A HEARING will take place this month to decide whether two homes in Midsomer Norton will be demolished to make way for a 54-home development on the field behind.

Housing association Curo received planning permission from Somerset Council to build 54 homes on a field near the boundary with Bath and North East Somerset. However, to access the field, Curo needed to demolish two homes in Midsomer Norton, a request which Bath and North East Somerset Council refused.

As a result, Curo is currently blocked from building its new homes. Now the matter is set to go to a hearing before the government planning inspectorate after Curo appealed the decision.

The housing association filed an appeal with the planning inspectorate. The hearing will take place at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution on Queen Square in Bath on October 24, starting at 10am and is expected to last two days. This hearing is a more informal approach to planning appeals than an inquiry and will be led by inspector J Parsons in a structured discussion format.

The council boundary between neighbouring unitary authorities, Somerset Council and Bath and North East Somerset Council, runs along the back of the gardens in Orchard Vale. People living in the new development would have paid council tax to Somerset Council, and not to Bath and North East Somerset Council or Midsomer Norton Town Council, despite using services in the town.

The two homes Curo planned to demolish, 26 and 28 Orchard Vale, are social housing owned by the association. Of the 54 new homes, 18 would have been affordable, but most would have been allocated to people on Somerset Council’s housing waiting list, not those on Bath and North East Somerset’s list, including Midsomer Norton residents.

The two homes at 26-28 Orchard Vale in Midsomer Norton
The two homes at 26-28 Orchard Vale in Midsomer Norton (Google)

Under the plans, only two of the affordable homes would be for people on Bath and North East Somerset Council’s waiting list, to replace the two demolished homes. But Curo did tell Bath and North East Somerset Council that another two could also be assigned to the council outside of the planning process.

After Bath and North East Somerset Council’s planning committee voted near-unanimously in June to refuse to allow the homes to be demolished, a spokesperson for the housing association said: “With more than 2,000 households in need of affordable housing in Mendip alone, sites like this will have to be developed to tackle the housing crisis. Somerset Council has already granted permission for these homes, recognising the substantial benefits they would provide to local families in need.

“While the land to be built on is within Somerset, the proposed access road is located within the B&NES boundary. It’s regrettable that B&NES have decided at this stage to block the progress of this site and we are actively considering our next steps.”

Members of the public can attend the hearing but are asked to inform the inspectorate ahead of time. You can inform the planning inspectorate through emailing Somerset Council at [email protected]