Residents of a small Somerset village face a fresh fight to prevent 40 new homes from being built near a working pig farm.

Rubix Strategic Ltd. put forward plans in April 2024 for a new development of 40 homes on the B3081 Prestleigh Road in the small village of Evercreech, near Shepton Mallet.

Somerset Council's planning committee east (which handles major applications within the former Mendip area) twice voted to refuse planning permission – once in early-August 2025, and again three months later.

But the developer has now lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate, meaning the decision could be overturned before the end of the year.

The site lies on the northern side of Prestleigh Road, within walking distance of the former Greencore factory, where permission for 118 homes, commercial space and a community hub were refused on appeal in July 2024.

The site was previously intended to provide 56 homes and a convenience store, but these proposals – put forward by M7 Planning Ltd. – were withdrawn in June 2023.

Access to the new homes would be onto Prestleigh Road, with the majority of the properties being congregated near the existing properties on Maesdown Road.

Of the 40 homes planned for the site, 12 will be affordable – meeting the council's target of 30 per cent affordable housing for any new development of ten homes or more in the former Mendip area.

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To prevent any net increase in phosphates within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area, local arable land will be taken out of active use, with new woodland being planted near the development site.

The site is not allocated within either the Mendip Local Plan Part I (which was approved in December 2014) or the Mendip Local Plan Part II (which was approved in December 2021 and subsequently revised following a judicial review).

The planning committee east refused permission on two specific grounds:

• Its proximity to the pig farm on Watery Lane would "result in an inappropriate form of development in terms of the future environment that would be created for future residents"
• It would "result in the loss of open countryside and agricultural land" since the site lies outside of the development boundary of Evercreech

Councillor Barry Clarke (Conservative, Mendip Central and East) stated in November 2025: "If anyone here went and actually talked to a farmer, and said: 'I'm thinking of buying 80 metres from your farm', I think he would laugh at you.

"The minimum distance you would want to be away is 200 metres. This is most unacceptable – it's an awful application."

Rubix has requested that the appeal be conducted through a public inquiry rather than written representations – though the Planning Inspectorate has not confirmed this will be the case.

To make a formal representation to the inspector, visit www.acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk and quote case reference number 6009482.

A spokesperson for OG Group (representing the developer) said: "It is common ground that the council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of housing.

"The benefits the appeal scheme will deliver are substantial and the need for new homes is compelling."

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