242 new Taunton homes approved despite “bonkers” road design
First 242 homes at Quantock Park get green light amid fury over 30mph ‘lunacy’ spine road
The first phase of a major Taunton housing development has been given the go-ahead despite concerns over the “bonkers” design of the new spine road.
The Staplegrove urban extension will eventually deliver 1,628 new homes, employment land and a new primary school between the A358 Staplegrove Road and Taunton Road, at the north-western edge of Somerset’s county town.
Bloor Homes South West is currently constructing the new junction onto Staplegrove Road which will lead to the western part of the development, comprising 713 homes, commercial space and the spine road as far as Whitmore Lane.
Somerset Council’s planning committee west has now signed off on detailed plans for the first phase of the development, comprising 242 houses – despite one councillor branding the design of the spine road as “sheer lunacy”.
The first phase of the Staplegrove West development (now formally christened Quantock Park) will see new homes delivered west of Rectory Road, wrapping around the existing homes on Rectory Close and Sandene Close.
Of the 242 homes proposed, only 36 will be affordable (the equivalent of 15 per cent), following viability assessments on the wider development site.
The homes will be constructed either side of the new spine road, which will have a dedicated shared use pedestrian and cycling road running along its entire length – a link which will link up with existing active travel infrastructure along the A3065 Silk Mills Road.
The main employment hub within the Quantock Park estate will be delivered south of the spine road near Rectory Road, and will be handled by a separate application at a later date.
In addition to the new homes, the committee (which handles major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area) considered two related plans for the site when it convened in Taunton on Tuesday afternoon (February 24).
One set of plans covered the ecological buffer which runs from Staplegrove Road along the northern edge of the site, including flood prevention measures to offset the flood risk of the Back Stream (which separates the site from the Cross Keys pub).
The other set of plans covered the design of the spine road – which will be delivered entirely by the developer, rather than through the government’s housing infrastructure fund.
The first stretch of the spine road will be delivered as far as Rectory Road, with the latter being stopped up to traffic from the south.
Councillor Caroline Ellis (Liberal Democrat, Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West) lambasted the proposals for the road to have a 30mph speed limit, given that it would pass through a busy residential area.
She said: “You’re designating a road at 30mph that’s designed to be 20mph – that makes no sense to me whatsoever.
“It should be absolutely obvious (although it patently isn’t to any of our highways people) that 30mph is not a safe speed for vehicles to be travelling up where people work, rest and play.
“At some point, Somerset is going to be the only black hole in the country that’s still living in the dark ages and doesn’t acknowledge best practice in terms of road safety.
“In relation to this, it’s just bonkers. It’s a really stupid decision.
“I advocate ’20 is plenty’ because I’m a sane individual who cares about road safety, children, elderly people and vulnerable road users. It is sheer lunacy.”
Simon Fox, the council’s major projects planning officer, said that a change in the speed limit could be implemented at a later date and that the road design had been motivated by a desire to learn the lessons from the Monkton Heathfield urban extension.
He said: “We’ve had discussions over the last two or three years, where the form and function of the road has veered back and forth.
“It’s a question of ensuring that this is a liveable street, where people who face onto it and live around it can move about without feeling they’ve got a massive barrier between them.
“We are trying to avoid a scenario like we have at Monkton Heathfield where we have a large, borderless, featureless road with roundabouts, where the houses are backed onto the fast corridor.”
Councillor Simon Coles (Lib Dem, Taunton East) concurred: “This is certainly a much better design than the Scalextric tracks you see in other developments.”
Numerous local residents raised concerns about the design of the proposed houses, fearing it would negatively change the character of the wider Staplegrove area.
Simon Briggs from the Whitmore Area Residents Group said: “This massive development is going to completely overwhelm this local community and change its character forever.
“We’re going to be living on a building site for years to come – some of us may be dead and buried before it’s finished.
“The Bloor housing scheme will never be as attractive as the green fields and hills of Stapegrove.
“The spine road must be completed through to Taunton Road as soon as possible, so this development doesn’t become a cul-de-sac and result in major increases in traffic along Manor Road and Corkscrew Lane.
“There should be proper provision for buses to go into and through the development, and we should be having a dedicated bus to the town centre. We can’t rely on the 28 bus from Minehead stopping at the end of the road when it may already be full.”
Carol Pearce, who lives on Rectory Road, said that the new homes would increase localised flood risk, claiming that one of the planned attenuation basins would not be deep enough.
She said: “There is not a low risk of flooding – we are always under water on Rectory Road and Manor Road.
“There is a significant risk that the attenuation basin planned opposite our property could over-top during serious flooding events.
“Adding even more water through a new drain into an existing system that is already beyond capacity beggars belief.”
David Wilson from the Resident of Staplegrove Action Group (ROSAG) added: “This scheme is sadly an exemplar of how to game the planning system, and clearly shows how a piecemeal approach to going about things leads to a lack of holistic planning.
“The romanticised artist’s impression of the estates depicting only one or two cars are ridiculous and misleading.”
Councillor Derek Perry (Lib Dem, Rowbarton and Staplegrove) said: “There will be many people who will lament the fact that this is going ahead at all – but we can say that until the cows come home: it is happening.
“It seems that the detail hopefully will be better on this scheme than it will have been on many other new-built schemes around this area and elsewhere.
“Work will not start until we are happy with the surface water drainage scheme. I know there’s more to it, but that gives me a degree of confidence.”
After around three hours’ debate, the committee voted to approve all three related applications by comfortable margins.