130 homes approved for A38 Taunton Road, North Petherton

Barratt Homes applied to build the homes on the A38 Taunton Road in North Petherton, between the existing Portman Drive homes and the town’s rugby club.

Sedgemoor District Council granted outline permission for the homes in January 2020, establishing a new access road to link the houses with the main road between Taunton and Bridgwater.

The council’s development committee has now approved the detailed designs and layout of the houses, with the developer looking to begin construction later in the year.

Barratt Homes has been recently expanding its housebuilding in Somerset despite the coronavirus restrictions, beginning work at the Elworthy Place estate on Sandys Moor in Wiveliscombe (94 homes) and the Blackdown Heights site on Crimchard in Chard (142 homes).

Senior design and planning manager Chris Dolling addressed the council’s development committee when it met virtually to discuss the North Petherton plans on Tuesday (March 2).

He said: “We’ve worked hard to evolve a design of high quality, creating a place that’s great to live in.”

The development site is one of three parcels of land between Taunton Road and Newton Road which are allocated for new housing within the council’s Local Plan.

Persimmon Homes Severn Valley was granted permission to build 72 homes on the east side of the A38 in October 2018, with a separate access from the main road.

The Barratt development, which wraps around the Persimmon site, will join its estate roads up to these homes, and will leave a future connection open to land at the north-eastern end.

The council is currently negotiating with the owners of this third parcel of land, with a view that homes built here could connect the Barratt and Persimmon estates to Newton Road.

Linda Hyde, who sits on North Petherton Town Council, said the developer had addressed some of their initial concerns, but questions about traffic remained.

She said: “Our main concern is the road layout and the increase in traffic through the bottleneck of the town centre.

“We are disappointed with the lack of joined-up thinking by the developers of these sites, resulting in two access roads onto the A38 Taunton Road.

“During the summer, when the M5 is often closed, the A38 between the rugby club and Junction 24 regularly grinds to a halt.

“We are, however, reassured that previous concerns about drainage, flood risk and overlooking have been resolved.”

Councillor Bill Revans (who represents North Petherton) was similarly disappointed that the plans did not go further when it come to transport.

He said: “I’m really pleased that we have managed to secure the road link between the Barratt and Persimmon sites – but my overall comment is that this is a missed opportunity.

“We hoped this may provide some traffic relief, but we’ve got two junctions onto the A38 and no news about the link road to Newton Road.”

Councillor Alan Bradford (who also represents North Petherton) was more welcoming of the proposals, arguing the designs were a good fit for the town.

He said: “I want to congratulate Barratt Homes on the quality of houses they build. They’ve won a lot of awards recently, and these are the quality of homes that North Petherton deserves.

“The Persimmon development was granted 18 months ago and I’m surprised it hasn’t moved forward.

“I think North Petherton needs this. We all need affordable housing, it’s a growth area.”

The committee voted to approve the plans by a margin of 12 votes to zero, with one councillor being absent due to technical issues.