PLANS have been submitted to Somerset Council for a new housing estate near Bridgwater.

Edenstone Homes have applied to build 45 new dwellings, a car park, public open space, and other associated infrastructure in West Huntspill.

The proposed site for the new estate is 2.09 hectares of agricultural land located south of New Road, lying alongside the A38.

Outline planning permission for the development was granted in June earlier this year.

As well as 45 homes, the proposed site would feature pedestrian and cycle access from both the A38, and New Road.

At the entrance from the main road, an attenuation pond will act as "a gateway feature", although this will involve relocating the original pond on site - meaning a Natural England license is needed, due to the vicinity of great crested newts nearby.

The application states: "The development will be focussed around a central avenue that will include formal planting and landscaping.

"The access road will run through the centre of the site.

"The layout will include a variety of different arrangements from small cul-de-sacs with private drives, to properties facing directly onto the road with rear parking courtyard, to longer residential streets.

"The alignment of the roads will ensure that traffic speeds are low and pedestrian safety is prioritised."

There will also be play areas to the north of the site, which will be designed to ensure that they are safe for children.

In 2021, a very similar application was submitted to build 45 homes on the same plot of land by West Huntspill LVA LLP, which although approved, never came to fruition, and was met with backlash due to the positioning opposite West Huntspill Primary School.

At the time, Parish council chairman John Wakefield said: “The last building on this sort of scale was in the 1940s, which was the Ringstone estate.

“Since then there has been a steady increase in infill building, with over 70 new builds going on during that period – but they’ve all been within the confines of the village, in the loop of Church Road and Alstone Lane.

“This is totally different – it will create an enclave which is separate to the village, and it will be very difficult for the people living there to become part of the village.”

The current application from Edenstone Homes states that the proposed parking area in the North West of the site would provide additional allocated parking to West Huntspill Primary School to use as they please - whether it be for staff, or for parents to pick up and drop off their children.

Updates to the application can be viewed by searching for application number 52/23/00006 on the Somerset Council website, and comments are open until December 5 2023.

Approval could be given as early as December 6 2023.