Residents were celebrating on Tuesday evening (August 25th) after proposals to build 69 new homes in Burnham-On-Sea were turned down by the district council.
Persimmon Homes had applied to build a new estate on the former Worston Tip to the west of Lawrence Close, pictured here.
The controversial scheme attracted 107 letters of objection from nearby resisdents plus formal objections from Burnham Without Parish Council, Burnham and Highbridge Town Council and the Environment Agency.
Councillors voted in favour of backing the residents and turning down the scheme at a meeting of Sedgemoor’s Development Control Committee in Bridgwater on Tuesday morning – much to the delight of campaigners.
Local resident Nigel Kemp, who spoke out against the plans at the meeting, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Common sense prevailed and all the concerns expressed by us were listened to and properly considered.”
“The right decision has been made to prevent this area from being over-developed with out-of-keeping homes that would have raised the risk of flooding in the area.”
He thanked local councillors for backing the residents and made a special mention to Cllr Neville Jones, who strongly opposed Persimmon’s plans during Tuesday’s meeting.
Fellow campaigner and resident Trevor Berry added: “This sensible decision has restored my faith in local democracy. Councillors looked at the negative impact this development would have had on the infrastructure of Burnham and Highbridge, along with the density of homes and made the right decision.”
Tuesday’s decision was made despite a recommendation from case officer Rob Morgan to approve the scheme. In his report, he said the proposal would have involved the development of a site that has been allocated for residential development since 1990. He also added that a range of ‘planning gains’ would have included a cycleway, public safety works and financial contributions towards public open space.
