KIM Winter and partner Robert Cummins are ’quietly confident’ their planning application regarding improvements to their home in Mantle Street will be approved by the district council.

It follows a meeting of the town council’s planning committee on Monday (November 1) when they received the full support of local councillors.

One councillor said in normal circumstances it would have taken less than 30 seconds to approve plans for a Wellington couple to have cladding installed on their home.

But Cllr John Thorne said these were not normal circumstances and the couple had been put through untold stress because of the controversy over the cladding at their property

The WWN reported in July that the couple faced a £4,000 bill to remove the cladding from the upper part of their home after being told by Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT) that they should have asked for planning permission to install it.

It came after a nearby resident complained to the council saying they did not think the cladding was in keeping with the rest of the street, although the property itself was not a listed building.

So the couple have had to fork out more money on applying to SWT for planning permission to retain the cladding on the upper half of the front of their house.

Cllr Thorne added: “The issue about this came up because the house is in a conservation area and near listed buildings.

“There are some 14 letters of support for the application on the district council’s website and there are no comments from the highways department, and it is pretty clear that this isn’t going to cause any harm to the conservation area.

“Admittedly, this is a retrospective application but had it come to us before the work had been done we’d have taken about 30 seconds to approve it.

“People have the right to object to a planning application but I blame the district council for not dismissing the complaint and I’m sorry that the couple concerned have had to go through this expensive planning process and all the stress.

“How much officer time and cost has gone into this? It is ridiculous! No wonder the Government wants to simplify the planning process.”

Cllr Thorne also criticised the complainant for remaining anonymous.

But Cllr Andrew Govier said they should be ‘careful about criticising the district council when they don’t agree with us’.

“If we were talking about a picture postcard cottage we would be up in arms about this application but overall we should support this,” added Cllr Govier.

The Mayor, Cllr Mark Lithgow, in support of the application, said: “Mantle Street is an eclectic part of town – there is no uniformity down there.”

And Cllr Marcus Barr added: “This does enhance the street and makes it look fresher.”

Although the town council has supported the planning application the final decision rests with SWT.

n Kim Winter and her partner Robert Cummins told the WWN they had received wonderful support and they would like to thank everyone for this.

"We know that this is not yet the end of the matter," added Kim. "We should not take it for granted, but we are quietly confident our planning application will go through."