Somerset Council has laid out its timetable for when vital new education, health and other facilities will be provided in Yeovil following the approval of a major housing development.

The Abbey Manor Group applied back in June 2014 to deliver 765 homes on the Up Mudford urban extension site, which lies between the A359 Mudford Hill and the Wyndham Park estate at the north-eastern edge of the town.

South Somerset District Council provisionally agreed to grant outline planning permission for the scheme in October 2019 – despite hundreds of objections from local residents, who said the plans amounted to “urban sprawl”.

However, the legal agreements for the site were not signed before the onset of the phosphates crisis, meaning the development has been held up until additional mitigation could be agreed.

Five months on from the district council’s decision, Somerset Council’s planning committee south voted unanimously on October 22 to approve the outline plans – with construction expected to get under way by 2026.

In addition to the new homes, the Up Mudford site will include a community hall, a 65-bed care home, a medical centre, retail outlets, industrial units and an extension to the nearby Primrose Lane Primary School.

As part of the planning process, the council has published the outline of its legal agreement with the Abbey Manor Group (known as a Section 106 agreement), laying out the timetable for when the various amenities and valuable local infrastructure will be delivered.

Here’s your guide to when the different elements of the Up Mudford site will take shape…

Affordable housing

Of the 765 homes which are planned for this site, 115 will be affordable – the equivalent of 15 per cent.

This is lower than the 35 per cent affordable housing target for any new major development within the former South Somerset area, due to viability concerns surrounding the level of infrastructure needed to be delivered within the site before large numbers of new homes can be put in place.

Of the 115 affordable homes which will be delivered, 70 per cent (the equivalent of 80 properties) will be offered at affordable rent – meaning they will be rented out at last 20 per cent below the market rate.

The remaining 30 per cent (35 homes) will be shared ownership properties – meaning people can buy a share of the property and pay rent on the remainder while they save.

The affordable homes will comprise eight one-bedroom flats, 32 two-bedroom properties, 32 three-bedroom properties and eight four-bedroom houses.

These will be “phased throughout the development” and will be subject to a local lettings policy under an agreement with Mudford Parish Council – meaning these affordable homes will be offered in the first instance to local people on the Homefinder register.

Up to 28 affordable homes must be delivered by the time 250 open market homes are occupied, and least 58 must be provided by the occupational of the 400th dwelling sold on the open market.

The final affordable home must be built by the time 600 open market houses have been built and occupied within the site.

Education

The Up Mudford development provides a total of £6,421,603 for education, which will be directed towards the expansion and enhancement of Primrose Lane Primary School within the neighbouring Wyndham Park estate.

Of this, £3,178,200 will be used to provide 150 additional primary places on site (the equivalent of five new classrooms) and £1,620,882 will got towards an additional 77 early years places on the same site.

A further £708,510 will be provided for children in the local area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with the final £914,011 being used to provide additional playing fields.

These sums (excluding the transfer of land for the playing fields) will be paid in four instalments – after the occupation of 200, 400, 600 and 700 homes respectively within the site.

The council has warned, however, that the expansion of the school may not commence until 2031, based on current pupil number forecasts.

Highways

The new development will have two main points of access – a new roundabout on the A359 Mudford Hill, and a secondary access onto Lyde Road.

The Abbey Manor Group will contribute £700,490 to construct the new A359 roundabout – which must be built in its entirety before a single brick on the first homes can be laid.

The Lyde Road access will be delivered through a further £75,000 – and this will be constructed by the time 500 dwellings within the site have been occupied.

The developer will also provide £724,537 to upgrade the junction between the A359 and Lyde Road – adding to more than £330,000 already provided by Barratt Homes as part of the Wyndham Park estate.

The signalisation of this crucial junction must be constructed “if not already undertaken by others” before 700 homes within the site have been built and occupied.

A further £2,129 will be provided for improved signage and double yellow lines on Mudford Road and St. Michael’s Avenue – with these changes expected to be undertaken by the occupation of the 100th home within the site.

The developer will provide £351,351 for new bus stops and shelters throughout the developer, payable by the occupation of 500 dwellings.

Two additional bus gates will be delivered within the site – one by the occupation of 500 dwellings, and one by the time the spine road from the A359 is connected to the expanded school (at a cost of £66,340).

