A landmark hearing into plans for new homes in Wellington has been delayed for a second time after one of the key witnesses was too ill to attend.

Taunton Deane Borough Council has refused planning permission for a development of 265 homes and apartments – which it says would create an unplanned extension to Wellington.

Gladman Developments is challenging the council’s decision and if it wins its appeal, the decision could set a precedent for other developments in the Taunton Deane area.

Gladman was refused outline planning permission by Taunton Deane Borough Council in April 2017 to build 205 homes and 60 ‘care apartments’ for elderly residents on land west of Bagley Road, near the A38.

The developer appealed the decision and a public inquiry was set to get under way in February – but was adjourned to give the council more time to provide additional evidence.

Both parties gathered at The Albemarle Centre in Taunton last Tuesday morning (April 24) with the intention of hearing evidence from a number of witnesses and members of the public over several days.

Residents will now have to wait until July to have their say after one of the council’s key witnesses was unable to attend due to ill health.

Planning inspector Phillip Ware said at the beginning of the hearing that the witness in question – who was not named – ‘would not be available for the foreseeable future’, and spent most of the following two hours in private discussion with the two sides’ barristers.

He subsequently added that it was ‘out of the question’ that someone else could speak in the witness’ place, and that the council had done all it could to inform both him and the developer when the situation arose.

For the full story see this week’s Wellington Weekly News.