Stakeholders consulted over plans to find new sites for Somerset homes

A Local Plan allocates sites across a given local authority area for new housing, employment growth, protected green spaces and necessary amenities, such as new schools, doctors’ surgeries, railway stations and village halls.

Somerset Council inherited all the Local Plans of its predecessor councils when it officially replaced them on April 1, 2023, and planning decisions can still be taken on the basis of these policies.

Work to create a new Somerset-wide Local Plan has been delayed in light of the council’s ongoing transformation programme and a legal challenge surrounding the Mendip Local Plan Part II, with the amended parts of this plan expected to be signed off by the planning inspectorate by late spring.

The council has now launched a ‘call for sites’, giving landowners, land promoters and developers a heads-up to put forward sites for new developments – with a formal six-week window opening early in the new year.

This comes shortly after the government published its new housing targets for every UK local authority, with Somerset being expected to provide an extra 1,200 homes a year.

Variety of uses

The sites being put forward can be for a variety of uses, including residential estates, commercial and industrial sites, gypsy and traveller pitches, and renewable energy installations (such as solar farms).

Submitting a site does not guarantee that it will be included in the final Local Plan or secure planning permission – with every site being assessed for its “suitability, availability and achievability” and numerous rounds of public consultation expected to take place before the final document is ratified by April 2028.

Councillor Mike Rigby, portfolio holder for economic development, planning and assets, said: “Local Plans are at the heart of the planning system and are the starting point for consideration in deciding planning applications.

“This process will be crucial for gathering information to help develop the Somerset-wide Local Plan.

“People may want to start considering their options and look out for more details on how to submit a site early in the new year.”

The new Local Plan will cover the whole of the Somerset Council area, and is designed to bring together and harmonise the following existing plans:

• Mendip Local Plan Part I (which covers Frome, Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet, Street, Wells and the neighbouring villages)
• Mendip Local Plan Part II (which provides additional sites in these settlements)
• Sedgemoor Local Plan (which covers Bridgwater, Burnham-on-Sea, Cheddar, Highbridge, North Petherton and the neighbouring villages)
• Taunton Deane Core Strategy (which covers Taunton, Wellington, Wiveliscombe and the neighbouring villages)
• West Somerset Local Plan (which covers Minehead, Watchet, Williton and the neighbouring villages)
• South Somerset Local Plan (which covers Chard, Crewkerne, Ilminster, Wincanton, Yeovil and the neighbouring villages)
• Somerset Mineral Plan (which determines how and where minerals may be quarried or otherwise extracted)
• Somerset Waste Core Strategy (which covers household waste recycling centres and similar facilities)

The only part of the Somerset Council area which will not be subject to the new Local Plan is Exmoor National Park, which has its own process.

There must be a focus going forward on affordable housing with surrounding amenities, said Gideon Amos, MP for Taunton and Wellington and the Liberal Democrats spokesperson on housing and planning.

“The new homes we need must be genuinely affordable and community led, not dictated from Whitehall diktat, with local amenities like GPs, schools and public transport built alongside new homes," he said.

Inspectors will have until February 2028 to review the plans.