AFFORDABLE homes have been slashed from a planned housing development a stone’s throw from Somerset’s new ‘gigafactory’.

Wain Homes Severn Valley secured planning permission from Sedgemoor District Council in September 2020 to build 175 new homes on the B3141 Woolavington Hill.

The legal agreements concerning the plans – which includes the delivery of a new roundabout on the A39 Bath Road, replacing the existing T-junction – were not formally signed off by planning officers until March 2022.

Wain Homes subsequently carried out a viability assessment on the site, arguing to the new Somerset Council that the site was “undeliverable” unless all the affordable homes were removed from the later phases of the construction.

The council’s planning committee north voted in Bridgwater on the morning of Tuesday, December, 10 to allow this change, meaning fewer low-cost homes will be built as the site is developed.

The plans are divided into parts – full planning permission for the first 100 homes (including the new access road onto Woolavington Hill) and outline planning permission for the remaining 75 properties.

Under the agreed changes, 30 affordable homes will still be provided within the initial phase of construction, meeting the council’s target for any new major development in the former Sedgemoor area.

However, none of the 75 homes in the second phase will be affordable – meaning only 17 per cent of all homes in the finished estate will be sold off below the market price.

Chris Marsh from Pegasus Planning Group (representing the Bristol-based developer) said the site and the new roundabout were “undeliverable” without this change, citing “a significant cooling of the housing market in light of high inflation and the resulting high interest rates”.

But Alan Sharp, chairman of Woolavington Parish Council, called for a decision to be delayed until a review had been carried out into how affordable housing could be delivered in a “joined up” way throughout the village.

He told the committee: “We fully understand the need for developments to be viable, but we disagree with the reduction in affordable homes to achieve this. There is a substantial local housing need.”

Woolavington is expected to expand greatly in the coming years as the new £4bn gigafactory is constructed by Agratas, with the first phase expected to be operational by 2026.

Persimmon Homes Severn Valley is expected to launch a new public consultation in the coming weeks on its planned ‘West Woolavington’ neighbourhood, which will deliver a further 1,400 homes at the western edge of the village.

Councillor Alan Bradford, whose North Petherton division has seen significant housing growth in recent years, said the committee had little choice but to acquiesce, given the pressures on developers and the new government’s push to deliver more new housing.

He said: “As a committee, we can all accept the pressures on building companies – they have a gun to their head to build more houses, and we want more affordable houses.”

After a short debate, the committee voted to approve the reduction in affordable housing within the site by nine votes to zero, with one abstention.