THE Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has penned a three-page letter to express its objections to a 250-house development planned outside of Wellington.

The charity raises concerns about the speculative plans for the unallocated site saying it “will harm the landscape settings of the Blackdown Hills National Landscape and the Wellington Monument.”

It lists harm to the protected landscape, harm to the setting of the Wellington Monument and other heritage assets, and a lack of sustainability in its detailed letter to Somerset Council.

The letter states: “On our recent site visit we saw that the development will block views on well used public footpaths through the development site from Wellington towards the ridge and wooded escarpment, and towards the Monument, and change the undeveloped and intrinsically beautiful character of the Blackdown Hills foothills into one of urban sprawl beyond the well defined edge of the town represented by the A38.”

The CPRE describes the claim that “view corridors of the monument and ridge will be permitted” as inadequate mitigation, saying that valued panoramic views and open landscape character of the foothills will be lost, and significant and demonstrable harms to the identity of the town outweighing the benefits of any new housing.

The charity also supported an objection by Wellington Without Parish Council, that the proposal were for a site “with no facilities, schools or GP surgeries in the parish.”

It “strongly endorses the objection by the town council regarding the unsuitability of the site and the unacceptable cumulative impacts on inadequate town infrastructure.”

Pegasus Group has put forward the plans for the 250 homes on fields outside Wellington around Middle Green Farm.

A community day of action by Protect Wellington on April 18 joined a national initiative organised by Community Planning Alliance to protest against unsuitable housing plans nationwide.