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Revised plans have been put forward to build 230 new homes near the site of a popular Somerset music festival.
The Watchet Music Festival was held near Parsonage Farm off the B3191 Brendon Road annually for 25 years, with the last event happening in the summer of 2022.
The Watchet Live Community Interest Company (CIC), which organised the festival, announced in June 2023 that the festival would no longer take place due to the current tenant farmer ending his lease on the site.
The Wyndham Estate published plans in December 2023 for 230 homes at Parsonage Farm, with new commercial space being provided by converting the existing buildings.
Amended plans for the same number of homes have now been submitted, with Somerset Council expected to make a final decision in the spring of 2026.
The site lies on the eastern side of Brendon Road, very close to the town's cemetery and within walking distance of the historic St. Decuman's Well.
Phase one of the new development will see the creation of a new access road off Brendon Road and the conversion of the existing Parsonage Farm buildings, providing commercial space for local businesses - including 11 light industrial units.
Phase two will see the access road extended to the new homes, along with new allotments and orchards in the southern portion of the site.
The homes will be concentrated in the northern and eastern parts of the development, with the existing public footpaths through the site being enhanced - including an improved link towards the existing cut-through to Woodlands Road.
The new properties will range from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses, with 35 per cent of the new homes will be affordable - the equivalent of 80 dwellings.
A spokesman for LHC Design (representing the applicant) said: "The site is located in a sustainable location for accessing Watchet, providing opportunities for future residents to walk and cycle to the amenities and facilities in the town, as well as using public transport to local destinations.
"The design has been developed to ensure that the proposals positively respond to its context.
"Buffers to existing hedgerows and offsets from the listed farmhouse at Parsonage Farm will create areas for recreation, leisure and nature.
"The existing hedgerow on Brendon Road will be retained as much as viable, to ensure that appropriate visibility splays are deliverable."
Watchet is expected to see significant housing growth in the coming years, with the town and many of its neighbouring settlements being unaffected by the phosphates crisis which is holding up around 12,000 homes across Somerset.
Summerfield Developments is currently delivering 250 homes on the Liddymore Park site at the town's south-eastern edge, with the final phases (comprising 175 homes) being approved shortly before Christmas.
Permission is also in place for 139 new homes either side of Normandy Avenue on the east of the town, with Edenstone Homes being given the green light by councillors in May 2024.
The Wyndham Estate, which owns land across the former West Somerset area, has also been bringing forward new developments in the neighbouring village of Williton, delivering the Orchard Brooks development of 90 homes on Doniford Road and securing permission for a further 350 homes on the A39 Priest Street (which has begun construction after Lovell Homes put forward amended plans).
The Wyndham Estate said there had been "ongoing consultation" with the organisers of the Watchet Music Festival about being able to re-stage the event within part of the site.
Discussions have also take place with the Watchet Community Interest
Company (Watchet CIC) about using part of the site to store "carnival paraphernalia" and with the local scout troupe over the possibility of providing a new building as part of the development.
Councillor Rosemary Woods (whose Watchet and Stogursey division includes the site) has strongly objected to the plans, arguing that the development is "not sustainable for the town" in light of the other planned estates.
Ms Woods (who lives on Cherry Tree Way, near the Edenstone site) said: "With the closure of Cleeve Hill, the road into Watchet from Washford Cross is under particular pressure, and this is where the access to the site will come.
"The facilities in Watchet are under pressure (including the local doctors) owing to the planning applications that are already in place.
"The road from Five Bells (near Williton) to Washford Cross already has the side of the road falling away; therefore, all the extra traffic generated by this site could bloke the road.
"The idea of some of the plot being provided for generating jobs is a good idea, but this does not cover the number of properties being proposed."
Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the Parsonage Farm plans in the spring.
Given the size and scale of the development, such a decision is likely to be taken in public by its planning committee west, which makes decisions on major applications within the former Somerset West and Taunton area.