Residents of a small Somerset village could get up to 40 new homes as a Christmas present as a planning inquiry gets under way.

T. & A. Land Associates applied in September 2020 to build the homes on Quarry Lane in the village of Leigh-upon-Mendip, located roughly halfway between Frome, Radstock and Shepton Mallet.

Mendip District Council refused the plans in April 2021, arguing the development would have "a harmful urbanising impact" on the surrounding countryside.

A public inquiry to settle the matter got under way at the council's Shepton Mallet headquarters on Tuesday morning (October 4), with planning inspector Benjamin Webb due to make his final ruling before the festive period.

The site of the proposed houses lies to the north of Leigh-upon-Mendip First School, as well as being only a short distance from Halecombe Quarry, which is operated by Tarmac.

In addition to the new homes, access from Quarry Lane, the plans entail the creation of a new playing field and a car park with 30 new spaces for the school, with the homes being concentrated to the north.

The council refused the plans through the delegated powers of its planning officers, rather than a public decision by its planning board, with five reasons for refusal initially being identified:

• The development would "result in an urban encroachment of housing into the countryside… creating a harmful urbanising impact" which would damage the rural character of the village
• The developer has not demonstrated that the development would not have "a harmful impact on archaeology" due to the lack of geophysical surveys
• The developer has not showed that the development would not harm protected species, especially bats
• The homes would "an unacceptable and unjustified harmful impact" on nearby trees and hedges
• The development does not contribute sufficiently towards community facilities, including the improvement of local footpaths

Edward Grant of Cornerstone Barristers (representing the Frome-based developer) said that the council's lack of a five-year land supply meant that its existing planning policies were out of date.

He said: "The council is unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. Its policies were adopted at a time when it had a significantly lower housing requirement [from central government]."

Mr Grant cited a number of recent decisions by the Planning Inspectorate which approved new homes in Mendip in light of this turn of events – including a development of 63 homes on Anchor Road in Coleford (approved on appeal in October 2021) and a further 75 homes on Beauchamps Drive near Midsomer Norton (approved on appeal in May 2022).

He added: "In these cases, with varying degrees of emphasis, the position is that, due to one or a combination of these two factors, the council's policies should be awarded reduced weight."

Planning officer Simon Trafford countered that the site was outside of the settlement boundary of Leigh-upon-Mendip and would not be sustainable.

He said; "Our spacial strategy defines the areas and locations across the district where we would be in favour of delivering sustainable development. The site is outside of those defined boundaries.

"The harm that result from the appeal scheme outweigh the benefits. We do not believe that this would be a sustainable development."

Mark Reynolds of Context Planning – representing Leigh-on-Mendip Parish Council – said the owners of the planned new homes would be reliant on cars due to insufficient public transport in the local area.

He said: "You'd better pack your running shoes, because the last bus back from Shepton Mallet is just after 5pm. People drive because they have to.

"This represents an increase of 18 per cent in the size of the village – it's get 226 households in the 2011 census and it's grown since then."

Mr Webb will conduct a formal site visit on Wednesday (October 5) and is expected to publish his final ruling on the matter before Christmas.