due to extra supermarket traffic “which could be the difference between life and death”.

He added: “With the amount of jobs that will be lost due to store closures, I don’t believe there will be any net gain in employment. Williton will become a ghost town and there will be no second chance.”

His colleague Wendy Spencer pointed out that supermarkets were closing in places bigger than Williton.

“Currently, we have a vibrant lively high street and the application will just replace what we already have and we could end up with boarded-up shops and an empty brand-new supermarket,” she said.

A third Keep Williton Special speaker, Louise Martin, was concerned about the likelihood of losing the village’s last bank: “The vast majority of residents do not want this supermarket and the damage the proposal will cause will far outweigh the benefits.”

She urged a scheme involving smaller units and housing suitable for first-time buyers.

Outlining his council’s objection to the scheme, Cllr Robert McDonald, chairman of Williton parish council, said he had seen nothing in the new proposals to change the view that Williton did not need any more commercial properties.

He told the committee: “Think well and hard. The families of the village don’t want this development and they will have to live with your decision for the rest of their lives.”

Frank Collinson, a local, resident, stressed the importance of loyalty to existing business which were the heart of the community and approval of the application “would be a great betrayal of all those people who have served us so well”.

Jonathan Coombes, speaking on behalf of the Co-Op group, believed that the application would shift the retail focus from the town centre to the new site, resulting in at least 50 per cent loss of trade.

Local resident and chartered surveyor Tom Vesey, the first of three speakers supporting the application, said he represented “the grey army in the outlying villages” and believed Williton would “benefit enormously” from the supermarket development and other retail units.

“Unlike other places, the supermarket would be in the village centre and a hub of the local community, he said

Planning consultant Clive Miller estimated that the project would create 135 full-time jobs, would cost £7 million and would provide many jobs during construction.

“They have built stores similar to this in Langport and Ilminster and local independent businesses are thriving. It is telling that 94 businesses in West Somerset have written in support.”

Retail planning consultant Christine Reeves also spoke in support of the development, which she said would secure Williton as a shopping area, increase visitor footfall and bring in extra revenue.

She was followed by the development’s agent, Mark Wood, who said the new design would address previous concerns and would provide more landscaping and seating. There would be four additional retail units and Lloyds Bank had already been offered one.

He stressed that the application was in accord with national policy and should be granted.

At the start of the committee’s debate, Cllr Ian Aldridge said that “as a general principle we shouldn’t stifle progress” and people needed access to cheap basic food. He thought that in principle the development would not contravene planning policy.

Proposing that both applications be rejected, Cllr Keith Turner

criticised the planned traffic layout – involving a mini-roundabout in Bank Street – emphasised the importance of not losing Lloyds Bank and stressed the intensity of public concern.

“I have been on the planning committee for nine years and cannot remember a time when I have received so many emails and all but one are objections,” he said.

“Councils are often criticised for not listening but surely we have to listen to what the residents want? They are the people who live here.”

Cllr Rosemary Woods, who seconded the rejection proposal, said it would involve moving the town centre to behind Fore Street which would not enhance the village. She also feared that the new road system would cause serious traffic and pedestrian problems.

Cllr Peter Murphy was concerned that it was illogical to deal with two separate planning applications for the same development: “If we approve the second but not the first, we could end up with a roundabout to nowhere.”

Council vice-chairman Cllr Bruce Heywood believed it was important that traffic flowed freely through Williton and matters should not be made worse for the emergency services. He thought the site was more appropriate for houses: “Can we really ignore a petition of 1,100 names?”

Council chairman Cllr Stuart Dowding felt it might be difficult to refuse the second application for planning reasons but to him the sentiment was clear: “If what the planning officers are saying is correct then as long as a planning application ticks all the boxes it is game set and match.

“If that is so, there’s no need for a planning committee and we might as well go home!”

He added: “The site is crying out for development but public opinion is clear: residential, business, anything but a supermarket.”