Of the two Bathwick planning applications decided by the Development Control Committee yesterday one was approved and the other rejected. Your local Liberal Democrat councillors voted against both.

The Lime Grove application was brought to the planning committee under a new protocol introduced by the Liberal Democrat administration – that proposals on council owned land are determined in public. Nicholas Coombes and David Martin judged that the proposal was not good enough for Bathwick. Their main objections were that the houses would be built to the lowest possible environmental standards, that they were not adequately protected from the railway noise and that the development missed the opportunity to improve the adjacent footpath. However, the majority of the committee agreed with the plannig officer that the application was acceptable.

Cllr Nicholas Coombes brought the application for a new house in a Minster Way back garden to the committee as a previous proposal had been rejected. The planning officer judged that the latest proposal was sufficiently different from the 2003 application to be approved. However, the planning committee disagreed and voted to reject the proposal on principle.