WELLINGTON Town Council’s planning committee has given a big thumbs down to proposals to build 75 homes on the edge of the town.

The planning committee reconvened on June 9 – seven days after a previous meeting had to be held informally because not enough councillors were in attendance.

And, on this occasion, enough councillors were eventually sat around the table and voted in favour of recommending refusal to Somerset Council which will determine the application at a later date.

The plans involve the building of 75 homes on land south of Little Jurston Farm on the A38 – just a short distance from the Westpark Business Park and accessed off the West Buckland Road.

Cllr Sue Fox said: “The planned access to the site is on a bend – it’s abundantly dangerous.”

Cllr Andy Govier said: “We are in a difficult position as most of the housing schemes that come forward will likely be given the go-ahead because we don’t seem to have the ability to oppose them.

“I’m not really in favour of this particular development. It’s come to us out of the blue – it wasn’t even on our radar.”

And the Mayor of Wellington, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said she was concerned about the general road safety issues about the development site and the entrance/exit to the proposed development on the A38.

Chris Winter, managing director of West of England Developments, had already told councillors that a pavement and lighting would be put along that stretch of the A38 from the planning housing estate at Little Jurston Farm to Westpark.

But Cllr Sean Pringle-Kosikowsky said: “We are opposed to the volume of housing which is being thrown our way.

“I’m not in support of more housing, but compared to some of the other sites for development perhaps this one at Little Jurston Farm is the lesser of the evils?

“It’s by no means perfect, but it doesn’t have all of the other negatives.”

A worried member of the public had earlier told councillors that “enough is enough” with regards more housing being proposed for Wellington.

“Another 75 houses to be built on top of those already approved?” she asked. “Our schools are full, our doctors are over capacity – how can adding 75 more homes be reasonable?

“I don’t think our Somerset Council councillors are standing up for us – it’s not good enough. We aren’t going to take this lying down.

“We need to be putting our foot down and saying enough is enough.”

The Mayor said: “This is happening everywhere – not just in Wellington.”

Councillors are – just like local people – getting increasingly concerned about the amount of housing developments being proposed for the Wellington area which, if given the go-ahead, would see a big hike in the population, but with the town not having the infrastructure to support such an increase.

The council has agreed to start a new initiative to look at local services and amenities and see how they could be impacted by housing developments coming to fruition in Wellington.