Revised plans for 295 homes and new Chard Town stadium

Mactaggart & Mickel Homes England Ltd and The S. E. Blackburn Discretionary Trust jointly put forward plans in January 2019 for a development of up to 295 homes and a new stadium for Chard Town Football Club on land between Thorndun Park Drive and Crimchard at Chard’s northern edge.

South Somerset District Council’s regulation committee voted to approve the plans in February 2020, along with the Blackdown Heights development of 142 homes which is currently being constructed by Barratt Homes on the neighbouring site, accessed off Crimchard.

Officers on the new Somerset Council (which replaced the district council in April) revealed in late-May that the stadium plans would need to be redetermined, since the original legal agreements had not been signed before the onset of the phosphate crisis, which is holding up development across Somerset.

Amended plans for the development have now been submitted after a provisional phosphates solution was agreed – and a decision could be taken before the end of the year.

The layout of the proposed development is broadly the same as the original design, with the new stadium and two additional large pitches being provided in the centre of the site with the new homes either side.

The new stadium (which comes with a clubhouse and retail space) will allow The Robins to relocate from their current ground on Zembard Lane, near Holyrood Academy – a ground whose infamous sloping pitch has hampered their recent fortunes.

The sloping football pitch at Zembard Lane, home of Chard Town Football Club.

Access to the new homes and stadium will be from Thorndun Park Drive, with existing footpaths (including the link around Chard Bowls Club) being maintained and emergency vehicles being able to use a separate access onto Crimchard.

Significant planting, including an orchard and allotments, will be undertaken at the northern edges of the development to provide a green buffer between Chard and the neighbouring hamlet of Cuttiford’s Door.

Following the Dutch N court ruling, any residential or commercial development within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area (which includes Chard) must provide additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphate levels.

Around 50 major planning applications in the former South Somerset area are currently being held up by the phosphates crisis, with as many as 18,000 homes across Somerset being delayed.

To enable this particular development to proceed, the developer will purchase phosphate credits from the council to fund a mitigation scheme, involving the fallowing of two pieces of land on the edge of the Blackdown Hills area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB).

Revised plans for the proposal have been submitted after a provisional phosphates solution was agreed.

The fallowed parcels – one in Bickenhall, one in Staple Fitzpaine – lie within the catchment of the Fivehead River, which runs into River Isle at Isle Brewers.

Additionally, the Chard wastewater treatment works – located off the Stop Line Way in Peasmarsh, north of the town – will be upgraded by Wessex Water by 2025.

To allow both kind of mitigation to come ‘on stream’, a planning condition may be imposed to ensure none of the dwellings are occupied until 2025.

Similar conditions were imposed when Waddeton Park Ltd secured planning permission on appeal in May to build 90 homes on Lowerside Lane in Glastonbury, near the town’s rugby club.

A spokesman for Marian Cameron Consultants Ltd. (representing the applicants) said: “The land use changes and design measures to reduce phosphorus reaching the Somerset Levels and Moors, along with the purchase of nutrient credits from the strategic mitigation solution involving land to be fallowed at Staple Fitzpaine, will be fully implemented prior to the occupation of dwellings and can remain for the lifespan of the proposed development.

“Therefore, there will be no adverse effect on the site integrity of Somerset Levels and Moors.”

A final decision on the plans will be taken by Somerset Council’s planning committee south, which makes the final decision on major applications in the former South Somerset area.

Since the committee’s September meeting has been cancelled, the soonest the plans can come before the committee will be its next meeting on October 24.