Response to Charlie Ellingworth from Michael Lewis

Response to CE from Michael Lewis.

From: Michael Lewis

Date: 30 July 2020 at 13:26:18 CEST

To: Charlie Ellingworth

Subject: Re:  Yarlington Lodge and The Newt

Dear Charlie,

Thank you for your email and the views expressed re. Yarlington Lodge.  Your South Somerset District Councillors for Yarlington are Councillors Henry Hobhouse and Kevin Messenger who should be the first port of call with regard to planning matters, My role as your County Councillor is slightly different, but I am able to take on board your comments if or when the application is brought to the Area East committee by the chairman, Cllr. H. Hobhouse or his chosen vice-chairman Tony Capozzoli. Besides being a County Councillor I represent a different ward ( Camelot ) as a District Councillor and so I am able to comment on applications, but members do tend to take more notice of the local ward members and as I say Cllrs. Hobhouse and Messenger in this instance.

I am very conscious of the concerns of the local residents of Yarlington regarding this application.

You may be aware that South Somerset does not have a five year land supply and the presumption by the planners is to approve applications otherwise applicants go to appeal and win approval on the basis of this lack of the land supply. Plus if the applicant feels that the councillors are being unreasonable then the Planning Inspector can award costs against the District Council.

I do know that when the Yarlington Lodge application came before Area East committee members tried to place a number of conditions on the application to try and take in to account the concerns of the local residents.

I hope this email is of assistance to you. If you need any clarification please do contact me.

With kind regards,

Mike Lewis