A DECISION on plans for nearly 300 new homes in Taunton has been pushed back following concerns about the planned access.

David Wilson Homes secured outline planning consent for the Nerrols Farm development back in 2010, intending to deliver around 900 homes and a new primary school between Lyngford Lane and the Maidenbrook Country Park in northern Taunton.

The developer put forward detailed proposals for phase three of the development, comprising 292 homes, back in July 2019, with a decision being repeatedly delayed in light of the ongoing phosphates crisis in Somerset.

After years of negotiations, the revised plans finally came before Somerset Council’s planning committee west for a decision on February 18.

But following protests from local residents, and concerns raised by both councillors and the local MP, the committee has deferred a decision until later in the year to allow for a site visit.

Phases one and two were constructed using Nerrols Drive as a spine road, which runs north from the Nerrols roundabout before turning into Bossington Drive.

The earliest iterations of the phase three plans (which include 73 affordable homes) envisioned that Rossiter Road within the phase two site would be extended in a north-westerly direction, joining up with a new roundabout at the current junction of Lyngford Lane and Cheddon Road.

However, David Wilson Homes subsequently decided that phases two and three would not be linked together, with the phase three homes only being accessed via a T-junction at the top of Lyngford Lane.

Lyngford Lane itself would be stopped up, serving as a quiet walking and cycling route from the new homes to the local post office and other facilities, skirting past the Lyngford House social care development and the North Taunton Woolaway regeneration site.

The existing public rights of way, which bend around the northern and eastern edges of the site, would also be enhanced, with a new walking and cycling link being created to link up with Leigh Road.

Numerous protesters gathered outside County Hall in Taunton on February 18 to object to these proposals, before making their voices known when the planning committee met the same afternoon.

Mark Durk, who lives near the neighbouring village of Cheddon Fitzpaine, said: “This site should be developed, but not like this. I strongly suggest that councillors visit the site and its locality before making a decision.

“This proposals subverts the Taunton Deane Core Strategy, which includes a link route giving two access points. The abandonment of the route is perverse and unsound.

“You should reduce the number of car parking space and really encourage active travel. A bus route through the site would help, as would greater regularity of services.

“This compromises the garden town vision, and the lanes to the north will become rat runs to reach the M5.”

Marcus Walker concurred: “The sensible choice here would be to reinstate the original plan of a road through the Nerrols estate, which would come out onto Bossington Drive.

“The exit at the top of Lyngford Lane does not allow for easy access onto Cheddon Road. It is directly opposite a blind bend, is surrounded by high hedges and is opposite a busy working farm.

“This junction, which may well be subject to more than 2,000 vehicle movements every day, is not suitable as the only exit point from the proposed development.

“The increased traffic from this site, plus the extra traffic which will inevitably be generated from the Staplegrove development of 1,600-plus houses and the planned Gladman estate on Pyrland Farm, will made the road into Cheddon Fitzpaine busier and potentially more dangerous.”

Karen Curd added: “A road connection with the phase two site must be maintained.

“Lyngford Lane is a narrow country road, ill-equipped to accommodate this substantial traffic, lacking road markings and street lights.

“If large, heavy vehicles have to navigate through Lyngford Lane, we are confronted with a recipe for disaster on that narrow bend.”

Taunton and Wellington MP Gideon Amos wrote directly to Alison Blom-Cooper, the council’s strategic director of planning and place, to express his concerns about the development.

He said: “The original plan included 365 houses, compared to the new plan of 292. This reduced density represents a more profligate use of precious greenfield land supposedly to avoid the cost of an access road.

“I urge the council to take into account the local knowledge of residents and Cheddon Fitzpaine Parish Council on highway safety issues.

“This is already an extremely unsafe area for pedestrians due to no pavements, cycle paths or street lights. Increasing vehicle usage here will impact safety further.

“Without a road link to the south into the phase two site, parents have nodirect access to their catchment school (Nerrols Primary School). Their only way to drive to school would be to go all the way through Priorswood or Cheddon Fitzpaine.”

David Wilson Homes had argued that delivering a road through the site (linking Lyngford Lane to Bossington Drive) was not practical due to a narrow “ransom strip” between the phase two and three sites, which was outside of its ownership.

Councillor Derek Perry (who represents the neigbouring Rowbarton and Staplegrove division) said he shared residents’ concerns, arguing that using Lyngford Lane as the sole access point would create serious road safety issues.

He said: “As vehicles come out of this site, they’re going to have to queue to let vehicles come the other way – which will be happening in the morning as people take their children to school in Cheddon Fitzpaine.

“The natural inclination would therefore be to turn right, go through the lanes and pop out in West Monkton. That reality doesn’t appear to have been assessed.”

Councillor Caroline Ellis (Bishop’s Hull and Taunton West) said: “I’m deeply unhappy with this – I’m at the point where there’s no way I could endorse this in its current form.

“I’m envisaging absolute chaos on this road. If this is an active travel-led development, why have we got 750 car parking spaces, and the drivers are all going to be heading out at one point heading down narrow, dangerous lanes?

“Anyone who knows Taunton would think this is a disaster.”

The committee voted to defer a decision on the plans by 11 votes to zero, with one abstention.

The council has not indicated when the site visit will be carried, or how soon the plans will come back before the committee.