A DEVELOPER claims a failed planning application will see the taxpayer miss out on a £1.54million windfall – while the firm is considering going ahead and building on the site anyway.

Notaro New Homes’ proposals for 70 homes in a field off Creedwell Orchard, in Milverton, were rejected to the delight of villagers attending last Wednesday’s Taunton Deane Council planning committee meeting.

But Notaro could now build homes which received planning permission 40 years ago.

After last week’s meeting, the company’s project manager Steve Rosier said: “We are astonished our planning application was refused.

“All we proposed was a better and alternative development solution than the extant planning permission on this land. There were no more homes proposed.”

Mr Rosier said the design was supported by the South West Design Review Panel, while English Heritage said it would be less harmful to the conservation area.

He added that the council would have received a £1.4million community infrastructure levy payment plus £153,000 for purchasing affordable housing land.

Mr Rosier disagrees with the view of council officers that a planning application granted 40 years ago has lapsed.

“The council is gambling,” he said.

“We understand the sensitivity of this site but cannot comprehend why something better was refused.

“We can lodge an appeal but then why spend more cash to give the council something it clearly doesn’t want?

“So we are minded to recommence work on site and build the extant permission.

“When we do, councillors should be held responsible for losing Taunton Deane Council taxpayers £1.54million.”

Pre-building work was started on the site in 1991, 16 years after permission was originally granted and there is a debate over whether that allows Notaro, which did not own the land at that time, to complete that development.

Gwilym Wren, district councillor for Milverton, said the planning officers’ report to last week’s meeting was “well structured and thought out”.

“It’s been a long, drawn out saga,” added Mr Wren.

“There’s been a considerable amount of village opposition against the scale of development rather than the principle of development.

“The design for the latest application was pretty good, but the number of houses was probably just too much for the village to take.

“Most people would be happy with a development on the field of 20 or 30 homes, but 70 or 80 is seen as too many.

“The field is still there. Mr Notaro still owns it and he has an option of appeal.

“He says he’ll go and build what he feels he’s allowed to build, although there is some debate about that.”