Folly Farm footpath falls, SUDS and planning applications

Firstly the good news is that Development Control Committee, which I sit on at Ebley Mill, voted today to let the application for this contentious footpath fall. This means the application for this footpath will not be continued. SDC will be liable for costs to date but the alternative would most likely have been a Public Inquiry which means even greater expense. 17 objections including Stroud Town Council were made to this proposed change: a considerably higher number of objections than most other diversions - use search engine to see previous entries of Folly Farm (or Folley farm as the sign on the gate says).

Photo: Ebley Mill a couple of weeks ago

As the neighbouring ward councillor I welcome this decision - it would be great to have a footpath that goes along another section of the brook but this proposed diversion cannot be at the expense of the other route. I have some sympathy with the owner who wants to change the route away from her front door but the new route is radically different. There are a number of serious concerns but primarily in place of a flat, accessible route often used by people who have some difficulties walking, we have a potentially much more muddy route that is longer, goes up and down slopes and is much less easier to walk.

Councillors making the decision have heard the various points of view and many have visited the site themselves and could see this change was not acceptable. There are other options which could be considered by the owner and the community which could potentially get around these problems. I hope that a satisfactory solution for all could be reached in the future.

Meanwhile at DCC I managed to add a Sustainable Urban Drainage condition of development to at least applications - DCC have agreed in the past to look at this but it still isn't getting through - I hope this time they got the point - SUDs should be standard on most applications.

Another condition that should be standard is wheel washing by lorries on development sites - the mess they can create on our roads and to our drainage systems is huge. Again I raised this a couple of times where it had been missed.

You can of course see the meeting on the webcast here. Some of the decisions included turning down the application in Painswick for 16 care apartments, defering a decision on a barn conversion in Kings Stanley and approving Sunday opening at the chippy in Minchinhampton - the latter I abstained on as I am uncomfortable about most Sunday opening but there was no clear planning reason to object - here was a business that had operated for 30 years with no complaints - a point I made at the meeting. Anyway very tired now so need a rest before a brook group meeting.