Somerset this week: 2 May 2025
This week we report on elections in Chard, Keynsham and WECA, more café culture for Wells, another judicial review, a row over an Ofsted inspection in Taunton and disappointment in Castle Cary
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Elections 1: Chard Town Council
Over the past decade Crimchard has always been a bit LibDemy. The ward, to the north west of the town centre of Chard, elects three councillors at town council elections and in 2019 all three were LibDems.
Cast your mind back to the last town council election in Chard (in 2022) and the three winning candidates in Crimchard were once again all LibDems. In fact it is worth dwelling on who those winning candidates were.
Topping the list was Martin Carnell, a respected councillor and district councillor he took on the Mayorship of Chard Town Council in an attempt to sort out the crisis at the council over bullying. He resigned shortly afterwards when he found he could not get the support for a new way forward from some of the senior members of his own party on the council.
Second on the list in 2022 was Claire Richter. She now sits as an Independent councillor.
And third was Andy Grief-Page, the councillor whose resignation triggered the latest by-election.
In the intervening period the LibDems, who for nearly a decade have held a majority on Chard Town Council, have watched their majority get whittled away. Public disenchantment has grown, what with the bullying allegations, three independent reports into bullying and high staff turnover including numerous clerks.
Just before the resignation of Cllr Grief-Page the LibDems had eight councillors, the Greens three and there were four Independents.
Once Cllr Grief-Page resigned, that left the LibDems without a majority.
So the contest to replace him would decide who controlled Chard Town Council. The LibDems certainly threw everything at the election, local MP Adam Dance was seen canvassing around Crimchard more than once.
In the event it could not have been closer.
Literally.
A single vote decided the outcome:
178 Tricia O Brien (LibDems)
177 Gary Molloy (Independent)
106 Lynsey Arscott (Green Party)
A single vote decided the outcome
This close result, in a seat that in the recent past would reliably return LibDems every time, speaks volumes. Still there were plenty of relieved LibDems on hand to cheer the result. Yeovil MP Adam Dance said: “I’m thrilled to see Tricia elected to Chard Town Council. I had the pleasure of working with her on South Somerset District Council, and I know first-hand how committed, knowledgeable and passionate she is about serving her community.”
There is no doubt that things are changing at Chard Town Council. There is a new clerk, a new approach to doing business and a line has been drawn under the shenanigans of the past. That has perhaps reassured the community that things are going to get better. But the LibDems look as if they still have some way to go before they completely regain the trust of the people of Crimchard.
Judicial Review?
Leave to conduct a judicial review of a planning application in the village of Henstridge has been granted. The case will be heard by a judge later this year.
However were it not for the determination of a group of villagers, and one in particular, the case might never have been heard at all.
Henstridge Parish Council decided they could not themselves go for judicial review as it would be outside their authority as a parish council. Instead the action is being funded by local resident Paul Dimishky with the support of many in the village. He is hoping to fundraise £10,000 of the costs via a Just Giving page. Judicial Review can certainly be expensive, with anything from £50,000 being the likely cost.
This is a case that goes to the heart of the relationship between councils and developers. It also speaks to the concerns that many residents have expressed in Somerset, about the approach of Somerset Council to enforcement.
The application was resisted from the start. Originally Gladman submitted their application in 2017. It was turned down by the then South Somerset District Council. However the developer won on appeal in 2018. But not before the Inspector who heard the appeal decided to add a number of conditions precedent relating to highway safety.
Subsequently, Gladman sold the site on to Barrett (under the David Wilson banner).
Attempts to get approval from Somerset Council for various highway schemes to meet the Inspector’s conditions came and went.
Given the delays, Barrett appealed and a further appeal via a public inquiry was scheduled for October 2024, only for the appeal to be withdrawn at the last moment.
As time on the original planning application was running out Barrett then started work on the site. Even that is disputed with villagers saying actual construction work had commenced; the developer claiming they were just protecting the site with the prior approval of Somerset Council. This is important as if work is not commenced within a given timeframe, the planning approval lapses.
Instead of challenging the work done by the developer, Somerset Council merely issued a retrospective Certificate of Lawful Existing Use or Development (CLEUD).
And this is the point of contention that has given rise to the Judicial Review claim.
