Wotton Town Council Extraordinary Meeting & Planning Meeting

27th October 2025

My informal notes and personal comment from the town council meeting on Monday that I attended along with SDC Cllr Braun. GCC/SDC Cllr Cohen had sent apologies.

Extraordinary Town Council Meeting

The primary purpose of this short meeting, prior to planning, was to approve the candidates who had put themselves forward for co-option on to the Town Council and in short order Paula, Fred, Lesley, Becky and Ros were sat in their seats. Congratulations! Talk about being thrown in at the deep end!

The first task was to approve the minutes of the meeting of 29th September 2025. I know that the Civic Centre Solar Project was discussed. One item of business was to approve payment for the Town Hall works and it seems the total cost of the project was inadvertently disclosed so had to be removed from the approved minutes. Also wording clarified that the monies on the loan application were for capital work as opposed to maintenance.

Next was to approve quote for installing the memorial bench plinth for Terry Luker on Synwell Green. The works have already been done. A new Cllr. asks if three quotes were sought. Below threshold. Next to ratify costs for materials to refurbish the 80+ benches in the town. 10 benches have been identified for repair. £1652. Recycled wood. Survey 18 months ago. A new Cllr. asks about sponsorship for benches. Another new Cllr. asked about people wanting to purchase benches. Approved. The another ratification of payment for lighting work done to prevent electrical circuit trips. £1267. Had to be done urgently no time to seek alternate quotes.

Next up the Council is required to review data handling practises to comply with new external audit requirements by end of March 26. Cllrs told it's a complicated procedure. A whopping £3995+vat which is unbudgeted will have to be taken out of 'professional fees'. Chair asks if this is this an annual or one off fee. It's a review, giving a report of things to be implemented along with training. Cllrs have a habit of forwarding e-mails with personal information, so data hygiene needs improvement, for example. The company running only has a few spaces left on courses and is holding them. The company is called Breakthrough communications - specialist for town and parish councils. Mayor thinks they're a monopoly. Clerk reminds council that they've just lost the deputy clerk and the clerk cannot do all the work needed to be done. Cllr says GDPR is mandatory. Assertion 10 - NALC is part of audit. Approved.

Council then approved the October accounts for payment, appx. £45k on various items. The ongoing costs of the Old Town Toilets which has been closed for the last eight years or so, for ongoing water and electric fees were queried. Clerk informs the cllr that this is alwasys raised by new cllrs. It is cheaper to retain than remove. (personal back of a beer mat calculation £25 per month over 8 years = £2,400, if this is the cheaper option I'd hate to see the more expensive one!)* This calculation has been revised. Approved with quite a few abstentions, I guess because the new Cllrs, having not seen backing papers, felt uncomfortable.

The rescheduling of the inquorate Town Council meeting of 20th Oct to the 3rd November 2025 to enable consideration of the items on that meeting’s agenda.

The meeting closed.

Planning Meeting

I don't normally attend planning meetings but because of the previous meeting and the Symn Lane item being on this agenda myself and Cllr Braun decided to stay. This meeting was due to consider a somewhat controversial application that straddles some land between Shepherds Leaze and Water Lane. Consequently, about a dozen residents were in attendance to voice their concerns. Kindly, prior to the start of the meeting, the Chair spoke with everyone and offered to bring this application to the front of the agenda so they didn't have to sit through the whole meeting. :)

S.25/1969/OUT Land At 45 Water Lane. Outline application for the erection of six dwellings
The meeting was paused to allow the residents to speak: The first resident was worried about wildlife conservation. They live next to the site and have seen bats, newts and badgers living in this habitat. They were appalled that the trees there were removed. The report accompanying the application says there are no ponds on the site but the insist there are ponds there. Also worried about contamination of the site and a decline in wildlife. Another resident points out the Shepherds Leaze is a narrow road with a school on the junction. There is on-street parking, both sides, all the way down. The proposed entrance to this development is close to the only passing point. They are also concerned that there are only two parking spaces per house. The existing tee junction will become a cross roads. Road markings. The access point will take away 5 or 6 parking spaces. Another resident uses part of land under licence. Flooding is a big concern. 26 years ago their house completely flooded. Poor drainage. Issues with subsidence due to trees. Others voice concerns about parking and concerns about school traffic being horrendous. Road signage put out on verges to people to stop parking inappropriately were parked in between! Another queried the reports volume of traffic recorded as low (recorded in the wrong place). Another mentioned that their garden had fallen into land due to poor boundary maintenance.

