PANELS
PANELS
HARINGEY QUALITY
REVIEW PANEL
SOMERSET QUALITY
REVIEW PANEL
East Quay, Watchet by Invisible Studio © Jim Stephenson
Somerset Council came into being on 1 April 2023, bringing together the services previously provided by the four district councils in Somerset (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset) and the services provided by Somerset County Council. It aims to build a greener, more sustainable Somerset, and is seeking to achieve a step change in the quality of new development.
The pressure for change and the need to build more homes to address local housing demand is felt across Somerset. The local authority is committed to ensuring that the quality of all new development is sensitive to the unique context and local character, incorporates the principles of placemaking and ensures viable resilient neighbourhoods.
To help meet its commitment to achieve high quality and sustainable places, Somerset Council has established a Quality Review Panel – an independent and expert panel which provides advice to applicants and the Council to support high standards in new development.
The Somerset Quality Review Panel is chaired by Andrew Beharrell, Senior Advisor at Pollard Thomas Edwards.
Friday Street, Minehead © Roger Cornfoot, Geograph
Meeting dates
One Quality Review Panel meeting date is provisionally arranged for each month.
Exceptionally, additional meetings may be required to accommodate the number of schemes requiring a review and/or to meet key dates for specific schemes.
The following dates are currently set for Somerset Quality Review Panel meetings during 2025:
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13 January
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10 February
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10 March
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14 April
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12 May
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9 June
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7 July
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4 August
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1 September
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13 October
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10 November
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8 December
Somerset College, School of Art and Design by Stride Treglown © Faithful & Gould Somerset West
Meeting fees
The charges for Somerset Quality Review Panel meetings are benchmarked against comparable panels providing design review services in Brighton & Hove in Sussex, and Folkestone & Hythe in Kent.
Current charges for Somerset Quality Review Panel meetings are:
• Full review in person £5,500 + VAT
online £4,300 + VAT
• Intermediate in person £4,475 + VAT
online £3,775 + VAT
• Chair’s review in person £3,300 + VAT
online £2,850 + VAT
The cost of venue hire, if required, would be in addition to the charges above.
Where a scheduled review is subsequently cancelled or postponed by the applicant, an administrative charge will be applied:
• 50% of full cost: less than two weeks before
scheduled review
• £800 + VAT: between two and four weeks
before scheduled review
Taunton Museum of Somerset, by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
