Nearly 200 new homes will be built on the northern edge of Yeovil as district councillors backed plans after a two-year wait for a decision.

Gladman Developments applied in November 2019 to build 185 homes on Tintinhull Road at the northern edge of the town, near the Brimsmore garden centre.

South Somerset District Council’s area south committee was due to decide the fate of the outline plans in October 2020, but this was delayed following the Dutch N court ruling concerning phosphate levels on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

The same committee voted to back the plans when it met in Yeovil on Wednesday afternoon (October 5) – despite concerns about the local road network and how sewage from the new homes would be processed.

The site lies between the A37 Ilchester Road, which connects Yeovil to the A303 towards Sparkford, and the Brimsmore key site, which is currently under construction.

Under the proposals, the 185 homes will be built in five district clusters surrounding the existing garden centre, connected by a new spine road which will run throughout the site.

Access to the site would be from Tintinhull Road, with the existing junction with Coppits Hill Lane being stopped up and the lane being linked up with the spine road via a new junction.

More than half of the site will be given over “green infrastructure”, separating the new homes from the garden centre, the Grade II listed Brimsmore House and the A37.

To prevent any net increase of phosphates within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area, a new waste water treatment plant (run by Severn Trent Water) will be constructed on site and would be operational before the first homes was occupied.

Iris Coton, who sits on Yeovil Without Parish Council, said the proposed access would not complement a new roundabout which will be delivered as part of the Brimsmore key site.

She said: “This proposal involves a ghosted right turn travelling from Yeovil to Chilthorne Domer, and it does not work.

“It will interfere with the new roundabout from the Brimsmore key site, for which this council has already given planning permission. Even Gladman has admitted this.

“No-one seems to have ever superimposed these two schemes on top of each other. The fudged proposal before you is not planning – it is tinkering by this developer to lower costs.”

Howard Ashton – who owns land near the site – questioned whether Severn Trent Water could be trusted to operate the water treatment plant, given its poor record on sewage discharges.

He said: “Severn Trent Water were fined £1.6m last year for multiple pollutions in Worcestershire watercourses.

“They are reported to carry debts of £6.7bn – are they going to be a suitable partner for Yeovil?

“Part of the development site is a low-lying bowl, and drains water from several surrounding fields and roads.

“Is it wise to use a site of this nature as a sewage experiment? The likely outcome, in the case of malfunction, is that the housing estate and Yeovil Marsh become yet another of their pollution statistics.”

Councillor Mike Lock – whose Yeovil Without ward includes the site – warned: “There is a very steep incline running north. We’ve got the treatment here for the phosphates, but it’s not clear where it’s going to discharge to, given the contours of the land.

“This phosphates solution is going to be very costly, and I don’t see how they could sustain this and deliver 35 per cent affordable housing. The whole thing really needs looking at more closely.

Councillor Andy Kendall – who represents the neighbouring Yeovil College ward – said improved cycle links would be needed to ensure people didn’t need to use cars to reach the town centre.

He said: “All around Yeovil now, we’re actually taking a big step on cycle paths, and I don’t see anything to do with cycle paths referenced here.

“We are now encroaching north of Yeovil, and we don’t have any cycle paths whatsoever anywhere.”

Somerset County Council published its Yeovil local cycling and walking infrastructure plan (LCWIP) in January, which lays out its ambitions to deliver improved pedestrian and cycling links across Yeovil – including connections between the town centre and major new housing developments.

One of its long-term aspirations is to deliver an uninterrupted cycle link between the Brimsmore key site and Yeovil Hospital via the A37 – which could cost up to £6.9m to deliver, and could include a link to any other developments on the northern edge of Yeovil.

Councillor Graham Oakes said the development would only prove sustainable once the entirety of the Brimsmore key site had been built and all of the associated community facilities delivered – something which may not happen for many years.

He said: “This is a kind of a ‘piggyback’ development – the trouble is there’s no piggy. Looking at it on its own, this fails fairly miserably.

“I’m a little bit fed up of housing being built in my ward without any facilities, and I think this is just another example of that.

“I don’t believe there should be any large-scale developments until we’ve finally improved our roads. Combe Street Lane is not for the convenience of Gladman – but that’s what we’ll be saying if we pass this.”

Despite these reservations, the committee voted to approve the plans after around an hour’s deliberation – with the proviso that the developer should consider creating a second access point into the site.

A reserved matters application, laying out the fine details surrounding the design and layout of the new homes, is expected to be submitted after Christmas.