COUNCILLORS have opposed plans for a housing development on land at the former Popham Court care home in Wellington.

Members of Wellington Town Council’s planning committee met on Monday (March 6) and shared public concerns about highways issues which could be created by the proposed 29-home development.

Gadd Properties have applied to Somerset West and Taunton Council for permission to build 26 homes, demolish existing buildings and make alterations and convert the Grade II listed building into three homes at The Court in Courtland Road, Wellington.

Around a dozen concerned residents attended the planning meeting where two of them spoke to councillors with their shared concerns.

“Nobody has any objection to the build, but our main objection is that everyone will be coming up through Court Drive,” said one person. “It gets busy up there at the best of times.”

He said it was “preposterous” for the developers to suggest in a design and access statement that the development would only lead to an extra nine vehicle two-way movements at peak times in the morning and afternoon. He was equally concerned about emergency vehicles trying to get through.

“We are worried about how it is all going to work,” he said. “It’s going to be dangerous for children – in fact it is going to be dangerous for all pedestrians.

“Something needs to be done to lessen the impact of the increased traffic.”

Another resident said: “Parking is already an issue and we struggle to park outside our homes - let alone what it’s going to be like when we’ve got an extra 26 houses built down there.”

Cllr Andrew Govier said: “I think what we have heard this evening from the public speakers is that they don’t seem to be objecting to the development itself, but have concerns about individual aspects of the development regarding highways.

“I am of the same impression and have major concerns about the access.

“Is it the right level of development for the site? I think it is poorly designed and the current lay-out is out of keeping.”

Cllr Keith Wheatley was concerned that there was nowhere for vehicles to go, apart from reversing, if they were going up Court Drive from Mantle Street and came face to face with a motorist coming the other way.

“I echo what Cllr Govier has said,” he said. “I was only in Court Drive walking recently and I can see what people are saying.

“It will cause a lot of problems as it’s a really tricky access and you can’t build 26 houses without a lot of lorries going down there.

“The extra traffic will cause problems because basically it is a single track lane. It’s not like a lane out in the country where you have got places to pull in such as at entrances to fields – there is literally nowhere to pull in. People will have to reverse all the way back down to Mantle Street.

“The owners of the site really do need to look at this again.”

The developers have said that they believe their proposed new homes would be “appropriate to the character of the site and its locality.”

The design and access statement provided by the developers has said that there are “no transport-related reasons why the development should not be permitted.”

The town council’s planning committee recommended to the Somerset West and Taunton Council that the scheme should be refused permission, although a final decision is likely to be made by the new Somerset Council unitary authority which it comes into existence on April 1.