RESIDENTS of a small Somerset village near the A303 will have to keep waiting to find out whether 40 new homes will be delivered on their doorstep.

Your Land Partner Ltd. put forward outline plans in September 2022 to construct the Hamdon View development to the north of Silver Street in South Petherton, near the village’s community hospital and doctors’ surgery.

The site is one more than 50 in the former South Somerset area which was held up by the phosphates crisis, with the developer needing to secure additional mitigation to prevent any damage to the Somerset Levels and Moors.

The plans finally came before the council’s planning committee south in Yeovil on Tuesday afternoon (January 30), with planning officers recommending the development be given the go-ahead.

But councillors instead voted to defer a decision for at least another month, asking for more information about highway safety and the development’s environmental impact.

The site lies at the north-eastern edge of the village, on the edge of the Somerset Levels and two miles from the neighbouring village of Martock – though it is not included as an identified site within the South Petherton Neighbourhood Plan.

Access will be from Silver Street, near the current junction with Hospital Lane, with the existing garage between numbers 50 and 51a being demolished to provide a new path between the main road and the new homes.

Of the 40 homes proposed for the site, 14 will be affordable – meeting the council’s target of 35 per cent affordable homes for any new development of ten houses or more.

The site was identified by the council as a possible location for housing within its 2021 housing and economic land availability assessment (HELAA) – though it was not prioritised as a site which was immediately deliverable.

To prevent any net increase in phosphates, a waste water treatment plant will be installed within the site, with the developer also purchasing phosphate credits for off-site mitigation, generated by fallowing agricultural land at Woodrow Farm in Yeovil Marsh.

Darrell Booth, who lives on Silver Street, questioned whether the site could be reasonably developed without harming the character of the village and the surrounding landscape.

He said: “The site is identified as having a moderate to low capacity to accommodate development, and falls into the highest level of visual sensitivity – it’s at the very top of a hill as you approach the village.

“At an appeal in 2019, the Planning Inspectorate refused plans for just six homes here, feeling it would be an encroachment into the countryside and would not represent an acceptable integration with the surrounding built development.

“The Local Plan requires development to reinforce local distinctiveness, respect the local context, and preserve and enhance the landscape character of the area.”

Sarah Beaufoy, who lives on Roundwell Street, said the council should not fear losing a future appeal from the developer given the previous failed attempts to develop this “critical” site.

She said: “Birds of prey use this field to feed, but you and I know that these developers – or destroyers, as we should call them – don’t care.

“South Petherton people are fighting quite literally for their lives with regards to road safety.

“Please do not be afraid of appeals – let them waste their money. Twice now the inspectorate has supported councillors in refusing applications which used Silver Street.

“In September 2019, the inspector found driving movements on Silver Street to be ‘disorderly, which at times created hesitation and uncertainty from motorists, resulting in unsafe manoeuvres. That was for six more houses – and here we’re talking about 40.”

Diana Bailey added: “The speed and flow of traffic through Silver Street has increased considerably over the years.

“Speed surveys carried out by the parish council in July 2020, within 100 metres of the proposed access, show 36,775 vehicles using the street over a nine-day period – of which 53 per cent were exceeding the 30mph speed limit.

“This development add an additional eight per cent of traffic to the already congested Silver Street.”

South Petherton has seen interest from numerous housing developers in the last few years, with the village’s proximity to the Levels and connection to the A303 between Yeovil and Ilminster helping to drive up property prices.

Stonewater was granted permission in December 2022 to build a further 30 homes within its Flax Court development at the western edge of the village.

Acorn Developments SW Ltd is currently seeking consent to build a further 18 homes on Lampreys Lane – a site which is also held up by the phosphates crisis.

Councillor Adam Dance (whose South Petherton and Islemoor division includes the site) said: “What is the point of our parishes having neighbourhood plans if we don’t keep to them?

“This is prime agricultural land, and the access is opposite Hospital Lane at the narrowest point of Silver Street. I’ve been late to a council meeting in the past because I was stuck on that road for 45 minutes when the recycling truck is going along that.

“This road is not fit for purpose for the development we’ve already got in the village.”

Councillor Martin Wale (Chard North) said he had “grave difficulties” with the application given its access issues, adding: “In my view it would be extremely dangerous.

“Unless they can find another way into the site, where the land isn’t so steep, I’m not going to support this.”

Councillor Sue Osborne (Ilminster) added: “From driving through South Petherton, I do know Silver Street is not the greatest of roads.

“South Petherton was designed for the horse and cart, not modern vehicular access, and this probably would constitute over-development.”

Councillor Oliver Patrick (Coker), by contrast, said the council would struggle to defend refusing these plans at appeal, in light of a lack of a five-year housing land supply.

He said: “I do share some of the concerns that have been raised.

“It makes me feel uncomfortable, but I am struggling to see valid planning reasons to refuse this application.”

The committee voted to defer a decision on the Hamdon View proposals by seven voted to none, with two abstentions.

The committee’s next meeting – the earliest when the plans could be reconsidered – will be held in Yeovil on February 27 at 2pm.