Up to 35 new homes approved in Broadway despite sewer concerns

Up to 35 new homes will be built in a village despite concerns over sewers and phosphate levels.

South Somerset District Council approved outline plans for the homes in Broadway, near Ilminster, in 2019.

However, legal agreements between the council and the developer were not signed due to a court ruling prohibiting an increase in phosphate levels on the Somerset Levels.

Somerset Council has now ruled the development can proceed.

But it has asked Wessex Water to provide assurances about how it intends to improve the local sewer network before work can begin.

The site lies at the north-western edge of Broadway, less than a mile from the site of the proposed Ding Meadow development.

Peter Gregory, chairman of Broadway Parish Council, warned that the village's existing sewer network could not cope without significant investment from Wessex Water.

"Wessex Water now acknowledges that the sewer in Suggs Lane is inadequate during stormy, wet weather.

"The increasing frequency of periods of heavy rain has meant increasing incidents of foul water gushing from the sewer in Suggs Lane and thus into local properties and the Ding," he added.

Nick Warfield, managing director of developers Fremantle, said it would be "a high-quality rural scheme" and promised his company was "committed to the site's delivery".

He added: "Our scheme will deliver much-needed affordable homes at the time when the council has a worsening five-year housing supply."

The planning committee voted unanimously to back the plans, on the condition that no official approval notice would be issued until the requested meeting with Wessex Water had taken place.

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