A SECOND application to build homes on land off Hopcott Road in Minehead was set to get the planning go ahead as the Free Press went to print yesterday (Thursday).

Just over six months after a similar and highly controversial proposal secured planning permission, Minehead resident Fran Slade's application for outline planning permission for 80 properties to the west of Minehead Caravan Club was being recommended for approval.

Late last year the Williams Partnership got the go-ahead on appeal to build up to 71 homes on land to the west of the latest site.

But unlike their plans, which received around 80 letters of objection, Mrs Slade's application has attracted only a handful of complaints.

Just five letters – both for and against – the proposal have been received by West Somerset Council, whose planning committee was due to consider the application yesterday.

Supporters welcomed the plans as they included an element of affordable housing, while opponents cited existing pressures on local schools and medical services, lack of employment and increased traffic.

"It's supposed to be the gateway to Exmoor but all we will have is another large housing estate," one critic wrote.

Minehead Town Council also objected to the plans, fearing the visual impact of the development on the town and raising concerns about flooding.

But the committee was being recommended to approve the application by officers who said its benefits outweighed any negative impacts.

The development would include a mix of properties, including 28 affordable homes.

Highways chiefs said that although the plans would lead to an increase in traffic, it was not considered severe enough to warrant an objection.

The site was also in a low flood risk area and close to existing amenities in Alcombe.

But officers noted the field was in open countryside and suggested a raft of conditions to ensure any development was landscaped, with provision for highway improvements and a contribution to education facilities.

Officer John Burton said in his report to the committee that the site was deemed to be sustainable in planning terms, something which helped the Williams Partnership win permission for their plans at appeal.

At the time of the appeal, Government planning inspector Joanne Jones said there were no local planning policies which would warrant the refusal of the partnership's application and said the proposals met the economic, social and environmental requirements deemed necessary to make it sustainable.

She said West Somerset was facing a shortfall in new housing supply and the land in question was already earmarked as part of a larger development site for some 750 new homes in the council's own emerging Local Plan.

"The proposal would make a strategic contribution towards addressing the shortfall of housing, and especially affordable housing, within the district of West Somerset," she said.

Mr Burton was due to tell yesterday's planning meeting that this meant the principal of development on the site had been accepted.

But he added: "The council should not be compelled to grant consent solely on the basis of the previous appeal decision.

"However, on balance, it is considered that the development is sustainable and could be brought forward without being prejudicial to the emerging Local Plan."

He said demand for affordable housing in Minehead was the highest in West Somerset and concluded: "It is considered that the benefits of this proposal in terms of the contribution to the supply if houses, including an adequate and policy compliant proportion of affordable housing, is a significant factor that weighs in favour of the grant of planning permission.

"The negative impacts of the development can be mitigated to a large degree and are not considered to outweigh the benefits of the proposal."