PLANS for more than 70 new homes in a small village near the Mendip Hills have been thrown out by Somerset Council.

Coleford lies roughly halfway between Frome, Midsomer Norton and Shepton Mallet, only a few miles from the Mendip Hills national landscape (formerly area of outstanding natural beauty, or AONB).

The village is already set to expand in the coming years, with Gladman Developments’ plans for 63 homes on the eastern side of Anchor Road being approved on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate in October 2021.

Rainier Developments Ltd. put forward outline proposals in late-February for a further 75 homes on the opposite side of Anchor Road.

But Somerset Council has roundly refused these proposals, arguing they will lead to more traffic, urbanise the village and increase the risk of localised flooding.

The site comprises a rough triangle at the northern edge of the village, bordered on its northern side by Brewery Lane, which leads to the neighbouring village of Holcombe.

Access would have been from Anchor Road via a new junction near the existing homes on the western side of the road, off-setting the traffic from the planned entrance to the Gladman site (which is currently up for sale).

Large amounts of public open space would have been provided at the western edge of the site, with two attenuation ponds being installed near Brewery Lane.

The developer, which is based in Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire, intended for 23 of the 75 new homes to be affordable – meeting the council’s target of 30 per cent affordable homes in any new major development in the former Mendip area.

The site was deemed “unsuitable” for development before 2029 as part of an ongoing review of the Mendip Local Plan Part II, which is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025.

The council refused the plans through the delegated powers of its planning officers, rather than a public decision by its planning committee east (which handles major applications within the former Mendip area).

Chief planning officer Alison Blom-Cooper admitted that the council could not demonstrate a five-year housing land supply – which makes it harder for councillors and officers to refuse plans for new housing.

However, she argued that the development would result in “substantial harm” on four grounds:

  • The site’s “distant location from larger towns” would result in “significant harmful travel patterns” (i.e. increased car use)
  • The development would create a loss of “local identity and distinctiveness” through the urbanisation of the village and the loss of hedgerows
  • The developer had provided “incomplete information” regarding the capacity of Coleford’s sewage treatment works, which could harm local wildlife
  • The developer has not presented a strategy for dealing with surface water run-off, which would “risk unacceptable flooding” in the village

Rainier Homes has not yet indicated whether it wishes to challenge this decision through an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.