Dozens of new homes will be delivered near Stratton-on-the-Fosse after a developer won its appeal against the district council.

Gleeson Strategic Land Ltd. put forward outline plans in late-January 2021 to build 75 homes on Beauchamps Drive in the parish of Stratton-on-the-Fosse, near the southern edge of Midsomer Norton.

Mendip District Council refused the plans in late-May 2021, arguing it represented "an urban encroachment of housing into the open countryside" – a decision which the developed appealed, resulting in a public inquiry in February.

The Planning Inspectorate has now ruled that the development should be allowed to proceed – and has ordered the council to pay part of the developer's legal bills.

The site lies on the northern side of Beauchamps Drive, a short distance from both Norton Down Methodist Church and the White Post Inn.

Access to the site would be from Beauchamps Drive, with a large amount of green space being retained at the eastern edge, near the White Post roundabout.

Planning inspector Kelly Ford visited the site on March 7 and published her report shortly before a meeting of the council's planning board on Wednesday evening (May 11).

Ms Ford said that although the site lay outside the settlement boundary for Midsomer Norton, the council's lack of a five-year land supply made their existing policies "out of date" and tipped the balance in favour of "sustainable" new developments.

She estimated that the council needed to deliver just under 600 new homes a year, rather than the 420 per year which was agreed in its Local Plan Part I (ratified in 2014).

She went on to argue that since the neighbouring site to the north is allocated for housing within the Local Plan Part II (approved in December 2021), any homes on Beauchamps Drive would not be an isolated community.

She said: "The field to the north of the site is allocated for residential development (MN1) in LPP2 and is currently subject to an outline planning application.

"There is no reason to think that the allocation site will not be developed and so the appeal site would adjoin the new built-up edge of Midsomer Norton.

"The proposal would not therefore be isolated development in the countryside, even if separated from the developed parts of the parish of Stratton-on-the-Fosse within which it sits."

While Midsomer Norton itself lies within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (BANES) Council, several sites at its southern and western edges are allocated for housing growth within Mendip's Local Plan Part II.

The land around the White Post Inn is subject to an application for 270 homes put forward by the Exeter-based firm Waddeton Park Ltd. – plans which include a potential pedestrian or vehicular link to the Beauchamps Drive site.

On the other side of the A367, Persimmon Homes Wessex recently submitted plans for 190 homes, with a pedestrian link between the new homes and the B3139 Wells Road.

The third allocated site, west of Orchard Vale, could provide up to 58 homes, with Curo Enterprise Ltd. expected to submit formal plans later in the spring.

Ms Ford said building on Beauchamps Drive would have "an urbanising effect" on the surrounding area, but added there would not be "a substantial adverse effect" since a smooth transition to the countryside could be achieved through planting and landscaping.

She added: "Beauchamps Drive is currently lightly trafficked, operating well below capacity.

"The scheme proposes to increase the width of the carriageway around the appeal site, which would allow cars to pass each other without difficulty.

"A short section of the carriageway would still provide a pinch point for passing cars and HGVs. Nevertheless, even after the development the number of vehicles, including HGVs, is expected to remain low and in any event there would be 90 metres of forward visibility."

A reserved matters application for the site, covering the design and layout of the new homes, is expected to come forward before the end of the year.

A separate request for the council to pay the developer's legal costs for the appeal was also partially upheld by the inspector, who ruled the council had engaged in "unreasonable behaviour resulting in unnecessary or wasted expense" with regard to the arguments surrounding highway safety.