Nearly 80 homes to be built near Somerset beauty spot
It comes after an appeal by Gladman Developments meaning they can build up to 90 homes
Nearly 80 new homes will be built on the edge of a Somerset beauty spot following a successful appeal.
Gladman Developments was refused outline permission in September 2020 to build up to 90 homes on Wookey Hole Road on Wells, on the edge of the Mendip Hills national landscape (formerly area of outstanding natural beauty, or AONB).
The Congleton-based developed put forward amended plans in late-July 2024, reducing the number of homes down to 78 and providing additional public open space in the northern part of the site.
Somerset Council refused the plans for a second time in November 2024, stating they would “erode the gap” between Wells and the neighbouring villages – prompting the developer to lodge an appeal.
Following a public inquiry in late-August, the Planning Inspectorate has ruled in the developer’s favour – with more detailed proposals expected to come forward for further public consultation in the new year.
The site lies to the south of Wookey Hole Road, next to the Priory Fields development being delivered by Bovis Homes and the St. Cuthbert’s paper mill.
Access will be provided onto Wookey Hole Road at the north-eastern corner of the site, with a pedestrian link being provided to the south to link the new homes to the Strawberry Line multi-user path.
Of the 78 homes intended for the site, 32 will be affordable – meeting the council’s target for 40 per cent affordable housing for any new development of ten homes or more within the former Mendip area.
Planning inspector Benjamin Webb visited the site on September 4, towards the end of the four-day public inquiry, and published his ruling on the Planning Inspectorate’s official website shortly thereafter.
Mr Webb said the council’s housing policies were “long out of date” in light of a lack of a five-year housing land supply and that developing this site “would not undermine the sustainable pattern of growth” that the city had seen on its western edge in recent years.
He said: “Future occupants would be supported by and would have easy access to services and facilities in Wells.”
Mr Webb noted that efforts to secure this site as a “green gap” between Wells and the neighbouring settlements had failed, having been rejected during the creation of the recently-revised Mendip Local Plan Part II.
He added: “The council’s assertion that this development would necessarily result in coalescence with Haybridge does not therefore stand up to scrutiny.
“A reasonable gap would remain, given the retention of a large area of open space covering the highest ground within the north-west corner of the site.
“This would continue to provide a sense of physical and visual separation, albeit the character of the retained space would change from that of agricultural land.”
Mr Webb said that the historic mill “remain sufficiently distinct” from existing, more recent residential development in this part of Wells, and the Gladman scheme would not “transform Haybridge into a suburb”.
He elaborated: “The development would obviously have a transformative effect on the character of the site, and its southern half in particular.
“But despite asserting that the site holds ‘amenity’ value as an undeveloped rural landscape, the council sought to distance itself from many of the objections presented by its landscape witness at the inquiry.”
Regarding the site’s proximity to the Mendip Hills, Mr Webb said that the land in question “does not appear to make any direct contribution” to the existing views from the hills”, and therefore development could not be opposed purely or primarily on these grounds.
He said: “Alongside the strong visual presence of existing development, it is unlikely that that added by the scheme would noticeably disturb the tranquillity, sense of remoteness or darkness of the National Landscape.
“With distance, the site is an increasingly small and insignificant component of an expansive vista, within which attention is principally directed towards the wider landscape and prominent features within it, such as Glastonbury Tor.
“It is open to question whether the National Landscape would be affected at all by the development.”
Wells lies within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area, with any new development having to include additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates within the protected Ramsar site.
To offset these new homes, Gladman will be implementing a sustainable urban drainage scheme in conjunction with Wessex Water’s upgrade to the city’s waste water treatment plant, which will be completed by April 2030.
If the developer wishes for the new dwellings to be completed and occupied before April 2030, it will need to purchase phosphate credits from a third-party organisation (which work by temporarily fallowing agricultural land within the same catchment).
A reserved matters application, covering the detailed design and layout of the new homes, is expected to be submitted to Somerset Council in early-2026.