The meeting then resumed
Cllrs concerned about the access road width. Bin lorry doesn't have to enter site meaning residents will have to take waste close to the site entrance. The meeting gets bogged down trying to locate pre-app advice. It's hopeless trying to do this on the fly a waste of everyone's time and people getting frustrated. Finally the chair sums up with the main issues. Biodiversity, Traffic survey, loss of parking, flood risk in fz1 but flooding not considered significant and width of access.

Most of the public left the meeting and the rest of the new applications were considered.

S.25/1810/HHOLD Bradley House, Bradley Green. Erection of 2 storey extension
Support.

S.25/1899/FUL Lion Lodge, Park Lane, Ozleworth. Installation of 4 no. passing bays to existing single lane
Support

S.25/1924/HHOLD 30 Cherry Orchard. Erection of a two-storey side extension and a single storey rear extension
Objected to shortening of the garage and making aperture smaller rendering it unusable as a garage whilst no. of beds going up from 3 to 4 therefore worsening the general parking issues in the vicinity. Issues with light and overlooking neighbours.

S.25/1470/LBC Royal Oak 3 – 5 Haw Street. Installation of perimeter protection to rear flat roof providing a fire escape. (Retrospective)
Apparently Historic England are normally reluctant to comment. Not this time. Cllrs commented it looks like scaffolding. Whilst they do need fire exit they need to rethink the design. Not in keeping. Better solutions can be found.
Object

S.25/1745/HHOLD 6 Potters Pond. Replacement rear extension and new fenestration
New cllrs. immediately seized on the pedantic processes that shroud/cloud planning applications relating to listed building. This application, to me, seemed quite straight forward. An extension on the rear of a listed building. Out of sight and clearly distinguishable from the main building. New cllrs. realised that these building have to be fit for living in as well as maintaining the heritage after long discussion the the chairs motion to object fell, another motion raised by a long serving Cllr to support passed. Wow. The long serving Cllr smiled...... no longer standing alone, I feel.

S.25/1746/LBC 6 Potters Pond
Same discussion again but on the listed building aspect this time. The voting was tied this time and the Chair cast his vote, deciding to object.

S.25/1977/TCA 10 Valley Road Silver Birch removal
It was felt there was not enough info to comment.

The some planning application appeals were noted.

Licence Application 25/00976/LAPRNW 40 Long Street
To note that an application for a Tap Room has been received by Stroud District Council. The chair informed the council that the application had been withdrawn so discussion was curtailed. (I'm not sure this is accurate though, I believe that the single resident who had lodged an objection at SDC has withdrawn it) The TC didn't receive notification of this application although I checked and confirmed that it was sent by SDC . WTC's cyber defences had quarantined it apparently.

Symn Lane Car Park development
The clerk updated council by saying that the developer had started talking with SDC again. They were alerted to this when I published information on my blog that had slipped into the public domain. The clerk wanted sight of the schedule of works, as it's just the revised plan on the planning portal. WTC asked a consulting company called Stripe to get involved close to the end of the work being done on the car park a few years ago. They produced a report listing various items that would need addressing before handover. SDC also asked their surveyor to have a look at these issues too. WTC combined these two reports into a 'schedule of works'. This formed the agreement negotiated by SDC CEO a year ago to get the car park completed by Spring 2025 with a backstop of September 2025. Having reengaged with SDC but still not talking to WTC the developer has asked for Stripe's contact details but the clerk implied that Stripe will only talk to/take instruction from WTC as they are the client. ¯\(ツ)/¯

As always, you know where I am (Cookability) if you have any questions or just want a chat.