Friday, 13 June 2014

Planning Application for second Cheddar Reservior

Mark Furlonger - Technical Director

 
Temple Group has acted as the planning authority through Planning Performance Agreements on a number of occasions, but on 10th June we finished our biggest project – and delivered a planning application for the second reservoir at Cheddar, on behalf of Sedgemoor District Council.
 
It took almost two years to get here and longer for the applicants to draw up the 160ha scheme, though the actual application was less than 6 months.
 
Having been at the sharp-end on a number of large infrastructure projects, this was different. We saw, in every detail, how other consultants dealt with planning applications by having to deconstruct it, line by line and make sure we could support it at planning committee.
 
But, it is very interesting being on the local authority side and going through the pre-application to committee cycle. Especially when a Council like Sedgemoor has spent months dealing with some of the worst flooding for years and then dealt with water that the area did actually need!
 
Having worked with the applicants at pre-app stage, validated and assessed their application and a (not in-substantial) Environmental Statement, none of the public objected to the application. At the end of the 10-year build period, Cheddar will have a great new recreational resource.
 
And a lot more water to drink….

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