Land Adjacent Orchard Cottage Hare Lane Buckland St Mary Chard Somerset TA20 3JS Data via plota.co.uk

25/02815/FUL - Full Application Approved

Proposal

Change of use of agricultural barn to residential dwelling. Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
24 Nov 2025
✓
Validated
1 Dec 2025
✓
Approved
14 Jul 2026

Approved on 14 Jul 2026 · Delegated (Use on Recommendations) · Last checked 5 Oct 2026

Site constraints 6

Grade II listed: Higher Hare Farmhouse
List entry 1057011 · 29 m away
Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Historic England ↗
Nutrient neutrality catchment: Parrett Catchment
New homes and overnight accommodation must show nutrient neutrality before approval.
Natural England advice: extra wastewater in these catchments harms protected habitats, so schemes must offset their nutrient load, usually through credits.
Blackdown Hills National Landscape
Great weight to conserving the landscape; major development restricted.
Previously an area of outstanding natural beauty, which is still the designation in law. Since 2023 authorities must seek to further its purpose, not merely have regard to it.
Public footpath 7 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site: obstructing a path without a diversion order is an offence, and work cannot start until the order is confirmed.
Compiled from highway authority data, not the legal definitive map. A few authorities have not published, so no path shown is not proof there is none.
Agricultural land, grade 4
Poor quality farmland, not best and most versatile. Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 3. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

Work with planning data?

Every application in South Somerset - and every UK council - as a live feed, an API, or a bulk CSV export.

About Plota's data service

Important details

Application type
Full Application
Postcode
TA20 3JS
Received
24 Nov 2025
Validated
1 Dec 2025
Ward
CHARD NORTH
Parish
Buckland St Mary
Target decision
17 Jul 2026
Decision
Application Permitted with Conditions
Decision date
14 Jul 2026
Decision level
Delegated (Use on Recommendations)
Applicant
Show
Agent
Sutherland PLS Ltd

How this decision compares

Decided in 225 days from validation, 170 days slower than South Somerset's median of 55 for full applications. Approved, as 94% of full applications here are.

56%decided within 8 weeks
94%approved
185decided in the last year

Plota live figures for full applications decided by South Somerset in the last twelve months, from validation. South Somerset decision record →

Public comments

9comments received
2 objecting7 supporting

78% support · above the UK average of 16%

7 neighbours consulted · Last counted 5 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
PP-14424512
Planning Portal ref
PP-14424512
Statutory expiry
26 Jan 2026
Env. assessment
No