A move into an “important” building for a beloved village post office, plans for new holiday caravans on a farm, and a “natural” swimming pool at a farmhouse among the schemes people are trying to get planning permission for in Bath and North East Somerset and North Somerset. Every week, the two neighbouring unitary authorities receive hundreds of planning applications and we have selected some of the most interesting proposals. All planning applications are available for public inspection on the respective council’s website.
Most plans will be decided by council planning officers, but some of the most significant or contentious will go before the councils’ planning committee. Planning committees are made up of elected councillors but decisions should be decided based on the council’s planning policies, not local politics — although it doesn’t always turn out that way. The post office in is set to move into a new home in a historic building across the road.
Pensford Post Office is planning to move into the Miners’ Welfare Institute across the road, in a move that has the backing of the parish council. A planning application submitted to seeks to change the use of the institute from a disused cafe to the shop, and to turn the shop’s old premises into a one bedroom flat. A statement submitted with the planning application said: “The applicants own the family run post office/shop but have found the existing shop too restricted based on current day require.