A major housing development in a growing Somerset market town can soon be completed after plans for the final phase were approved. Bloor Homes South West has been constructing the Somerton Mead housing development, which will eventually comprise 140 homes between Bancombe Road and Bradley Hill Lane in the north-west of Somerton.
After the first phase (comprising 71 homes) was completed, Somerset Council gave the go-ahead in January for the second phase of the development, seeing 59 homes delivered at the northern end of the site. The council has now approved plans for the final ten homes within the site, along with the delivery of a key pedestrian link between the new homes and the town’s primary school.
Phases two and three of the Somerton Mead development were significantly delayed by the ongoing phosphates crisis, with additional mitigation needing to be secured to prevent damage to the Somerset Levels and Moors. Numerous solutions have been attempted to unlock housing across the county, including the fallowing of agricultural land to generate phosphate credits, upgrades to water water treatment plans or the creation of new wetlands.
In this instance, Bloor Homes has purchased phosphate credits to fund off-site mitigation, created by fallowing farmland in the Blackdown Hills national landscape (formerly area of outstanding natural beauty, or AONB). In addition, none of the ten homes within phase three (which lie at the north-eastern corner of the site) can be occupied before Wessex Water has upgraded the waste water treatment plant on Barpool Lane to the north of the town (which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025).
The plans – which include a pedestrian link towards King Ina Church of England Academy on Northfield – were approved by the council’s planning officers through their delegated powers, rather than a public decision by its planning committee south (which handles major applications within the former South Somerset area). Planning officer Colin Begeman said: “The site is located in a sustainable location with access to a range of services and facilities.
Plans for 10 homes at Somerton Mead on Bancombe Road in Somerton (phase 3)
(Image: Bloor Homes South West)
“The proposal is not considered to result in such a significant and adverse impact upon visual amenity, residential amenity, highway safety, flood risk/ drainage or ecology/ biodiversity as to justify a refusal of planning permission. It is considered that there are no adverse impacts that would ‘significantly and demonstrably’ outweigh the benefits of providing an additional ten dwellings in this sustainable location.”
Somerton has seen significant housing growth in the last decade, including the Northfield development of 133 homes near the Somerton Mead site, the Patch Meadows site of 150 homes on the B3153 Langport Road, and the Buttercross Meadows development of 59 homes on Cartway Lane. The council will make a ruling in 2025 on plans for a further 16 homes on the former King Ina infants school site on Etsome Terrace, near the town’s fire station.