The Galleries Shop, Freshford Lane, Freshford

Proposal
The Galleries Shop, Freshford Lane, Freshford, Bath, Bath And North East Somerset, BA2 7UR
Our Response

The Galleries is a community shop and café that first opened in 2009, situated within the Bath Green Belt, Cotswolds AONB, and the indicative landscape setting of the Freshford conservation area.

BPT maintains its original comments in response to application 12/04562/FUL:

“We appreciate the value of local shops and believe they are important to the local community. However, we would like to take this opportunity to remind the applicant that further development should not detract from the openness and character of the Green Belt. Even in this discreet location, careful consideration needs to be given to its impact on the Green Belt."

BPT’s Green Belt SPD identifies a volume increase “of about a third” as more likely to be acceptable and of a proportionate scale. Permitted application 12/04562/FUL proposed a smaller extension which would constitute a 28% volume increase. However, this proposal marks a much larger volume increase of 56%, outside the parameters of what is typically considered as an acceptable extension within the Green Belt.

Therefore, whilst we appreciate the community value of this building and appreciate the necessity of ongoing alterations and additions to suit local use, we maintain the need to justify an extensive increase in the proposed extension’s size, and how the associated public benefit and exceptional circumstances are appropriately balanced against sustaining landscape character.

Application Number: 22/00088/FUL
Application Date: 10/01/2022
Closing Date: 03/02/2022
Address: The Galleries Shop, Freshford Lane, Freshford
Our Submission Status: Comment