Delivery of major Taunton development could grind to a halt

The Orchard Grove development (a.k.a. the Comeytrowe urban extension) is currently being delivered by Taylor Wimpey and Vistry Partnership, with outline permission being in place for 2,000 homes, a primary school, employment units and a ‘park and bus’ facility.

Around 200 homes have currently been constructed, with Somerset West and Taunton councillors voting on Thursday afternoon (December 8) to grant detailed permission for a further 70 properties.

But once these homes are delivered, the rest of the vast site may remain largely vacant until new mitigation against a rise in phosphate levels can be secured.

The Dutch N court ruling, and the resulting legal advice from Natural England, requires additional mitigation to be provided for any new development which could increase the phosphate levels within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area – which includes the majority of the former Taunton Deane area.

The need to secure mitigation from developers has resulted in a huge backlog of planning decisions and new house-building, with around 18,000 homes across Somerset being held up.

The council has put a number of temporary measures in place to try and unlock new housing, from investing £2m in new wetlands to implementing a system of phosphate credits, whereby developers pay for off-site mitigation.

Permission was recently granted to create two new wetlands just outside Taunton to allow the first stage of the Staplegrove urban extension (delivering more than 1,600 new homes and a primary school) to move forward.

To deliver the existing homes on the Orchard Grove site, the majority of the eastern side of the development area has been fallowed (i.e. taken out of active agricultural use).

While this has allowed homes at the western end of the development (near the A38 Wellington Road) to be delivered, this fallowed land cannot be built upon until alternative phosphate mitigation has been secured.

The only exception to this is the site of the new Orchard Grove Primary School, which was approved by Somerset County Council on December 1.

Simon Fox, the district council’s major projects planning officer, explained the predicament when the planning committee met in Taunton on Thursday afternoon (December 8) to discuss detailed plans for 70 homes at the western end of the site.

He said: “The consortium has employed a fallow land approach. Parcels within the first phase have already been covered by this approach.

“By fallowing the whole of the rest of the Comeytrowe site, save for the primary school site, there are enough phosphate credits to unlock and cover this application today, plus a future application for 20 units.

“Then the phosphate credits have been utilised and other solutions will be necessary. You need a lot of land to fallow to unlock a relatively modest number of dwellings.

“If there isn’t an alternative phosphate mitigation plan put forward, to cover the area of development we’ve already approved, then in 25 years the rest of the fallow land has to be entirely planted out with trees.

“It would be a poor state of affairs if we get to that point. Obviously the developers are not going to allow this to happen – but we’ve hit a bit of a glass wall in terms of getting to the next stage.”

Councillor Roger Habgood raised concerns about the design of the homes, questioning whether enough was being done to ensure the developers complied with the council’s agreed design guide.

He said: “We went to extraordinary lengths to get a design guide in place in this council, and I want to know what weight it has. It doesn’t seem to be being followed – that bothers me.”

Across the development site, 17.5 per cent of the new homes will be affordable – though this may rise if grants can be secured from Homes England.

Councillor Keith Wheatley was dismissive of concerns about the viability of the site, calling on the developers to deliver what they had promised.

He said: “If Taylor Wimpey get their sums wrong and lose money on every house, I have no tears to shed – I don’t wish them ill, but it’s not my responsibility.

“If the developers’ finances are under pressure, then certain things like design and the electric vehicle charging points come under threat. We as a planning committee have overarching concern for design.

“These houses are going to be here in 50 or 100 years’ time, and retrofitting electric vehicle charging points is silly and wasteful.”

After around an hour and a half’s debate, the committee voted to approve the plans for 70 homes by a margin of eight votes to nil (with four abstentions).

A spokesman for the developers said: “We have been working closely with the council for a number of years on the issue of phosphates, and we are committed to working in partnership with them to find a way forward.

“We remain hopeful that appropriate solutions can be achieved without development in the region being unduly impacted.

“Work is underway on the new garden community at Comeytrowe, which is sustainable and sensitive to the local environment, while creating much-needed new homes and amenities.”