An "ugly monstrosity" at the centre of a growing Somerset village is set to be razed for new homes after a successful appeal.
The Crispin Shopping Centre, a fixture in Street since 1979, has seen years of decline following the closure of the local Tesco Metro store.
In January 2024, Churchill Retirement Living proposed plans to demolish the centre and erect a retirement complex featuring 45 extra care apartments and 11 'retirement cottages'.
Somerset Council's planning committee east, responsible for major applications in the Mendip district, rejected the proposal in July 2024, leading the Hampshire-based developer to appeal.
After a public inquiry held in April and May, the Planning Inspectorate has now reversed the council's decision, paving the way for demolition to commence before year's end.
This site is among nine earmarked for new housing in the council's updated Mendip Local Plan Part II, which underwent public consultation in 2024.
Churchill's plans involve substituting the current structures with a three-storey, L-shaped apartment block and two cottage blocks on the north and east sides.
The development will be accessible from Leigh Road, including a pedestrian entry near the library, while the existing High Street pedestrian access will serve mainly for service purposes.
A new residential development in the heart of the site will include a communal car park with 21 spaces, landscaped to visually separate the properties from the neighbouring Southside car park on Vestry Road.
Churchill Retirement Living, known for running the Riverain Lodge care facility in Taunton's town centre, has recently obtained planning permission in early April 2024 for a similar project at the old police station site in Wells.
On April 23, during the contestable public inquiry's opening day, Planning Inspector Hayley Butcher assessed the site, with her judgement available on the Planning Inspectorate's website.
Butcher praised the Central Somerset mural located on the property (which is grade two listed) for its "intrinsic artistic significance" and its depiction of a particular moment in social history linked to the Quaker heritage of the Clark family.
Despite recognising that the removal of the shopping centre would cause the mural to be "completely severed from its original setting" thus "diminished" in visibility to the public, she acknowledged that Churchill Retirement Living’s proposed addition of interpretation boards on-site could mitigate the damage to the Street conservation area. She stated that these mitigation measures could be ensured through planning conditions.
She said: "There is a critical need for housing of this type for older people, which also provides social benefits and can release under-occupied housing stock.
"Furthermore, the development would contribute financially towards the provision of affordable housing.
"There are clear economic benefits that would stem from the proposal, and it is an allocated, brownfield site for housing, situated in the heart of a large village.
"I find that the public benefits in this case would outweigh the less than substantial harm to the significance of designated heritage assets."
Focusing on parking provision, Ms Butcher stated that the site's proximity to various local amenities makes a lack of car parking spaces acceptable.
She said: "While it is correct that there are no large supermarkets near to the appeal site, online food deliveries are now widely used, and the adjacent High Street, in any event, would provide for everyday needs in the form of bakers, local convenience stores, and pharmacies, to name but a few.
A doctors' surgery is just one road away from the main entrance to the development and bus stops and taxi ranks are on Leigh Road, immediately next to the main entrance to the site.
She added: "There are various parking opportunities in Street; there is a large car park immediately next to the site from which there would be direct pedestrian access to and from the development. "
Ms Butcher suggested that concerns about over-development could be alleviated through planning conditions, stating that the development would result in "a more recessive and sympathetic building" than the shopping centre.
She proposed that, as part of the planning approval, Churchill should contribute nearly £76,000 towards affordable housing, which can be used to deliver low-cost homes elsewhere in the village.
The developer will also contribute just over £25,000 towards a new multi-use games area (MUGA) and more than £19,000 towards expanding local GP surgeries' – with the NHS Somerset integrated care board deciding how this latter sum will be allocated.
Both Glastonbury Surgery, on Feversham Lane in Glastonbury, and the Vine Surgery on Hindhayes Lane in Street have been granted a share of £1m from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) to expand their physical premises over the next 12 months, enabling more patients to be treated.
Demolition work on the Crispin Centre site is set to start later in the year, paving the way for construction work in 2026.