Two grounds for the review have been approved. First the alleged failure of Somerset Council to acknowledge the Condition Precedent set by the Inspector and second an alleged failure by Somerset Council in its statutory duty to give adequate reasons and conclusions when passing the CLEUD.
Somerset Council is not defending the Judicial Review
Somerset Council is not defending the Judicial Review but the developer, David Wilson Homes is. A spokesperson from David Wilson Homes told Somerset Confidential®: "While we cannot provide more detail for legal reasons at this time, David Wilson Homes remains committed to providing 130 new homes in Henstridge with our proposed development, which includes 46 affordable homes, as well as creating green spaces and a new play area for all the community to enjoy.”
Mr Dimishky told Somerset Confidential®: “I honestly believe this is of national importance with many councils being forced into inappropriate and unsafe developments because they are unable to challenge big developers with deep pockets. We do need more housing but it has to be built in accordance with the national planning framework and within council policy on safety standards.
The situation is about to be made much worse with the government Infrastructure Bill which allows central government to override local decisions taken by parish councils who do actually know about local issues and problems. This is not meant to be political, but we do need a common sense approach to ensure homes are actually built in the right place.”
If you would like to visit Paul’s Just Giving page and donate you can do so here.
The trouble with Ofsted
A considerable amount of upset has been caused by the latest report by Ofsted into Pyrland School, formerly known as the Taunton Academy. The name change (in July 2023) and fresh start followed two Requires Improvement assessments by Ofsted in 2018 and 2022.
The school which has just under 1,000 pupils and when a monitoring visit was carried out in January 2024, it suggested that things were on track for considerable improvement. The visit concluded overall that: “Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is necessary for the school to become good.”
However the comments of the inspectors, noting a new leadership team was in place, were full of praise for the actions being taken.
So a new full inspection on 28 and 31 January 2025 might have been expected to contain a lot of good news.
The publication of the full Ofsted inspection report on Tuesday (29 April) had none of that. The school was rated “Inadequate” with the opening line noting: “Pyrland School does not provide an acceptable standard of education for pupils”.
The school was not impressed that the Ofsted inspection took place just two weeks after the head teacher at Pyrland resigned suddenly. Pyrland School belongs to The Richard Huish Trust, which noted: “It is with significant disappointment that we share with you the news that Lisa Webber has resigned from her post as Headteacher of Pyrland School.”
That left the inspectors looking at a school in transformation with an interim head in post for a fortnight. Ironically just three days before the report was published, the new Executive Head was announced as Mark Lawrence who is also Executive Head at Bucklers Mead in Yeovil. He will continue in both posts.
So with action being taken, the words of the Ofsted Report will ring hollow and the best one can say is the timing of the inspection might have been better.
Whilst loaded with negative comments, one of the most important things you want from a school is safeguarding of pupils. The report, without going into details, notes: “The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.” Yet this presumably important aspect of school life is not reflected in any of the grades given by the inspectors (which were “Inadequate” in all four categories assessed).
“The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”
The report highlights issues of truancy and persistent absence, classroom disruption, a lack of ambition in the curriculum and not enough help for SEND pupils and, yes, those are concerns for any school. But we return to the central issue of the timing. Should the Inspection have gone ahead in January this year? Was Ofsted unnecessarily inflexible?
As if that was not bad enough, the reporting of the school’s problems has led to a lot of negative comments on social media with parents naming individual staff members and making derogatory comments about them.
The school are taking some of these very seriously, to the point where they have consulted with their legal team about potential action for libel. And of course they (and everybody else) have a duty to consider the mental health of all involved. The sad case of Ruth Perry whose suicide while waiting for an inspection report, in January 2023, should be at the front of everyone’s mind.
It took a year until January 2024 for Ofsted to apologise to Ms Perry’s family. However, looking at the circumstances behind the latest inspection at Pyrland School, you have to wonder if lessons have really been learned?
You can read the full Ofsted Report on Pyrland School here.
Elections 2 - West of England Mayor
While much of the rest of the country was getting over-excited about council elections this week, Somerset has been relatively quiet on the matter. That’s mainly because there are no council elections taking place for seats on any of the three unitary councils in Somerset.
However, there was one election of interest for residents of Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) and that was the election of the next West of England Mayor.
The West of England Mayoralty takes in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and B&NES (but oddly neither North Somerset nor Somerset Council).
