The creation of new wetlands in a Devon coastal town will not allow new homes to be unlocked in Chard, Somerset Council has confirmed.

Around 12,000 new homes in Somerset are being held up by the ongoing phosphates crisis, with developers having to agree additional mitigation with the council to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Level and Moors or within the River Axe catchment in neighbouring Devon.

East Devon District Council announced in late-September that it had acquired 18 acres of land west of the Axe estuary, allowing it to expand its award-winning Seaton Wetlands nature reserve.

But these new wetlands cannot be used to unlock new homes on the Somerset side of the border, because they lie outside of the affected part of the Axe catchment and therefore cannot be used for phosphate mitigation.

The River Axe rises at Cheddington in Dorset (near the source of the River Parrett) and flows along the Dorset-Somerset border south of Crewkerne, skirting around the former Chard junction railway station before turning south into Devon, where it flows through Axminster and into the English Channel at Axmouth, near Seaton.

As a result of this geography, the majority of the River Axe special area of conservation (SAC – the area affected by the phosphates issues) lies in west Dorset and east Devon, with the latter’s local authority taking the lead with mitigation efforts.

However, a small portion of south Somerset also lies within the River Axe SAC – including the Chard eastern development area (CEDA – where the bulk of the town’s new housing is proposed), along with Tatworth and the neighbouring villages.

Councillor Paul Arnott, leader of East Devon District Council, said that the new Seaton wetlands would boost local tourism as well as encouraging greater biodiversity in co-operation with neighbouring landowners.

Speaking on September 30, he said: “Shifting the main Seaton Wetlands gateway to the south from the cemetery car park, and into the town itself, will move the visitor focus and help our wider plans to develop the tourism offer in Seaton.

“We made our nature recovery declaration earlier this year to prioritise our biodiversity conservation work and ensure that East Devon is a rich and abundant natural landscape.

“Acquiring this land allows us to showcase more wetland conservation work at our award-winning local nature reserve.”

The council’s countryside manager James Chubb added: “It will allow us to more easily work with our grazier to farm the lower Axe estuary and maintain the mosaic of wetlands habitats in prime condition.”

The creation of new wetlands is one of several methods being employed to reduce the amount of phosphates entering protected areas in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, with the delivery being either on council-owned land or on land within a housing site set aside by a developer.

Two major applications within the CEDA are currently held up as a result of phosphate mitigation – Summerfield Developments’ proposals for 94 homes on the A358 Tatworth Road (south of the Snowdon Grange development), and Persimmon Homes South West’s plans for 236 homes immediately south of this (which will include a new roundabout and the start of the long-awaited Chard eastern relief road).

Somerset Council confirmed that the new Seaton Wetlands would not be used to offset the impact of either of these sites – and has not given a time-scale for when either application will come before the council’s planning committee south for a final decision.

A spokesman said: “East Devon District Council has confirmed that the area of wetland purchased to extend the Seaton Wetlands is below the Axe SAC, and so it is unrelated to addressing the phosphates issue.

“Both of the outstanding Chard applications have proposed phosphate mitigation strategies associated with them.

“Neither of these applications have a date for committee as yet.”

Summerfield currently intends to offset the phosphates generated from its housing development by replacing eight septic tanks within the affected catchment with package treatment plants.

Persimmon intends to offset its development through the purchase of phosphate credits, generated from the fallowing of agricultural land elsewhere within the catchment.