Somerset: Wetlands included in revised major housing plans

Wetlands, included in revised proposal for a major housing development, will hugely boost local biodiversity, a developer has promised.

The Ninesquare Trust secured outline planning permission from Mendip District Council in 2023 to build up to 280 homes on Somerton Road in Street.

The organisation then sold the site to Curo Enterprise Ltd with revised proposals for the same number of homes.

A decision from Somerset Council is expected by the summer.

Its decision on the original plans - which were submitted in December 2019 - was delayed by the phosphates crisis, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The revised proposals include the existing public right of way between Somerton Road and Burleigh Lane being retained as a board-walk, community orchards and solar panels and air source heat pumps for all of the new homes.

A spokesman for Curo said: "We are following a phosphate mitigation strategy, designed as part of the outline planning permission and as advised by experts, to ensure this scheme won't harm the Somerset Levels and Moors.

"The board-walk and wetlands are key feature of the design and integral to the scheme.

"They will enhance local biodiversity and also play an important role in phosphate reduction."

Under new planning rules which became effective on New Year's Day, any new housing development must leave the natural environment in a considerably better state when they have completed their work.The Curo plans were submitted to Somerset Council shortly before the deadline, and therefore technically are not bound by the new rule.

However, Curo's head of land Charlotte Cooper has promised that this commitment will still be met in an attempt to deliver an "exemplary development"."We plan to enhance the biodiversity on site by ten per cent by developing additional habitats with tree and hedge planting and the creation of wetlands and improved grassland," she said.

If permission is secured, Curo intends to begin construction in 2025.

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