District councillors have rejected controversial plans for 40 new homes in East Brent near Burnham-On-Sea.
East Brent LVA LLP applied to Sedgemoor District Council to build 40 new homes on a field next to Old Bristol Road in East Brent.
Over 300 letters of objection have been lodged against the proposals, with residents saying the development would damage nearby homes and raise the flooding risk.
Sedgemoor District Council’s Development Committee met on Tuesday (August 18th) and rejected the plans.
The site of the proposed homes is classified by the Environment Agency as being in flood zone 3, which it defines as having at least a one per cent chance of it flooding in the future. To address this issue, the developer had proposed importing 30,000 cubic metres of soil in order to raise the level of the whole site by one metre.
Local residents spoke out against the plans during Tuesday’s virtual meeting. Kevin Bray said: “The EA has deemed the land to be a flood risk and the land will need to be raised. The excess water will run off and flood the properties nearby. The noise and vibration from the piling of the soil used to raise the land will be detrimental to residents’ health and their 18th-century properties.”
Cllr Bob Filmer added: “Many of the older properties nearby have little or no foundations – this will compromise residential amenity and caused drainage problems. An estate of this size and density would be out of character.”
Cllr Andrew Gilling, Sedgemoor’s portfolio holding for housing, told the meeting he thinks the changes would put people at risk: “The proposed width reduction at the western end of Old Bristol Road would render this site inaccessible, including to waste vehicles. I have seen some pretty horrendous applications. This is one of the worst I have ever had the misfortune to come across.”
During a vote at the end of the meeting, the plans were refused by nine votes against and zero in favour. Two councillors also abstained and one was unable to vote due to technical difficulties.
