Town councillors have agreed they won’t respond to a consultation sent out by Pegasus Group over its hopes to build 260 homes on land off Oldway Road on the outskirts of Wellington.

The controversial proposals to develop 34 acres of land south of the A38 around Middle Green Farm were rejected by Somerset Council in April and now Pegasus has launched a consultation ahead of a making an expected appeal against the planning refusal.

But members of Wellington Town Council have agreed that they should not get into any talks with Pegasus over the plans.

The council’s chief executive, Dave Farrow, stressed to councillors at their meeting on October 5 that Pegasus had not made the appeal yet, but was just distributing more information as part of a consultation.

Councillors had been given a draft letter written by Mr Farrow which – if they wanted – could be sent to Pegasus.

Mr Farrow said: “This is not the appeal – this is Pegasus sending out extra material as part of their consultation.

“The council has to decide whether it wants to respond to Pegasus’ consultation. I have drafted a letter as a starter for ten.”

Pegasus has proposed a number of amendments in advance of an appeal about flood risk and drainage, highway design, pedestrian and cycle connectivity and associated changes to its illustrative masterplan.

But Mr Farrow, in his draft letter, said: “The council notes the additional technical work that has been undertaken, but it does not consider that the amendments materially alter the planning balance or address the principal concerns which led to the refusal of the application by Somerset Council.”

Although councillors agreed that Mr Farrow’s draft letter had made the necessary points, they felt it would be wrong to officially respond to Pegasus’ consultation.

Cllr Justin Cole asked: “Is it right that we respond to them?”

And Cllr John Thorne said: “No – we shouldn’t do it. I don’t think we should engage with Pegasus at all.”

Cllr Thorne said Pegasus were trying to do all they could to make it look as if the application was “acceptable.”

“The only message we’ve got for Pegasus is simple – go away, clear off, you’re not wanted!” added Cllr Thorne.

Cllr Andy Govier said there was a “danger” by the council saying something to Pegasus that it could “open the gap” for them.

Cllr Steve Mercer added: “It’s best that we keep our tinder dry at the moment. We are going to have to think about the costs of a legal challenge when Pegasus does appeal.”

He warned that it was hugely important for the future of the town that the council did everything it could to stop the Oldway development as if it went ahead it would open the way for more housing down the line.

“This scheme is so precedential – we have to defeat it,” he said.

It was agreed that the council take no action over the Pegasus consultation as proposed by Cllr Thorne and seconded by Cllr Janet Lloyd.