RESIDENTS living near the new Comeytrowe/Trull development will be disappointed that the developers have yet again contemptuously ignored their views and the needs of those who will live in the new estate.

This time it is the siting of the Foul Water Pumping Station, where there are fears it could pollute the Galmington stream.

This is normal behaviour by these developers.

In the first planning approval in 2016 they got away with a shoddy ‘transport plan’ which will bring gridlock to the Wellington road when it finally happens; no local secondary school places, which means local parents transporting their children across town to schools they haven’t chosen, adding to traffic congestion; inadequate flood prevention, and much more.

Since gaining approval they did nothing for years, except to force the previous Taunton Deane Council to capitulate on the number of social and affordable houses on the site.

It would be easy to blame the Planning Committee for all these decisions.

But the real culprit is Government planning regulations which gives all the power to the developers, leaving councillors who represent local residents almost powerless.

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Take this week’s pumping station decision.

With no objection from the Environment Agency and Wessex Water, councillors could not refuse the developer without an appeal to government inspectors, which would have given the developer total control, with the local taxpayer picking up the bill.

The same was true in 2016 when County Highways failed to object to the botched “Park and Bus” scheme, despite officers concluding that it would fail to reach its targets for limiting the big increase in cars on the A38.

It is beyond belief that last year the Government proposed to give even more power to developers, and decide how many new houses to impose on districts by an algorithm, like the one that worked so well to predict exam grades last summer.

These proposals are currently on hold, but our spineless MP has failed to even mention them in her press columns, let alone join all the other Conservative MPs who objected.

Meanwhile, expect more and more decisions in Comeytrowe, and elsewhere where the developers ignore the objections of local councillors and residents.

ALAN PAUL
Taunton