Review sustains hope of beating village homes bid

A MAJOR housing development on the Somerset-Dorset border could be scrapped after local residents won the right to pursue a judicial review.

- DANIEL MUMBY Local democracy journalist

The Planning Inspectorate granted outline permission to Gladman Developments back in November 2018 to build up to 130 homes on Woodhayes Way in Henstridge.

The site was subsequently sold to Barratt David Wilson Homes, who secured more detailed permission for the same number of homes in May 2022 on what has been christened the Townsend Landings site. Following more than two years of protracted legal arguments, Somerset Council threw in the towel over the developer's contentious improvements planned for the A357 running through the village, allowing work on the new homes to finally begin.

But the developer could be sent back to the drawing board by the High Court in the autumn after local residents won the right to pursue a judicial review against these decisions. As part of the outline planning permission passed by the Planning Inspectorate, improvements to the A357 had to be agreed with the local authority before construction work on the new homes could begin.

The developer originally committed to providing the following: Dropped kerbs and tactile paving at five junctions heading off Woodhayes Way and one on Furge Lane; Road safety signs warning motorists of pedestrians at the junctions of the A357 with Church Street and Furge Lane; Traffic lights in a “signal-controlled priority arrangement” on the A357 at the crossroads with Furge Lane and Marsh Lane.