Why does it matter if the village boundary gets broken?
now the village has decided to vote in favour of building a village hall on the proposed site, together with the houses, and the District Council subsequently grants full planning permission, the village boundary gets broken. This means that the settlement line that has been in place for many hundreds of years will go, along with a no build precedent anywhere outside the village boundary. We are a tier 4 Village, with no Neighbourhood Plan. This would almost certainly change if new homes and facilities, or a when the new Landrover gigafactory are built. Recently we have had changes to the law, with the result being that residents' views will ,,,,,,,, , This has damaged local democracy and may destroy swathes of countryside and will place huge new development pressures on rural areas, especially where demand and profit is highest and landscapes are most sensitive.
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The Council's body, the Local Government Information Unit, said the changes would “leave local government with the political liability on planning whilst depriving them … of the powers to manage it effectively”.
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The boundary on the south side of the village has never been broken. Once it is, it will much easier for new developments to get planning permission anywhere outside the village. Even if this proposal does not directly affect you, the next one might. Bawdrip would be seen to want to expand and grow, Farmland would be looked at as having development potential, rather than open countryside, because we, or rather the residents in favour of this development, have chosen it to be that way.
We have seen huge changes, urbanisations (and merger) of nearby villages such as Woolavington and Puriton. Large infrastructure changes and villages overwhelmed with new developments, This will continue, with more land used to expand and exploit the countryside around villages.
Local land owners, agents and developers who are constantly on the lookout for land for their next development will be actively monitoring the situation and taking advantage of any opportunity to expand into areas that were previously out of bounds as far as planning was concerned. For example, areas such as the land around Bawdrip. What this means is that if one development gets the go ahead outside the village boundary, then when the next planning proposal outside the village is submitted, this carries a lot more weight in the eyes of the developers and of Sedgemoor DC and is far more likely to succeed.
The Government has very recently started looking at ways to change the way land is used because of the housing shortage. A new draft Bill is planned for 2022/2023. If and when implemented into law, it will will force local councils to seek and development land. New land mapping, changes to the national planning framework and simplifying planning applications with zoning and 'permission in principle' will make it much easier for development to take place. We will soon have new fast tracking for planning and this includes amendment of existing permitted development rights, this should be very worrying for residents of village edges and open farmland just outside towns. Link to CPRE 2021
Housing secretary said that changes will be coming soon. Link Here
In short, due to upcoming radical changes to planning law, the consequences of allowing the village boundary to be broken now are far wider than may initially seem to be the case. Allowing just one site to go ahead will show the village is now willing to expand in all directions. Loss of countryside would have a negative impact on such a small village.
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The fields and open countryside we are lucky enough to be surrounded by now may not be there in five or ten years' time. We need to act now to stop the change. We can change how Bawdrip develops, we can change its history, we do have a say over landowners' and agents' plans for land, but once that green line has been broken and building starts, it would be incredibly hard (if not impossible) to stop.
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Below is a map showing the settlement boundary of Bawdrip. Land outside the green line maybe at risk if new developments outside of the boundary go ahead.
