Plans to build nearly 80 new homes on the outskirts of a Somerset beauty spot have been approved after a successful planning appeal.
Gladman Developments was initially denied outline consent in September 2020 for up to 90 properties on Wookey Hole Road in Wells, situated at the boundary of the Mendip Hills national landscape (previously designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty, or AONB).
The Congleton-based firm submitted revised proposals in late July 2024, cutting the housing numbers to 78 and incorporating extra public open space across the northern section of the site.
Somerset Council rejected the application for a second occasion in November 2024, arguing the development would "erode the gap" between Wells and adjacent villages – leading the developer to submit an appeal.
After a public inquiry held in late August, the Planning Inspectorate has determined in favour of the developer – with more comprehensive proposals anticipated to emerge for additional public consultation during the new year.
The location sits south of Wookey Hole Road, next to the Priory Fields scheme being delivered by Bovis Homes and the St. Cuthbert's paper mill.
Entry will be facilitated via Wookey Hole Road at the site's north-eastern corner, whilst a pedestrian connection will be established to the south, linking the new properties to the Strawberry Line multi-user path.
Among the 78 dwellings planned for the location, 32 will be affordable – fulfilling the council's requirement for 40 per cent affordable housing across any new development comprising 10 homes or more within the former Mendip district. Planning inspector Benjamin Webb, who visited the site on 4 September during the final stages of a four-day public inquiry, has published his ruling on the Planning Inspectorate's official website.
Webb said the council's housing policies were "long out of date" due to a lack of a five-year housing land supply and that developing this site "would not undermine the sustainable pattern of growth" that the city had experienced on its western edge in recent years.
He said: "Future occupants would be supported by and would have easy access to services and facilities in Wells."
Webb observed that attempts to secure this site as a "green gap" between Wells and neighbouring settlements had been unsuccessful, having been rejected during the creation of the recently-revised Mendip Local Plan Part II.
He added: "The council's assertion that this development would necessarily result in coalescence with Haybridge does not therefore stand up to scrutiny.
"A reasonable gap would remain, given the retention of a large area of open space covering the highest ground within the north-west corner of the site.
"This would continue to provide a sense of physical and visual separation, albeit the character of the retained space would change from that of agricultural land."
Webb concluded the historic mill "remain sufficiently distinct" from existing, more recent residential development in this part of Wells, and the Gladman scheme would not "transform Haybridge into a suburb".
He expanded: "The development would obviously have a transformative effect on the character of the site, and its southern half in particular.
"But despite asserting that the site holds 'amenity' value as an undeveloped rural landscape, the council sought to distance itself from many of the objections presented by its landscape witness at the inquiry."
In relation to the site's closeness to the Mendip Hills, Mr Webb said the land in question "does not appear to make any direct contribution" to the existing views from the hills", and therefore development could not be opposed purely or primarily on these grounds."
He said: "Alongside the strong visual presence of existing development, it is unlikely that that added by the scheme would noticeably disturb the tranquillity, sense of remoteness or darkness of the National Landscape.
"With distance, the site is an increasingly small and insignificant component of an expansive vista, within which attention is principally directed towards the wider landscape and prominent features within it, such as Glastonbury Tor.
"It is open to question whether the National Landscape would be affected at all by the development."
Wells is situated within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area, with any new development required to include additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates within the protected Ramsar site.
To counterbalance these new homes, Gladman will be introducing a sustainable urban drainage scheme in partnership with Wessex Water's upgrade to the city's waste water treatment plant, set for completion by April 2030.
Should the developer aim for the new residences to be finished and occupied prior to April 2030, it will need to acquire phosphate credits from a third-party organisation (which operate by temporarily leaving agricultural land within the same catchment fallow).
A reserved matters application, detailing the design and layout of the new homes, is anticipated to be submitted to Somerset Council in early-2026.
