AN online fund-raising drive has been launched to help with the costs of a ‘day of action’ being planned by opponents of a proposed 250-home housing estate in the countryside outside Wellington.

Residents’ group Protect Wellington, formed after Pegasus Group put forward it plans to develop fields on the south side of the A38, is ‘deeply concerned’ about a rapid expansion of housing development around the town.

The group helped to co-ordinate 199 individual objections which have been registered on Somerset Council’s planning portal.

Now, it is organising an action day on March 19, which is the target date for the council to take a decision on the Pegasus application.

A GoFundMe page has been launched to try to raise £1,300 toward the cost of the initiative which has so far brought in nearly £250 from more than a dozen people.

Spokesman Michael Pollak said: “We are seeking some support to help finance a day of action on March 19 when Somerset Council are due to make an announcement on the application.

“This is to help fund banners, placards, and high viz jackets.”

Mr Pollak said there were ‘significant issues’ regarding current planning policy, the loss of productive farmland and food security, increased flood risk, sewage treatment capacity, traffic congestion, wildlife degradation, and growing pressure on local infrastructure and services.

He said: “Granting approval would undermine the plan-led planning system and set a damaging precedent for speculative development on unallocated prime agricultural land.”

Mr Pollak said the Pegasus development was of even more concern than some other recent applications because the site lay in open countryside outside areas which had been identified for housing growth in the Wellington Place Plan adopted in 2023.

Pegasus said building new homes in fields near Middle Green Farm was needed at a time when there was a national housing shortage crisis.