Decision on 60 Yeovil homes delayed over road safety issues

Gladman Developments and the Somerset Community Foundation put forward joint plans in December 2023 for 60 new homes on Tintinhull Road, between the Brimsmore Garden Centre and the Yeovil Gospel Hall.

The development, coupled with two others nearby, would see the northern edge of the town continue to expand towards the neighbouring village of Chilthorne Domer.

Somerset Council’s planning committee south (which handles major applications within the former South Somerset area) met in Yeovil on July 23 to debate this latest proposal.

However, councillors ultimately voted to defer a decision until later in the year to allow concerns about highway safety to be adequately addressed.

The planned development site lies to the west of a previously approved Gladman development of 185 homes, with the two sites being separated by Coppits Hill Lane.

The plans for 185 homes were approved by councillors in October 2022 following a lengthy delay as a result of the phosphates crisis, with a new waste water treatment plant being constructed on site to mitigate the environmental impact of the new homes.

The proposed site of 60 homes on Tintinhull Road in Yeovil. (Image: Google Street View)

A new access road onto Tintinhull Road will serve the planned new development of 60 homes – which will be opposite the eastern edge of the Brimsmore key site, where Wyatt Homes has permission to deliver more than 900 new homes, along with a new primary school, sports pitches and other community facilities.

Of the 60 new homes planned for this site, 21 will be affordable – meeting the council’s target for 35 per cent affordable housing for any new development of ten homes or more.

Local resident Howard Ashton spoke against the plans when the planning committee south met in Yeovil on July 23.

He said: “Taken together with this Brimsmore development, this is too much too soon. The Brimsmore site should be built out to completion in order to judge its impact on the local area.

“This proposal would create yet another junction onto a curving downhill stretch of Tintinhull Road, and will also be within very close proximity of the proposed new exit from the Brimsmore development.

“The current hill from Coppitts Hill Lane onto the A37 is extremely dangerous.”

Yeovil’s north-eastern edge will also be expanding out into the neighbouring parishes in the coming years, with 765 homes being delivered on the Mudford urban extension site (to the east of the A359 Mudford Road), along with commercial space, a care home and an extension to the Primrose Lane Primary School.

A further 252 homes could also be delivered on the western side of the A359, depending on the outcome of a planning inquiry which will be held some time in 2024.

Councillor Henry Hobhouse (Castle Cary) raised concerns about the lack of agreed phosphate mitigation to offset the new homes.

He said: “The Pen Mill sewage works may not be upgraded until 2030. We cannot clear any mitigation that is not already in place.”

Councillor Martin Wale (Chard North) said: “This is grade two agricultural land, which were are encouraged to preserve under national planning policy.”

Under the approval for the adjoining site, the speed limit on Tintinhull Road will be reduced to 30mph, with a new pedestrian crossing being installed for residents of both sites.

Councillor Peter Seib (Brympton) said: “This cannot go ahead until the adjacent site is developed. I’m a little big surprised to see this come forward.

“Work cannot begin on this site until the road has been widened.”

After more than an hour’s debate, the committee voted to defer a decision on the plans by nine votes to two.

The council has not indicated how soon the proposals will come back before the committee for a decision.