SOMERSET councillors will decide shortly before Christmas whether a new football stadium and nearly 300 homes should be built on the edge of a small town.

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 Barratt Homes recently finished constructing.

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.

The council’s planning committee south (which handles major applications in the former South Somerset area) will vote next week to determine whether the amended proposals for the development should go ahead.

The layout of the proposed development is broadly the same as the original design, with the new stadium and two additional large pitches (one of which will be for community use) being provided in the centre of the site with the new homes either side.

Of the 295 dwellings proposed for the site, 35 per cent will be affordable – the equivalent of 103 properties.

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 in the Somerset County League.

Access to the new homes and stadium will be from Thorndun Park Drive, with existing footpaths (including the link around Chard Bowls Club) being enhanced 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.

If approval is granted, the developers will provide more than £4.4m towards new school places in Chard – including £2.2m which can be used either to expand the town’s existing primary schools or provide a new school, possibly within the Chard eastern development area (CEDA).

Just over £1.2m will be provided towards secondary school places, which could lead to a further expansion of Holyrood Academy.

Nearly £122,000 will be provided towards GP services in the town – though NH Somerset has not confirmed whether this will be spent on the existing Ariel Healthcare sites or be put towards a new surgery in the town.

In addition, new walking and cycling routes will be provided from the new homes – including new pavement along Crimchard to link the site to Blackdown Heights, two new bus stops and a pedestrian crossing over the A358 Furnham Road near the junction with Dellshore Close.

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).

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.

The site lies within flood zone one, meaning that it is considered by the Environment Agency (EA) to be at the lowest risk of flooding.

The land and the neighbouring footpaths can become significantly waterlogged following prolonged or steady rain – such as the recent weather which led to flooding across Somerset.

Rachel Tadman, one of the council’s planning officers, said residents’ concerns about flooding would be addressed through new attenuation ponds and upgraded drainage in the surrounding area.

She said in her written report: “While concern has been raised by local residents regarding the regular flooding of local roads and the site itself being waterlogged, the results of permeability tests taken across the site reveal that
infiltration is low – thus surface water run-off will need to be attenuated.

“The developers’ flood risk assessment confirms that the surface water will be controlled by the use of open storage ponds before being discharged into ditches

“While there is no dispute about local flooding events that have occurred, based on the submitted amended flood risk assessment, it is considered that the development can be satisfactorily mitigated in terms of flood risk.”

The council’s planning committee south will meet to discuss the plans in Yeovil on Tuesday, December 19 from 2pm. The meeting will be live-streamed via Microsoft Teams for those unable to attend in person.

If approval is granted, a reserved matters application – concerning the precise design and layout of the houses, will be submitted in early-2024.

The timing of the football club’s relocation, and the future of its current ground, will be decided after any reserved matters application is approved.