Monkton Heathfield urban extension decision delayed six months

Persimmon Homes South West and Redrow Homes put forward joint plans in December 2021 for phase two of the Monkton Heathfield urban extension, which will deliver new homes at Taunton’s north-eastern edge along with employment sites, a new school and a relief road.

Somerset West and Taunton Council’s planning committee voted in September 2022 to delay a decision for six months to give the developers time to come back with improved proposals.

The same committee – in one of its final actions before being abolished – has now deferred a decision on the plans for a further six months, acknowledging that some progress had been made but further changes were still needed.

This means a final decision on the plans will now be the responsibility of the new unitary Somerset Council, which takes charge on Saturday (April 1).

Phase one of the Monkton Heathfield urban extension has been largely completed, including the western relief road (WRR) which connects the new homes to the A3259.

However, the employment land identified at the southern edge of phase one, between the A38 and the M5, remains largely undeveloped – with Taunton Deane Borough Council agreeing in January 2019 that some of this land could be released for further housing.

Phase two of the urban extension covers the land between the existing homes and the Walford Cross waste depot, along with a small amount of land to the north of Monkton Elm Garden Centre.

The proposals put forward by the developers would see outline permission granted for up to 1,210 homes, nearly five hectares (c. 12 acres) of employment land, a ‘through’ school (combining primary and secondary provision on the same site, a ‘district centre’ with local shops, a ‘park and bus’ facility with 600 parking spaces and a new eastern relief road to link up with the A38.

Within this, detailed permission would also be granted for the first 240 homes, split over two sites either side of the garden centre.

The council’s planning officers originally recommended the plans in their current form be refused on a number of grounds – the main objections being:

• The plans don’t provide any sufficient phosphate mitigation which could offset damage to the Somerset Levels and Moors
• The development is not well-designed, being “car-dominated” and not prioritising active travel between the new homes and the town centre
• The proposals do not secure financial contributions towards affordable housing, education or health facilities
• The planned local centre is too small and doesn’t meet the needs of the prospective new residents
• The plans don’t adequately deliver on the park and bus facility, or align with Somerset County Council’s bus strategy

Masterplan of Phase Two of the new housing development. (Image: Pegasus Planning Group)

Simon Fox, the council’s major projects officer for planning, told the committee in Taunton on Thursday afternoon (March 30): “We have undertaken a series of workshops and discussions, internally and externally, to bring about progress, moving towards an application that could and may be supported in the future.

“We’re not there just yet at this moment in time. While plans have evolved, we’re not at a stage (given the size of the application that we’re dealing with) where there’s a new application that can be determined – but we are on the right road to doing that.”

An “emerging masterplan” has been produced as a result of these workshops, which has seen the employment site be “refined” with a new access from the existing Walford Cross industrial area.

The planned school has been moved south, placing it closer to planned shops and community facilities, and the developers have made allowances for on-site wetlands to off-set the phosphates issue.

Additional changes may also be made to the planned relief road, in order to take traffic away from the planned commercial areas and make the new development safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

Councillor Marcia Hill said she was “really pleased” with the progress that had been made, but agreed that more time was needed to get things right.

She said: “With the amount of progress that’s been made now, if we refuse permission we’ll have lost all of that, and that would have been silly.”

Councillor Ray Tully – whose West Monkton and Cheddon Fitzpaine ward includes the site – disagreed, stating that the new iteration of the masterplan was “a disaster”.

He explained: “When they started building at Monkton Heathfield, we were promised an integrated village – the whole area would be integrated. The plans which we’re now being shown divide the village into three different sections.

“Not only that, but they’re talking about the dual carriageway section of the A38 being cut down.

“If there’s problems on the M5, all the traffic goes through Bathpool and through Monkton Heathfield on the A38. I don’t just mean a few cars and caravans – I mean 40-foot articulated lorries.

“They’re going to bring 40-foot artics past a school, with a centre which divides us away from the rest of the village. I think they need a year to get this right.

“We didn’t want this in the first place, but if you’re going to build it, build it right.”

Councillor Loretta Whetlor added: “I drove around Monkton Heathfield the other day, and I got completely lost – I almost got fined going through the bus gate.

“Why on Earth haven’t they just put a ring road around the whole thing and then build in the middle? It is a nightmare around there.”

Councillor John Hassall said the amended plans needed to include a significant range of local facilities to reduce journeys to and from the town centre.

He said: “What is a community centre? Is it somewhere where people can wait, or somewhere that serves a community – in other words, a doctors’ surgery, a dentist and a pharmacy?

“A lot of the developments [in Taunton] don’t seem to have much in the way of shops, and if you’re serving 2,000 people overall, they don’t want to go into Taunton all the time to get their food and drink.

“There’s mention of local surgeries which are quite a way from this development and which are already oversubscribed. This is my big fear with all the three major developments.”

Monkton Heathfield is one of three urban extensions which are designed to deliver the bulk to Taunton’s new housing over the coming decade.

Homes are currently being delivered on the Comeytrowe urban extension (known as Orchard Grove) on the A38 Wellington Road at the town’s western edge – though progress may soon grind to a halt unless further phosphates mitigation can be secured.

Work on the Staplegrove urban extension, north of the A358 Pen Elm, is expected to begin shortly after plans for new wetlands to offset the first phase of the development were approved in September 2022.

The committee voted unanimously to defer the Monkton Heathfield plans for a further six months to allow additional changes to be agreed between the developers and the new council.

If no further progress is made by late-September, members of the new planning west committee – which will cover Taunton and the surrounding settlements – will have the opportunity to refuse the plans outright.