The New Road Development: Where Things Stand

Background

The site off New Road, West Huntspill, has planning permission for 45 dwellings under application 52/23/00006, later amended by 52/25/00017. The scheme is being brought forward by Stonewater Developments Ltd, with Clarke Willmott LLP acting as agent.

Residents raised early questions about the development, including whether the developers had permission to use the adjacent agricultural field, whether proper notification had taken place on New Road, and whether construction access was following the agreed route via the A38 rather than New Road itself. Somerset Council planning officer Tracey Ogbourne confirmed to the Parish Council that the approved scheme remains 45 homes, despite Stonewater’s own website advertising 57 new homes for the site — a figure the council said had been an error and has since been corrected online.

The S106 Variation Application

In June 2026, Stonewater submitted application 52/26/00009 to modify the Section 106 agreement originally dated 13 June 2023. The application seeks a number of changes, most significantly:

• Amending the tenure mix so affordable units become social rented (or as otherwise agreed with the council), rather than the original 40% affordable split
• Enabling “additionality” of affordable units, tied to a possible increase from 45 to 57 units — 45 reshuffled units plus a separate future application for 12 more, expected via a Section 73 application
• Removing restrictions on the developer’s ability to secure grant funding
• Adding a mortgagee exemption clause
• Allowing transfer or lease of the car park
• Updating the highways drawing to reflect the latest approved plans

Somerset Council’s interim Development Manager, Zach Elwood, explained the position at an extra Parish Council meeting called to discuss the amendment: the deed of variation would allow up to 100% affordable housing on the site, funded via grant or sale to a registered social landlord. The objection deadline for the S106 variation is 1 September.

A related but separate matter — a Section 278 highways agreement covering offsite works and the main site access — is progressing independently and must be completed before any occupation of the site, as required under the S106 agreement.

Concerns Raised by Residents and Councillors

At the extra meeting, and in correspondence since, a number of issues have been raised:

• Loss of CIL income — if the scheme becomes 100% affordable it would be exempt from the Community Infrastructure Levy, removing funds otherwise due to the parish
• Local connection — the original housing need assessment identified around 18 West Huntspill-linked households; a 100% affordable scheme could open eligibility to applicants from anywhere in Somerset
• Construction traffic — heavy vehicles have reportedly been using New Road, an unclassified road, rather than the agreed A38/Farmgate access, with visible damage to the road surface
• Tree felling — the developer has admitted to illegal tree felling on site
• Signage — site notice boards are said to be missing or incomplete
• Enforcement — no enforcement officer site visits have been reported despite the issues raised
• Drainage — site levels are now around a metre higher than New Road, with no alternative drainage scheme evident
• Car park — a proposal to transfer or lease the car park to the school, which was originally to be provided free of charge
• Public right of way — a diversion near Greenway/Greenwood does not appear on the submitted drawings
• Works already under way — foundations and site layout work appear to be progressing despite the S106 amendment not yet being decided
• Subsidy restriction — a resident has highlighted that page 30, paragraph 2.5 of the original S106 agreement required affordable housing to be “free from public subsidy,” a restriction the proposed amendment would remove

Where This Leaves the Parish Council

West Huntspill is a small linear village along the A38 with no amenities of its own, a point the Parish Council has stressed in its response. WHPC has indicated it objects to the S106 variation application “in the strongest manner,” citing the issues above.

Re: Application 52/26/00009 – Deed of Variation to S106 Agreement dated 13 June 2023, Land South of New Road, West Huntspill (planning permission 52/23/00006)

West Huntspill Parish Council objects to this application in the strongest terms.

1. Loss of a mixed and balanced community
   The original permission was granted on the basis of 40% affordable housing, in line with Sedgemoor Local Plan policy and the council’s own affordable housing standard. This proportion was calculated to deliver a mixed, balanced community alongside market housing. A shift to up to 100% affordable/social rented housing removes that mix entirely and turns a single development of up to 57 units into a mono-tenure estate. West Huntspill is a small linear village strung out along the A38 with no shops, no post office and no other amenities of its own. A development of this scale and character, without the balance the original permission secured, will have a disproportionate effect on a village of our size, and is a material change from what was originally approved and consulted on – not a minor amendment.
2. Undermining the evidenced local housing need
   The 40% affordable requirement was based on a housing needs assessment identifying a modest number of households with a genuine local connection to West Huntspill. Increasing affordable provision to 100% does not target that identified local need – it opens the units to the whole of the Somerset housing register, with no guarantee that any local resident will benefit. The application therefore no longer rests on the evidence base that justified granting permission for this site in the first place, and that evidence base has not been revisited or updated to support the scale of change now proposed.
3. Loss of Community Infrastructure Levy contributions
   Affordable housing is exempt from CIL. A move to up to 100% affordable housing would mean the development generates no CIL contribution at all, depriving the parish of funds that were intended to mitigate the impact of this development on local infrastructure, including the parish’s 15-25% share. This is a direct and material harm to the village that must be weighed in the determination.
4. Removal of safeguards intended to keep housing genuinely affordable long-term
   We understand the amendment would also remove the existing restriction requiring affordable housing to be provided free of public subsidy, and would introduce a mortgagee exemption clause and provisions allowing early sale on notice. Together these changes weaken the safeguards that were intended to keep these units affordable and available to the community in the long term, and instead make it easier for units to move out of affordable tenure or ownership altogether.

5. Car park to be transferred/leased rather than provided free

   The application proposes transferring or leasing the car park to the school. The car park was approved and presented as a free community and school amenity as part of the original scheme. Requiring the school to fund its ownership or lease is a reduction in the benefit originally secured for the community and should not be permitted through what is being presented as a technical variation.
6. Wider unresolved concerns with the development
   We also record our continuing concerns, which remain unresolved, regarding: construction traffic routing via New Road – an unclassified road unsuited to heavy vehicles and in close proximity to the school and a bus stop – rather than the agreed A38/Farmgate access; visible damage to New Road requiring repair; admitted unauthorised removal of trees; the absence of required site notice boards; the apparent lack of any enforcement visit to the site to date; drainage arrangements given the site level is now approximately one metre above New Road with no alternative drainage provision evident; and an apparent right of way diversion near Greenway/Greenwood that does not appear on the drawings submitted with this application. These matters compound our concern that changes are being made piecemeal and without adequate transparency to the parish or residents.

For the reasons set out above, West Huntspill Parish Council objects to this application in the strongest possible terms and asks that it be refused.

The full meeting transcript of the extraordinary meeting held on 18/8/26 at 7pm in the Balliol Hall can be found below