AN attempt has been launched to revive plans for more than 220 new homes in Wellington which were approved nearly 15 years ago. Mancraft Ltd, which owns the historic former Fox’s woollen mill in Tonedale, has asked Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) to grant a ‘lawful development certificate’.

It would mean the council accepted work had started on a 2008 scheme and could now be continued without the need to go through the process of obtaining fresh planning approval.

Former owner Kenmore Hydon One Ltd was given permission for 223 dwellings and about a dozen commercial units in May, 2008. An earlier site owner, Courtleigh Securities, won approval in June, 2006, for 148 homes and a number of industrial units to be built.

It then sold to Kenmore Hydon, which was allowed to increase the number of homes on the 12.6-acre site by 50 per cent. However, the Kenmore Hydon development came to a standstill in August, 2008, as the then-credit crunch began to take effect on the UK economy.

Now, planning consultant James Newton, of Rapleys, wants SWT to rule that work carried out by contractor S Roberts and Son Ltd was enough to qualify legally as the development starting within the three-year time limit set by the council.

Otherwise, the permission to build would have expired in May, 2011, leaving Mancraft to start the planning application process over again.

Mr Newton said ‘a genuine intention to proceed with the development’ was shown by Kenmore Homes in June, 2007, when it prepared a financial appraisal, included consultancy fee estimates and construction costs.

Various works were later carried out by the contractor, with quotations provided between 2007 and 2009, including removing ceilings, asbestos roof sheets, guttering, downpipes, tiles, and plaster from different buildings, as well as boiler, oil tank, and roof work and some demolition, plus engineering excavation and back filling of the site access road.

Mr Newton said: “The works listed are considered to constitute ‘material operations’ for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and therefore qualify as sufficient to initiate the development.”

He said discussions concerning the start of the development had also been held with the former Taunton Deane Borough Council between 2011 and 2016.

Mr Newton said although there was no formal record of pre-commencement conditions having been met, some council planning records relating to the Tonedale Mill site were lost in a fire and it was unclear if any would have been relevant to Mancraft’s case.

But, he said: “The commencement of development in breach of a planning condition or conditions does not necessarily mean that a development is unlawful.”

Mr Newton said there was case law showing a distinction should be made between ‘positively worded’ conditions which required action ‘before development takes place’ and ‘true conditions precedent’ which usually involved stronger wording, such as ‘not to commence development until...’ or ‘no development shall take place until...’.”

He said only a breach of the latter was likely to result in unlawful commencement.

“If the breached condition is not central to the development/does not go to the heart of the permission, it will not render the development unlawful, and the permission will remain alive,” said Mr Newton.

“It is also pertinent that under certain circumstances the courts can judge works carried out in breach of a condition to be legally irrelevant if it would be irrational for the planning authority to enforce against that breach.”

SWT planning officer Karen Wray has set a target date of January 30 to decide on the Mancraft application.

See more planning applications in this week's Wellington Weekly News