Walking and Cycling

In addition to the improvements to Yeovil’s road network, the developer will provide  £1,812,016 towards walking and cycling improvement, enhancing the town’s growing active travel network.

By the time 50 dwellings are occupied, a number of early “temporary” improvements must be in place, at a projected cost of £70,000.

These include an uncontrolled crossing at the western end of Lyde Road (linking up to Fairmead Road), enhancements to an existing footpath on the southern side of Lyde Road (connecting with Runnymede Road) and a dropped kerb crossing near the junction with Constable Close.

A new signalised crossing will be installed on Lyde Road near the planned secondary access to the site by the time 500 homes have been built and occupied, at a cost of £333,838.

A further £650,000 will be provided to deliver the final section of the Lyde Road cycle route, building on the existing links near the Wyndham Park estate and the council’s own improvements near Yeovil Pen Mill railway station.

Of this, £50,000 will be paid upfront, with the remainder following in three instalments by the occupation of the 450th, 550th and 650th dwellings respectively.

More than £340,000 will also be set aside for other, softer interventions to encourage walking and cycling – including £133,850 for ‘green travel vouchers’ which the new residents can spent on bus passes or bicycles.

Health

New medical facilities are delivered by NHS Somerset, which collects contributions from local housing developments and identifies land within development sites where such buildings can be delivered.

The Abbey Manor Group will provide £340,508 towards either delivering a new surgery or expanding existing sites in the Yeovil area.

Of this, £240,000 must be provided by the time 500 homes are occupied, with the remainder (£100,508) being paid by the occupation of the 700th home.

Mudford improvements

Since the development site lies within the parish of Mudford, a number of improvements will be made towards the facilities within the village itself.

To this end, £120,000 will be set aside for traffic calming measures on the A359, additional car parking or an extension to the local cemetery.

This funding will be paid by the occupation of the 700th dwelling – meaning Mudford residents will have to wait some time before these benefits materialise.

Sport, play and leisure

On top of these commitments, the developer will provide £4,729,544.72 towards local sports facilities, play areas and a new community hall within the site.

A total of £551,704 will be provided towards a community hall and new changing rooms – which will be paid in five instalments at the occupation of the 100th, 200th, 300th, 400th and 500th dwelling respectively.

This will include the delivery of an access road from the community hall to the Wyndham Park estate within 18 months of construction work starting – giving existing residents access to the new facilities.

New play areas will be provided to the tune of £649,337.72, with a further £127,499 for a multi-use games area (MUGA) – all of which must be in place by the occupation of the 650th dwelling.

Three new playing pitches will be provided by the occupation of 650 dwellings – one for under-10s and two senior pitches – at a cost of £301,815.

Additional funding for these facilities has already been secured in principle as part of an additional development of 252 homes to the west of the A359, which was approved by the Planning Inspectorate in March.

These include £99,419.04 towards the new playing pitches and £181,737,36 for the changing rooms.

Public open space

Around 350 sq m of public open space will be provided within the development site, with £30,000 being set aside for fencing, utilities and an internal access track, payable by the time 450 homes are occupied.

A new amphitheatre and memorial bench will be delivered at a cost of £38,698, and a new tree buffer will be created at Combe Bottom by the time 400 homes have been built and occupied.

In addition, new woodland will be created either within the site or within a neighbouring section of the River Yeo catchment area to offset any net increase in phosphates from the new homes.

The council has ruled this woodland will not be required until the 382nd dwelling has been occupied, with the previous dwellings being offset through off-site mitigation, such as phosphate credits.

Commercial space

The employment land allocated within the site, along with the proposed 65-bed care home and retail units within the neighbourhood centre, will be delivered primarily through third parties.

The Abbey Manor Group is required to have a marketing strategy for the employment land and neighbouring by 500 occupations, with access to the former from the spine road being in place by the time 700 homes are occupied.

The care home site, by contrast, must have a marketing strategy in place by the time the 100th home is occupied – meaning this element could be built out much sooner.

Somerset Council said it would ensure that any Section 106 funding which went unspent from any individual element could be “recycled” to deliver additional affordable homes or other amenities – assuming there were no further issues with viability once construction had begun.

A spokesman said: “If any Section 106 provision is underspent, not pursued or replaced by third party funding, then monies would be recycled toward affordable housing and/ or active travel, either on- or off-site.”