A planned 44-home development could soon get the green light from the council amid a wave of development on the edge of a Somerset town.

David Wilson Homes is planning to build 44 homes next to the new Norton Hill Primary School in the south of Midsomer Norton. The homes would be built on the field across Silver Street from the primary school — the last green space on the road in Bath and North East Somerset before the border with the Somerset Council area.

A statement submitted with the application said: "The proposals are to form an integral part of the wider development of the southern fringe of Midsomer Norton."

The development was "conceived as a single vision" with a 270-home development to the south, across the council boundary. Mendip District Council granted permission for that part of the development — dubbed "the meat in the sandwich" — in March. A further 75 homes south of that were recently approved by Somerset Council, which replaced the district council.

Outline planning permission for the principle of building the 44 homes on the last field in Bath and North East Somerset was granted by the council in 2021 but issues such as design and layout of the houses need their own permission before building starts. Now the developers have submitted an application for these "reserved matters."

13 of the 44 homes will be affordable housing. The houses will mainly be four-bedroom homes with a small amount of three-bedroom homes. Some two-bedroom homes and one-bedroom flats will also be available although only as affordable housing. The homes will form an "L-shape" on the field, with the remaining quarter of the field left empty for a 66-bed care home to be built there in the future.

The developments being considered around the council boundary have caused controversy and confusion. People living in the planned 44 homes would pay council taxes to Bath and North East Somerset Council, while their neighbours living in the 270 homes to the south would pay council taxes to Somerset Council, despite both using Midsomer Norton's local facilities.

A recent plan to build 56 homes in a field on the Somerset Council side of the border on the west side of the town was refused after it emerged that secondary school age children would not be able to attend oversubscribed schools in Bath and North East Somerset and would face an 11 mile school run to Wells.

You can view and comment on the application for the 44 homes here: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/webforms/planning/details.html?refval=23%2F04408%2FRES#details_Section