A MAJOR new retail park near the M5 could soon begin construction after plans to create new wetlands nearby were approved.
Chelston Heath LLP secured planning permission in July to build new commercial units and an electric vehicle charging hub near the Chelston roundabout, just off the main road between Wellington and junction 26 of the motorway.
The Taunton-based developer had previously submitted plans to create new wetlands immediately to the east of the retail park site, intended to offset any increase in phosphates into the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area (which includes Wellington).
Somerset Council has now given the green light to these new wetlands, which will allow construction on the new businesses to begin some time in the new year.
The retail back would include two food and drink restaurant kiosks and one restaurant, as well as an electric vehicle charging hub, and could create up to 236 new jobs.
The wetlands site is bordered by Haywards Water, which runs from its source in the Blackdown Hills around the Foxmoor Business Park, under the Chelston link road, past the Blackdown Garden Centre and flows into the River Tone near Bradford-on-Tone.
Under the agreed proposals, seven new ponds will be created, connected by weirs, with significant numbers of trees being planted within the site.
The wetlands will be accessed for maintenance from Park Lane, just off the A38 – with the public right of way which currently runs through the site being left in place, and a new path around the perimeter being created.
A spokesman for Tetra Tech Planning (representing the applicant) said: “The principal objective of the wetland is to improve water quality by reducing the concentration of phosphate in Haywards Water, which ultimately joins the River Tone.
“Phosphate removed by the proposed wetland would be used to offset phosphate surpluses at development projects in the River Tone catchment, and thus allow a number of stalled planning applications to progress.
“Phosphate sources within the catchment are largely of agricultural origin with inputs also received from septic tank overflows.”
As part of the agreed planning conditions, the developer or its chosen contractors cannot carry out work within the Haywards Water main channel between October and March, to prevent disruption to the salmonid spawning season.
It is also required to keep the existing public right of way open to the public throughout the construction process – with any necessary diversion being agreed and advertised far in advance of any work beginning.
A reserved matters application for the retail park, which will specify the layout and design of the new business units, is expected to come forward shortly.
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