Somerset Council must find land for 505 new homes at the north-eastern edge of the county following a judicial review.

The Mendip Local Plan Part II – which was ratified in December 2021 – identified 37 additional sites where at least 2,700 additional new homes could be delivered by 2028, on top of existing allocations within the Local Plan Part I (approved in 2014).

Norton St. Philip Parish Council won a judicial review against Mendip District Council just before Christmas 2022, arguing successfully that the Planning Inspectorate had not followed the proper processes regarding five of the identified sites.

Somerset Council – which replaced the district council in April – now faces a race against time to review these sites and, if necessary, find alternative housing allocations to avoid much of its existing planning policies being rendered obsolete.

The five sites in question are:

• Land south of Great Dunns Close, Beckington (minimum 28 dwellings) – permission for 32 homes was dismissed on appeal in October 2022
• Land near the White Post Inn, A367 Green Park Road, Midsomer Norton (minimum 250 dwellings) – revised permission for 270 homes was granted in March 2023
• Land east of A367 Fosseway South, Midsomer Norton (minimum 145 dwellings) – decision pending on plans for 190 homes
• Land south of Underhill Lane, Midsomer Norton (minimum 60 dwellings) – decision pending on plans for 60 homes
• Land west of Mackley Lane, Norton St Philip (minimum 27 dwellings) – plans withdraw in April 2023

Andre Sestini, the council's principal planning policy officer for Somerset East (i.e. the former Mendip area) laid out the situation at a meeting of the council's climate and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Wednesday morning (July 19).

He said in his written report: "The judge set out specific 'directions', requiring reconsideration of the housing sites struck out of the Mendip Local Plan Part II and for the council to identify these or alternative sites across the Somerset East area to meet a total of 505 dwellings.

"Without these directions, there was a risk that the Mendip Local Plan Part II could have been quashed entirely.

"Without the council's commitment in this matter, there is a risk that the judge could consider the council in breach of his Order and at risk of contempt of court."

The Somerset East review process will begin with an initial 'call for sites', with developers and landowners being given six weeks from Monday (July 24) to get in touch with sites which are available and willing to be developed.

After this six-week period ends on September 4, the council will review the information and undertake an initial round of public consultation by January 8, 2024 – with this consultation likely to straddle the Christmas holiday period.

A further round of consultation must be held by May 13, 2024, with the final proposals being submitted to the Planning Inspectorate by September 1.

The call for sites and subsequent consultation will be carried out independently of the wider Local Plan review, which aims to create one new Local Plan out of the four district councils' plans and the minerals strategy of Somerset County Council.

Each of these existing plans was automatically co-opted into the new unitary authority, and can be used to determine planning applications in the meantime.

Mr Sestini said: "The judicial review hearings have clarified that the option to integrate the Somerset East review into progressing the Somerset-wide development plan will not satisfy the court order and the council is at risk

of being in breach."