Construction on 95 low-cost homes near Chard could begin before Christmas
Meetings will be held
Construction on nearly 100 low-cost homes near Chard could begin before Christmas if revised plans are approved.
The Crossman Group secured outline permission on appeal in March 2024 to deliver 95 new homes on the B3167 Perry Street in South Chard, a short distance from the Devon-Somerset border.
The site – which lies at the southern edge of the village – was subsequently put on the market and sold to LiveWest, with Somerset Council approving minor changes to the outline plans in early January.
3West Developments Ltd (working on behalf of LiveWest) has now put forward amended proposals for the site, which, if approved, would allow construction to begin within a matter of months.
The site lies at the southern entrance to the village, near the junction with School Lane and within walking distance of the Swisstulle factory.
The original outline permission included a number of conditions – including time limits for how soon revised plans (known as a reserved matters application) could come forward.
Crossman’s proposals also included a provision that five plots within the site would be allocated for self-build projects – a provision which was removed by the council in January to make it easier for LiveWest to bring forward its own vision for the development.
The original planning permission required that 35 per cent of the new homes within the site would be affordable – the equivalent of 33 properties.
Under these latest plans, 23 homes will be offered at social rent (ranging from one-bedroom maisonettes to four-bedroom house), 10 will be offered as shared ownership properties (including seven bungalows) and the remaining 62 properties will be offered at affordable rent (i.e. up to 80 per cent of the market rate).
A spokesperson for LRM Planning (representing the applicants) said: “This is a well-planned development that will provide an attractive and pleasant place to live, supported by all the necessary infrastructure to ensure that the site is functional, inclusive and sustainable.
“The timely delivery of this site will make a valuable contribution to the immediate deliverable housing supply within the former South Somerset district.
“The addition of 95 affordable dwellings to the local housing stock will also make a substantial contribution towards unmet local housing need.”
As of January, 3,474 households with “local connections” to south Somerset were registered on the Homefinder Somerset service – of which 55 had a local connection to the parish of Tatworth and Forton.
As part of the plans, the developer must provide more than £894,000 for local education – including nearly £334,000 to ensure sufficient capacity at Holyrood Academy and more than £502,000 towards Chard’s new primary school (which will be built within the grounds of the secondary school).
The council is expected to make a final decision on the plans by late summer.
Due to the scale and significance of the proposals, a final decision is likely to be taken in public by the council’s planning committee south, rather than through the delegated powers of its planning officers.