Tiverton and Minehead MP Rachel Gilmour on Watchet site

One of Somerset’s new MPs has called for a former paper mill to be redeveloped before any more homes are build on nearby green fields.

The former Wansborough paper mill lies off the B3191 Brendon Road at the south-western edge of Watchet, and was once the UK’s largest producer of coreboard.

The mill site has been largely vacant since the business closed in December 2015, at a loss of 176 local jobs, with various attempts being made in the intervening years to redevelop the site into new homes and business units.

During this time, Watchet has seen numerous new housing estates approved on greenfield sites – with Summerfield Developments currently constructing 250 homes on Liddymore Road, and Edenstone Homes securing planning permission in May for 139 homes either side of Normandy Avenue.

Now Rachel Gilmour, the newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Minehead, has called for all further development on greenfield sites in the town to be blocked until the paper mill site has been regenerated.

The Wansbrough Mill Development Company Ltd. originally put forward proposals to redevelop the site in August 2019, envisioning 430 new homes along with offices, light industrial units, a care home, and a hotel with leisure facilities.

In late-2020, Somerset County Council considered building a bypass across the site to provide an alternative route between Watchet and Blue Anchor if the B3191 Cleeve Hill coast road was lost to erosion.

This option would have cost up to £71.7m to deliver and was shelved in favour of realigning the existing road inland – since which time Cleeve Hill has closed indefinitely to motor vehicles (though it can still be used by pedestrians and cyclists).

Tameer Homes put forward amended proposals to develop the paper mill site in November 2020, reducing the planned number of homes to 350, cutting the amount of commercial space and replacing the care home with a “visitor interpretation centre.”

The site was purchased in the summer of 2023 by Stratton Land Ltd., which also secured planning permission to temporarily use the site to store soil from a housing development it is currently constructing on the A39 Hopcott Road in Minehead.

The topsoil from the Minehead site (where 69 homes will eventually be delivered) has been used to level out the paper mill site and protected any future development from flooding.

The developer expressed its interest in the summer of 2023 to “construct at least 280 residential dwellings with private gardens, associated roads, foot-ways, parking, drainage, landscaping, public open space, and associated infrastructure.”

But no new planning application has been submitted since this time – and there has been no update on the original application since January

Only one small part of the site has secured permission for any form of development, with Huntley Wood Investments Ltd. getting approval in November 2021 to turn a small section into a battery energy storage facility, storing surplus energy from the National Grid and selling it back at peak times.

Ms Gilmour spoke in favour of prioritising the paper mill site at a hustings staged in Langford Budville during the general election campaign, stating: “We don’t deny we need to build more houses, and more social housing – but it’s where you do it.”

She won her Tiverton and Minehead seat on July 4 with a majority of just over 3,500, ousting long-standing local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger with a swing in excess of 19 per cent.

Ms Gilmour – who lives in Bampton, just over the Devon border – said: “Liberal Democrat policy is to support the development of brownfield sites before encroaching on greenfield sites.

“I therefore support the proposed development of the paper mill site in Watchet.

“I would prefer the development at Parsonage Farm to be put on the back burner and revisited when, or if, there is an established need for even more houses, once the paper mill site is complete.”

The Wyndham Estate submitted plans in early-December 2023 to build up to 230 homes, commercial units and an orchard near Parsonage Farm, located off the B3191 Brendon Road on the southern edge of Watchet.

The development has drawn widespread criticism from local residents, with Watchet Town Council formally objecting to the proposals and the Parsonage Farm Action Group being set up to campaign against the proposals.

Ms Gilmour added that she would fight for any redevelopment of the paper mill site to provide funding for Watchet’s stretched public services.

.She said: “Any community infrastructure levy (CIL) from any developments on the Somerset side of my constituency must be used to improve infrastructure and local services, such as schools, doctors and dentists.

“Labour has already committed to more money and jobs for local doctors and dentists – and I will hold them to account.

“Parliament’s health and social care select committee is being chaired by a Liberal Democrat MP, which gives me much more opportunity to press these matters at the centre of government.

“The government, supported by the Lib Dems, has announced plans for further devolution. I believe that, with the right approach and a wider devolution than just county wide, we will be able to deliver fair, appropriate and acceptable housing development scope across the south west.”

The NHS Somerset integrated care board (ICB) has formally requested that any approved development on the paper mill site provide a contribution of £222,346 towards local GP services delivered by West Somerset Healthcare – with the money being split between the Watchet surgery on Swain Street and the Williton surgery on Robert Street in Williton.

The Parsonage Farm Action Group has welcomed Mrs Gilmour’s position and urged Somerset Council to turn down the Wyndham Estate’s proposals.

A spokesman said: “Rachel Gilmour has been in touch with us indirectly and expressed her intention to meet with us in the coming weeks.

“It’s commendable that the Liberal Democrats support brownfield developments over greenfield ones. However, this should be a given.

“The reasons for declining the planning application are compelling: the West Somerset Local Plan is outdated, the landscape has changed, and the site lacks adequate access to services.

“While there’s a national housing shortage, developing Parsonage Farm, precious farmland, seems ill-suited.

“The excessive housing development in Watchet further underscores the need for careful consideration of where new homes are built.”

The council has not confirmed how soon a decision on either the Parsonage Farm plans or the paper mill proposals will be taken.

Due to the scale of development on either site, any decision will be taken in public by its planning committee west (which handles major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area), rather than through the delegated powers of its planning officers.