MORE affordable homes will be delivered under the next phase of a major housing development on the edge of Somerset’s county town.
The Orchard Grove development (AKA the Comeytrowe urban extension) is currently being delivered in Taunton by Taylor Wimpey and the Vistry Group, with outline permission being in place for 2,000 homes, a primary school, employment units and a ‘park and bus’ facility.
Over 200 homes have already been delivered on the site, with more than 100 properties receiving detailed planned permission and construction under way on the new Orchard Grove Primary School in the centre of the site.
Vistry has now published details proposals for 160 new homes within the ‘western neighbourhood’ (the land between the school and the A38 Wellington Road), which will lead off the central spine road, now named Egremont Road.
The site lies at the edge of the western neighbourhood, bordered to the east by Lipe Hill Lane, a stone’s throw from both the primary school and the pumping station complex near the existing Comeytrowe homes.
This road will only be accessed by emergency vehicles, with other road users having to use the spine road and the A38 – though a bus gate may be installed at a later date once more of the new homes are delivered.
The homes will range in size from one-bedroom flats to five-bedroom houses, and 67 will be affordable in some way – the equivalent of just under 42 per cent of the properties within this parcel.
A spokesman for Boyer Planning (representing the Orchard Grove consortium) said: “Grant funding has also been secured from the government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), to subsidise the delivery of additional affordable housing on the Comeytrowe site, above the obligations of the Section 106 agreement.
“Vistry have entered into an agreement with the affordable provider LiveWest to build additional affordable homes across the Comeytrowe site.
“Careful consideration has been given to the design of the development, to be in keeping with the character of the surrounding area.
“The proposal provides for a good mixture of dwelling types, comprising of two- and two-and-a-half-storey homes. The combination of these will provide a balanced community which responds to the need of the market.”
The parcel is one of the last within the ‘western neighbourhood’, with no housing expected to be approved between the Galmington Stream and Honiton Road until all parcels to the west have been approved.
The developers are currently working with Somerset Council to secured additional phosphate mitigation for the site, to replace or add to land within the ‘eastern neighbourhood’ which was fallowed to allow housebuilding to continue to the west.
Annie King, who lives on Trull Green Drive near the site, said this latest phase of development would worsen the existing traffic issues on the western edge of Taunton.
She said: “The addition of these homes will cause a considerable amount more traffic and therefore pollution. Additional parking from guests and additional cars will cause hazards to the roads”
Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the plans shortly after Christmas. A decision on separate plans for 51 homes elsewhere in the Orchard Grove site is expected to be made at around the same juncture.
Decisions on all applications relating to the Orchard Grove site will be taken in public by its planning committee west, which handles major planning decisions for the former Somerset West and Taunton area.
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