MINEHEAD’S new MP has called for a former paper mill to be redeveloped before any more homes are build on nearby green fields.

The former Wansborough paper mill lies off the B3191 Brendon Road in Watchet, and was once the UK’s largest producer of coreboard.

The mill site has been largely vacant since the business closed in December 2015, at a loss of 176 local jobs, with various attempts being made in the intervening years to redevelop the site into new homes and business units.

During this time, Watchet has seen numerous new housing estates approved on greenfield sites – with Summerfield Developments currently constructing 250 homes on Liddymore Road, and Edenstone Homes securing planning permission in May for 139 homes either side of Normandy Avenue.

Now Rachel Gilmour, the newly-elected Liberal Democrat MP for Tiverton and Minehead, has called for all further development on greenfield sites in the town to be blocked until the paper mill site has been regenerated.

The Wansbrough Mill Development Company Ltd. originally put forward proposals to redevelop the site in August 2019, envisioning 430 new homes along with offices, light industrial units, a care home, and a hotel with leisure facilities.

In late-2020, Somerset County Council considered building a bypass across the site to provide an alternative route between Watchet and Blue Anchor if the B3191 Cleeve Hill coast road was lost to erosion.

This option would have cost up to £71.7m to deliver and was shelved in favour of realigning the existing road inland – since which time Cleeve Hill has closed indefinitely to motor vehicles.

Tameer Homes put forward amended proposals to develop the paper mill site in November 2020, reducing the planned number of homes to 350, cutting the amount of commercial space and replacing the care home with a “visitor interpretation centre.”

The site was purchased in the summer of 2023 by Stratton Land Ltd., which also secured planning permission to temporarily use the site to store soil from a housing development it is currently constructing on the A39 Hopcott Road in Minehead.

Ms Gilmour spoke in favour of prioritising the paper mill site at a hustings staged in Langford Budville during the general election campaign.

She won her Tiverton and Minehead seat on July 4 with a majority of just over 3,500, ousting long-standing local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger with a swing in excess of 19 per cent.

Ms Gilmour, who lives in Bampton, said: “Liberal Democrat policy is to support the development of brownfield sites before encroaching on greenfield sites.

“I therefore support the proposed development of the paper mill site in Watchet.

“I would prefer the development at Parsonage Farm to be put on the back burner and revisited when, or if, there is an established need for even more houses, once the paper mill site is complete.”

The Wyndham Estate submitted plans in early-December 2023 to build up to 230 homes, commercial units and an orchard near Parsonage Farm, located off the B3191 Brendon Road on the southern edge of Watchet.