The incumbent Mayor, Labour’s Dan Norris was not standing, having been elected the MP for North East Somerset & Hanham having replaced Jacob Rees-Mogg in the 2024 General Election.
The election was interesting not least because of predictions that the Greens would do well. The Greens may be (ironically) under-represented in the rural areas around Bristol, but poll exceptionally well in Bristol itself. They are the largest party on Bristol City Council with 34 out of 70 councillors, have an MP Carla Denyer, for Bristol Central and in the Police & Crime Commissioner elections came third in the 2024 elections but second in the Bristol area.
However the Bristol vote proved not to be enough. The Green Party finished third, some 4,000 votes behind Reform UK, albeit they polled second in Bristol itself.
In the end it was a comfortable Labour victory for Helen Goodwin following a three way tussle between Labour, the Green Party and Reform UK.
Reform UK’s candidate, Arron Banks is perhaps best known for the allegations (all of which he denies) that he was connected to Russian money allegedly behind the donations he made to the Vote Leave campaign.
The six candidates standing for election were:
51,197 Helen Godwin (Labour)
45,252 Arron Banks (Reform UK)
41,094 Mary Page (Green)
34,092 Steve Smith (Conservative)
28,711 Oli Henman (Liberal Democrat)
4,682 Ian Scott (Independent)
Design failure?
More houses were approved by Somerset Council’s Area South Committee at their April meeting. Plans for another 162 buildings in Castle Cary at Torbay Road were waved through in a unanimous decision of all 13 councillors.
Much of the opposition to the development related to the design. Castle Cary Town Council noted that the proposed plans were unsympathetic to the materials and form of the rest of the town. Negative comments were also received from the “Designing Out Crime Officer” relating to pathways, lighting and security while CPRE objected to the application, citing a significant reduction in design quality compared to the approved 2015 outline application.
Similar comments about the poor quality of design were raised by many of the 81 members of the public who commented on the application.
The planning officer disagreed noting: “Proposed materials reflect the character of Castle Cary and the surrounding residential area, incorporating stone, brick, and render to ensure a cohesive visual connection with existing development.”
The officer then added: “The scale and massing of the dwellings have been designed to be in keeping with the character of Castle Cary, ensuring that the development sits comfortably within its context.”
So that’s all right then?
Not according to CPRE’s Fletcher Robinson. He reminded us that: “Somerset Council appointed a Quality Review Panel which criticised this scheme on many grounds - it’s a low density estate of mainly high value executive homes on large plots.”
The officer says that has been taken into account claiming: “Since the Quality Review Panel review in 2024, the layout has been reconfigured to redistribute the affordable housing, specifically around the western end of the site to achieve a ‘tenure blind’ layout.”
Somerset Council’s Place-Making Manager was not asked to comment
Perhaps more worrying, given the amount of concern about the design of the site, Somerset Council’s Place-Making Manager was not asked to comment on the scheme. We asked Somerset Council to comment on this.
Undoubtedly it was a question that posed challenges. So they didn’t answer it but gave a response to a different question instead. This is what they told us: “This was a reserved matters application that was subject to an independent design review undertaken by the quality review panel. This audit included a site visit and a detailed report on the scheme which highlighted areas for amendment. These amendments were provided and the scheme was subject to re-consultation. Officers were ultimately satisfied with the changes proposed and recommended approval to the Planning Committee who determined the application favourably.”
All relevant points we have no doubt. But why was Somerset Council’s Place-Making Manager not asked to comment? And why have the council avoided the question?
Election 3: Keynsham Town Council
The last full town council election for Keynsham Town Council saw control staying firmly with the LibDems. To be precise: 11 LibDems, three Labour and one Green.
But it was not always so. Cast your mind back to 2011 and the Town Council was rock solid Conservative.
The town council election in 2011 saw nine Conservatives, two Labour, one LibDem and surprisingly perhaps, one BNP.
By and large it seems that over time there is a small but steady minority for Labour while control of the council is fought out between Conservative and LibDem. As is the case in much of Somerset of course. The LibDems had been steadily chipping away at the Conservative vote until gaining a majority for the first time in a by-election in 2021.
Yesterday there was a by-election in Keynsham South ward following the resignation of LibDem Alan Greenfield.
