Somerset Council has “failed” to address road safety fears surrounding new homes near the Mendip Hills, according to the local parish council.

The Church Commissioners for England – which are responsible for managing the Church of England’s buildings and investments – has been in conversation with Westbury-sub-Mendip Parish Council since the spring of 2022 about building homes on Roughmoor Lane, west of St. Lawrence’s Church.

Illustrative plans for the development were made public in February 2023, with the parish council making a plea to Somerset Council in December 2024 to address its road safety concerns, claiming local children would be “in serious danger” if the proposals were implemented.

Outline plans of the development, comprising 60 homes and a community hub, were formally published in late-January and are currently out for public consultation, with Somerset Council expected to make a final decision by the end of the year.

But the parish council has called for any decision to be delayed until safe pedestrian links from the new homes into the village can be secured, claiming that the level of local engagement to date has been “not acceptable”.

The development site was allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II, which was approved by councillors in December 2021 – with planning officers predicting it could support up to 40 new homes.

The Local Plan notes that “traffic generation will need to be carefully considered”, noting the issues with achieving a safe access from the site onto the A371 and calling for “further investigation” into this matter.

A spokesman for Thrive Architects (representing the Church Commissioners) said: “The new primary access will provide for a safer connection with Roughmoor Lane and provide space for a community green.

“The plans promote strong visual connections with the existing landscape and heritage assets.

“These plans will provide a development that is designed to respect village morphology and character.”

Parish clerk Sue Isherwood laid out the local concerns in a statement which was published on Somerset Council’s official planning portal.

She said: “The importance of the provision of safe pedestrian access to the core of the village has been headlined by us to local authority officers, to the Church Commissioners and their agents since at least 2022.

“We wish to lodge a holding objection to this application, as the data relevant for the assessment of pedestrian safety was not shared with us as requested, and there has been no meaningful reason given why that is the case.

“No further consideration of the proposal should be concluded until after the parish council has had time to develop solutions in agreement with highways.”

Ms Isherwood had previously raised concerns about the proposals when Somerset Council’s full council met in Bridgwater shortly before Christmas, requesting a meeting with the relevant officers.

Chris Langdon, who is heading up the creation of the Westbury-sub-Mendip Neighbourhood Plan, stated at the same meeting: “For much of the route through the village, there is no pavement and there is no safe place to cross.

“This has been a major concern of the parish for many years, with increasing heavy vehicle use, restricted width and many bends with poor visibility.

“We now have the prospect of a planning application which seeks to develop some 60 houses on the opposite side of the road from most facilities – the school, pub, shop and post office.”

The A371 runs between Cheddar and Wells on the south-western edge of the Mendip Hills national landscape (formerly area of outstanding natural beauty, or AONB), with numerous tight bends and very limited pavements.

Efforts to provide a car-free route between the two settlements have been taking shape in recent years, with a lengthy section of the Strawberry Line active travel route opening between Westbury-sub-Mendip and Easton in September 2023 (and work currently under way on an extension of the route towards Wells).

Somerset Council’s recently published Local Transport Plan commits the authority to, among other projects, “the completion of a traffic-free or low-traffic Strawberry Line and development of other rural trails”.

Councillor Richard Wilkins, portfolio holder for transport and waste services, responded in December 2024 that he was happy to meet with the parish council, but added it “may be better to wait until a planning application has been submitted.”

A final decision on the outline plans will be taken by Somerset Council later in the year.

A reserved matters application, specifying the detailed design and layout of the new homes, would have to subsequently be approved before any construction could commence.