Dozens of new houses will be built near a Somerset rugby club following the outcome of a public inquiry.

Waddeton Park Ltd. applied in November 2021 for outline permission to build 90 homes on Lowerside Lane, located off the busy A39 Wells Road.

Mendip District Council refused to grant permission in May 2022, resulting in a planning inquiry being staged in March 2023 to finally settle the issue.

The Planning Inspectorate has now ruled in the developer's favour – with more detailed proposals expected to be submitted later in the year.

The site – which is allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II – lies between two existing sets of allotments, a short distance from both Glastonbury Football Club's ground on Godney Road and Tor Rugby Club on Lowerside Lane itself.

Proposed Site Of 90 Homes On Lowerside Lane In Glastonbury (Daniel Mumby)

Under the proposals, both sets of allotments will be preserved, with a new solitary access being created onto Lowerside Lane and 218 car parking spaces being provided on-site.

Pedestrian access will also be provided onto Common Moor Drove, not far from the Butler Carnival Park where the town's annual carnival carts are constructed and stored.

The council refused the plans through the delegated powers of its planning board, rather than a public decision by its planning board – with the following five reasons being given:

• The site is in open countryside and will result in "an excessive quantum of development along the open and undeveloped rural edge of Glastonbury"
• Insufficient information has been provided over whether the homes would lead to "an unacceptable increase in phosphate levels" on the Somerset Levels and Moors (which would violate the Dutch N court ruling)
• The developer has not provided enough information to show developing the site would "not increase flood risk on the site or elsewhere"
• There is a lack of detail about "adequate mitigation" to prevent or off-set the loss of trees and hedgerows
• The developer has not provided a detailed legal agreement showing how the development would contribute to local health services and other amenities

Planning inspector Tom Bristow visited the site on March 8, with his full ruling being published on the Planning Inspectorate's official website.

Mr Bristow acknowledged that there was "limited availability of unconstrained land" in Glastonbury, which provided fewer options for delivering 1,000 new homes within the town by the end of the Local Plan period in 2029.

He admitted that it would be "a fair walk" between the "disconnected" new homes and nearby services, with St. John's Infant School (on High Street) being nearly a mile's walk away,

He also noted that the development would "inevitably adversely affect the landscape character", resulting in the urban edge of Glastonbury being extended into "presently semi-rural surroundings".

However, despite these reservations, Mr Bristow said the site was ultimately suitable for development, since it had a "low probability" of flooding and was not protected as part of any conservation area.

He said: "There is nothing substantive to indicate that the scheme would be incapable of providing suitable living conditions.

"There is similarly no robust evidence indicating that the activities conducted at the Butler Carnival Park would result in undue noise or disturbance to future occupants."

Mr Bristow accepted that the development would "put additional demand on local infrastructure", with both of the nearest doctor's surgeries being "over capacity".

However, he said this was offset by a contribution of more than £48,000 towards local health services within the proposed legal agreements (also known as a Section 106 agreement).

He added: "In my view the biodiversity net gain achievable here would more than address the loss of priority habitat, and should be accorded significant weight.

"That net gain would not otherwise result, for example, if the site were kept in agricultural use."

To offset the phosphates generated from the new homes, Wessex Water has promised to upgrade Glastonbury's waste treatment centre on Beckery Old Road by 2025.

Phosphate credits will be purchased by the developer to offset additional phosphate levels, with the closure of the pig farming unit at Yew Tree Farm near Wraxall being used to mitigate both the Glastonbury scheme and a further 280 homes on the B3151 Somerton Road in Street (plans for which were approved in January).

To allow for both of these processes to be completed, the legal agreement for the Lowerside Lane site includes a condition that no properties constructed on the land can be occupied until 2025.

Mr Bristow concluded: "The proposal would also provide for 30 per cent affordable housing. Housing affordability is a pressing issue nationally and in Mendip specifically. Since 2006/07, only around 17.4 per cent of new dwellings have been delivered as affordable dwellings in Mendip, far short of the 30 per cent sought.

"The benefits of the proposal directly, and by consequence of, housing delivery and affordable housing provision would therefore be significant.

"I recognise that my decision will be disappointing to many local residents."

A reserved matters application, detailing the designs and layout of the new homes, is expected to be submitted to the new Somerset Council by the end of the year.