THE chief executive of Wellington Town Council has been left “frustrated” at failing to get a response from planning chiefs over concerns about the way they are dealing with proposed housing developments in the town.

Dave Farrow wrote to Somerset Council back in March asking for answers on how it was assessing the overall impact of current housing proposals in Wellington.

Mr Farrow told the unitary authority that – at the time of writing – there were eight separate developments at various stages of the planning process involving around 1,900 new houses.

He said the town council was concerned that each application was being considered “in isolation” rather than “assessing their cumulative impact on Wellington’s infrastructure, services, environment and overall spatial strategy.”

But despite the strongly-worded letter, Mr Farrow disappointingly told the town council on May 6 that he was still awaiting an acknowledgement from Somerset Council of receiving it.

“It is frustrating and I have also sent two follow-up emails asking when a response will be forthcoming,” he said in a report.

Mr Farrow said he had spoken with SALC – Somerset Association of Local Councils – to see if the larger town councils in the county could get together to discuss planning and strategic issues.

Town councillors have been highly critical of the planning department at Somerset Council and gave Mr Farrow’s letter their full support when members of the town council’s policy and finance committee met on March 9.

Cllr Justin Cole, speaking at that meeting, said: “We should be sending this letter to everyone – including Father Christmas!

“Send it to the head of planning, but also copied into others such as Somerset Council’s chief executive and the MP.”

Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.

Town council meetings have often – in recent months – been attended by large groups of local residents concerned about individual planning applications for different housing developments.