So you might have expected the LibDems to be favourites to win once more.
Except that they didn’t field a candidate.
To say the least, this is unusual. Somerset Confidential® was told that this was down to an administrative error with the nomination papers not being filed by the due date.
It may be unusual, but it is not unique. Regular readers of this outlet may recall in May 2021 something similar happened in Wells. As nominations were announced for the by-election for Wells St Thomas ward of Mendip District Council the LibDem candidate had been rejected “on a technicality”. Somerset Confidential® understood that the candidate’s papers were handed in after the deadline. Red faces for the LibDems all round.
However, the election was still to be fought and won and three candidates were left to battle it out. Deb Cooper stood for Labour, George Morgan as a non-aligned candidate described as a “Longstanding Local Youth Mentor and Volunteer”.
Given the history and the fact the town has previously elected a BNP candidate, we might have expected Reform UK candidate Daniel Condick to do well. A former Conservative candidate, Mr Condick stood in January’s by-election to elect a councillor for the Saltford on Bath & North East Somerset Council. Then he got 10% of the vote coming fourth ahead of the Green Party and Labour.
Times have changed. In the end he lost again, but coming second by just a handful of votes. The final results was:
612 Deb Cooper (Labour)
601 Daniel Condick (Reform UK)
411 George Morgan
Café culture in Wells to stay
In front of the town hall (not sure how a city has a town hall but these things happen) of the City of Wells is a grand open cobbled square. To be precise, not so much a square as an L shaped area filling the area down to the ancient fountain at the south west end of Market Place.
In the days before COVID the centre of the square would be a car park on all days other than market days. Convenient perhaps, but not the most picturesque scene to place in an open space overlooked by venerable buildings such as the Bishop’s Palace, the Cathedral and Town Hall.
The COVID pandemic reacquainted us all with the virtues of public open spaces. Not only that, but having the main square closed to cars left more room for the numerous cafes around the square to make the most of the sunny weather.
A series of temporary traffic orders were introduced by Wells City Council to stop the area being used as a car park. The whole of the Market Square area became a pedestrian zone.
To dissuade vehicles form trying to park in the square, a series of planters and bollards were placed along the centre of the Market Place.
Loading and unloading for local businesses is allowed and the market continues on market days (Wednesday and Saturday) with traders able to access the square in vehicles to set up and close their stall at the start and end of each market.
The Wells Market is thriving, always full of stalls and always busy. The fact that the pedestrian zone will work around the market will be welcome news.
However, the last of three temporary traffic orders runs out in June this year. And the rules do not allow for any further temporary orders. To continue, the City Council had to agree to make the situation permanent.
Which it now is, after the council passed unanimously at the meeting at the end of March. So the pedestrianised square should be here to stay assuming the application to make the order permanent is accepted by Somerset Council.
Perhaps that’s one good thing to come from the COVID pandemic?
Early morning door knock
Yesterday morning (1 May) residents of Blackford, a small village between Sparkford and Wincanton were disturbed by the sight of a very substantial police presence. Something that is uncommon in rural Somerset. Let’s be honest, in most of rural Somerset seeing one member of the police in a day is a major event and talking point.
Anyway in Blackford yesterday morning a property in the village appeared to be surrounded by Police. Non one was commenting from the local Police force.
By coincidence, the same day the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced a new multi-million pound international bribery investigation.
They arrested three individuals blu-3 who are suspected of paying over £3 million of bribes to former associates of Mace Group in relation to the construction of a data centre in the Netherlands for the technology giant Microsoft.
They added that they had searched five properties including one in Somerset.
We asked the Serious Fraud Office for comment. We specifically asked if the Blackford property was the property raided in connection with their investigation. However they told us they were unable to add anything to their previous statement.
We approached Blu 3 for a comment and they would only tell us: “blu-3 is currently supporting an external SFO investigation and is fully cooperating with the agency. We take matters of this nature extremely seriously and are committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct across all of our operations.”
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Elections 1: Chard Town Council
The Yeovil MP was seen canvassing in the Crimchard ward on at least 4 occasions along with his (paid?) staff and held an MP drop-in surgery at Chard Guildhall on 9th April which surely should not have been permitted during the purdah, pre-election period. Clearly the rules are there to be broken.....