ATTEMPTS are being made to ‘drive a coach and horses’ through planning policies protecting Wellington from overdevelopment, claim local residents who are fighting a second major new proposed housing site outside the town limits.

Feelings are running high after Gladman Developments made an application to Taunton Deane Borough Council (TDBC) for permission to build 205 new homes and a three-storey block of 60 care apartments on 26 acres of fields to the west of Bagley Road, Rockwell Green.

The Cheshire-based firm carried out a consultation exercise in December when it asked people to give their views on the possibility of the land being developed but received just 18 replies, with more than half being against the idea.

Now, it has formally applied to TDBC for consent in principle, with the final site lay-out, property designs, community facilities, and other details to be worked out at a later stage.

The council has targeted April 4 as the latest date for a decision to be taken on the application and has allowed until Friday (February 3) for comments to be submitted to it.

Gladman acknowledges in its application that its site is outside the area identified as acceptable for new housing in TDBC’s development plan covering the period to 2028 and which envisages a minimum 2,500 homes being built in Wellington.

But the firm argues the development plan is faulty in planning law because it fails to meet a legal requirement to show sufficient housing land was available to cope with demand for the next five years.

It said although the Deane claimed a housing land pipeline sufficient for between five and six years, the council was relying too heavily on large-scale sites which realistically would not be developed as fast as anticipated. Therefore, Gladman concluded, the development plan was flawed and its Bagley Road application would have to be approved in order to help the council meet its target.

Gladman also said up to 52 of the new properties would be ‘affordable homes’, at a time when there was a chronic shortage of such housing across the Deane.

Other advantages of the scheme claimed by Gladman included a £24 million development spend which would support the equivalent of 215 full-time jobs a year, £3 million extra council tax revenue, a £1.9 million bonus for the council from a Government new home building fund and an £8.7 million a year spending boost for the local economy from the new residents.

The application follows pre-Christmas proposals by Wainhomes South West Ltd to build 29 houses in a field off Popes Lane, Rockwell Green, which is also outside the development boundary. Wellington Town Council opposed these plans, as the WWN has reported.

Opponents of the Gladman plans said this week the extra homes would create more pressure on already overstretched local facilities.

Tim and Linda Dodwell, of Andrew Allan Road, said in a letter of objection: “The doctors in Wellington cannot cope with the current population, the primary schools are overloaded, and our nearest hospital is at full capacity.”

Caroline and Nigel Blatch, of Bagley Green, said: “There is a lot of building happening on the other side of Wellington and if this development went ahead there are questions which need to be addressed.

“Wellington town centre is very congested now, with another 200-plus houses equating to, say, 400 extra vehicles, can Wellington town centre cope with even more traffic?

“The medical centres in the town are at bursting point now, with no appointments available and telephone triage as first option for sick parishioners.”

Wellington town councillor John Thorne said: “I can fully understand why there is so much local opposition to both the Wainhomes and Gladman applications, because they amount to trying to drive a coach and horses through the current development plan.

“However, Gladman’s is a very intelligent application, as it seems to have identified the Deane council as being weak and ready to be picked off in a planning fight.

“If its planning law arguments succeed, then I can see it potentially opening up huge new areas for development outside the current town limits.”