More than 100m of hedgerow could be cut down for new homes in Ilminster
It's to make way for 360 homes.
More than 100 metres of hedgerow near a Somerset doctors’ surgery will need to be torn down to provide access to a new housing estate.
Persimmon Homes South West secured outline planning permission in January 2024 to construct up to 360 homes on Canal Way in Ilminster, on land adjacent to the Meadows Surgery.
The Exeter-based developer has submitted detailed plans for the access arrangements, which involve removing 120 metres of hedges and changing the current layout of the surgery’s car park.
Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the plans by the autumn.
The development site lies between Canal Way and Herne Hill, which was designated as a local nature reserve by South Somerset District Council in July 2018.
To access the site, the existing southern arm of the Canal Way roundabout will be extended further south, with the hedges to the east of the doctors’ surgery being removed.
The car park (which also serves the Summervale medical centre and other health services based in the town) will be remodelled, allowing for a wide access road with a shared pedestrian and cycle path on its western side.
This path would link up with the existing cycle lanes along Canal Way and the Stop Line Way active travel route towards Donyatt – which is expected to be upgraded as part of the housing development.
Two new pedestrian crossings will be delivered as part of these proposals – one near the medical facilities, and one on Canal Way to link up with the pedestrian route into Lower Meadows.
Simon Coles, director of planning at Carney Sweeney (representing the developer) said approving these plans would prevent further delays in the delivery of the new homes.
He said: “The original strategy had been to submit this application pursuant to the granting of outline planning permission, the reserved matters approval and the discharge of pre-commencement conditions.
“This would have enabled the removal of hedgerow before November 2025 in accordance with best practice, so that the access could be constructed during the winter of 2025/26 and the delivery of new market and affordable homes could commence in the spring of 2026, with occupations in the autumn of 2026.
“However, the delay to the grant of outline planning permission demands a different strategy.”
The Canal Way site is one of more than 50 development sites within the former South Somerset area whose delivery has been delayed by the ongoing phosphates crisis, with developers having to secure additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.
To offset the increase in phosphates from the new homes, Persimmon intends to temporarily fallow around 300 acres of council-owned agricultural land between Herne Hill and the hamlet of Sea.
While the council’s planning committee south voted to grant permission in January 2024, negotiations between the council and Persimmon remain ongoing over the contributions to various community facilities secured under the Section 106 agreement.
Until this agreement is signed, the outline consent cannot be issued – and no reserved matters applications for the detailed design and layout of the homes can be considered.
Mr Coles continued: “In view of the national imperative to build new homes and the council’s significant housing land supply deficit, we trust that the council will approve this application without delay so that new market and affordable homes can be delivered expediently on this allocated site.”
The council has faced criticism from developers over the length of time it has taken to sign off on Section 106 agreements, with Ilchester landowner Patrick Young warning in April that a planned development of 200 homes within the village could fall through if the outline plans (approved by councillors in late-January) were not formally signed off.
The council is expected to make a ruling on the Canal Way access proposals by the autumn, with Persimmon expected to bring forward a reserved matters application for the residential element of the site within the coming months.
A previous ‘first phase’ reserved matters application from January 2018, covering the first 144 homes within the site, was officially withdrawn on June 20.