Council applies for High Court order after planning permission granted in error

Somerset West & Taunton Council is seeking a High Court order to quash a planning decision it made by mistake.

The council in December approved an application for change of use of the Blue Ball Inn, in Bagborough, from a public house to holiday accommodation with ancillary bar and community use.

A council statement said it emerged that due to an administrative error planning permission was granted under delegated powers without the legal authority required; the volume of objections meant it should have been referred to the planning committee.

The statement said the council could not simply rescind the permission, even if granted in error.

Its leader Federica Smith-Roberts has initiated an application to the High Court to quash the planning permission as soon as possible after which it will be redetermined by the committee.

Somerset West & Taunton is set to be the shortest-lived local authority in recent UK history.

It was created in 2019 from a merger of Taunton Deane and West Somerset councils after a Local Government Association assessment deemed the latter financially unviable.

Somerset County Council soon after launched a campaign for a council unitary council and this will take effect on 1 April, taking in Somerset West & Taunton and the other districts of Mendip, Sedgemoor and South Somerset.

Mark Smulian