Campaign under way against hundred homes plan
VILLAGERS fear a changeover from one local plan to the next will leave them vulnerable to a major housing development in Templecombe.
Keith Baker is among people campaigning for South Somerset District Council to refuse the proposal on farmland at Slades Hill.
He said a bid in 2007 to develop the site with more than 70 homes by the same developer, Mead Realisation Ltd, was turned down.
The new application includes 100 homes, a shop, employment area, a community building, allotments and new access.
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Residents claim it would increase the size of Templecombe by 20 per cent. They are also concerned about the impact of traffic from the development.
The site falls outside the current settlement area.
Mr Baker said campaigners are concerned that the application could succeed because of the transition from the South Somerset Local Plan 1991 to 2011 to a new Local Plan due to stand until 2028.
He said: "The worry is that there is a gap between them. We're concerned that this would be a window of opportunity for the developer to get this through."
He is urging people to send their objections to the district council before 28th September.
A spokesman for South Somerset District Council said: "The existing local plan to 2011 has been saved and its policies would normally still apply where they conform with the National Planning Policy Framework.
"This would mean the application is contrary to existing saved plan policy which does not see Templecombe as a location for major housing development and presents an existing settlement area beyond which development would not normally be considered.
"The application site is beyond the existing settlement area."
The proposal would form a major application and would have to be decided at a planning committee meeting.
Dee Adcock
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