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Planning permission for New Scout HQ in the green belt

Ashley Cartman • 22 July 2021

Councillors overturn planning recommendation to allow Scouts to build in the green belt

At a meeting of North Somerset Council's Planning and Regulatory Committee last night I joined with other Councillors to unanimously reject a Council officer recommendation to deny permission to our local Scouts to build a new HQ in the green belt. I was pleased to be able to propose the motion and spoke in favour the application. 

My fellow ward Councillor Stuart McQuillan, who was instrumental in drafting the motion to approve the application,  seconded the proposal and also spoke in its favour. I felt very privileged to be able to play a role in helping the Scouts bring their dream to a reality. Even though there is still much to do it is incredible how far the project has come since the Scouts had to move out of their old HQ on Providence Lane. I know my predecessor as your North Somerset Councillor, Charles Cave, has been involved over many years with this project and has worked very hard to help the Scouts. 

National protections for the green belt meant that Council Officers had little choice but to recommend refusal of the application. The site is situated on Wild Country Lane, just over the railway bridge on the right hand side (see map) and is firmly outsde the village boundary and in the green belt. 


The Planning and Regulatory Committee of the council took a different view and approved the application citing the 'very special circumstances' that existed, circumstances that they felt justified the approval. 


Nonetheless a number of serious matters remain to resolved and permission will only be granted if a  number of conditions can be met.  Perhaps the most important is the access to the site itself. The current proposals would see the entrance being outside the current 30mph village speed limit - this is clearly of concern and further work is needed to see whether appropriate mitiagations can be made. 

Other concerns raised during the meeting included outstanding ecological surveys as well as ensuring that any harm done the green belt can be mitigated as far as possible. As you can see from the pictures above the the new building is designed with a very natural style so that it blends into the green belt as far as possible.


if you would like to see the full detailed application, it can be found on the North Somerset Councils website



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