PLANS to build 60 homes on the south side of Hopcott Road, Minehead, have been submitted - just 10 weeks before an existing planning permission is due to expire.

The application by Andrew Townsend, of Berkshire-based chartered town planning consultants Woolf Bond Planning, is identical to one which was approved in 2021.

The 2021 consent is due to expire on August 16 under a condition imposed by planners at the time that details of the development’s layout, scale, appearance, and landscaping had to be approved within two years.

E. Townsend and Sons won outline consent for 60 homes, 21 of which would have to be ‘affordable’, on eight acres of land roughly opposite Cher and close to the boundary of Exmoor National Park.

The proposed development included a children’s play area, public open space, 162 car parking spaces, and a new access from the A39 road.

Now, Andrew Townsend, who this time described himself as ‘agent’ for the application without naming an applicant, has asked Somerset Council to approve a new and identical plan for the site which would have the effect of extending the permission for a further two years.

The land is within a larger ‘strategic mixed use allocation site’ running along the south of Hopcott Road on which the council envisages 750 homes will be built as well as commercial and community development.

Two other nearby plots of land have previously been approved for developments of 71 and 80 homes, respectively.

Mr Townsend said the 71-home site was under construction but the permission for 80 properties had expired without any work starting.

He said because the new application was identical to the approved 2021 plans, the council would have to give approval again as there were ‘no material changes in circumstance that justify a different decision’.

Mr Townsend said: “The site with its extant approval for 60 new homes continues to form an important part of the council’s housing land supply on an allocated site.”

He said statistics showed the project would create or support between 144 and 186 direct, indirect, and ‘induced’ jobs and add an estimated £1,502,280 household spending per year to the economy.

“A significant proportion of this household expenditure is anticipated to be spent in local shops and services around Minehead,” said Mr Townsend.

“The new populous resulting from the scheme will help sustain the existing key services in the Minehead, such as the nearby bus services and local shops and services.”

The plans approved in 2021 were opposed by Minehead Town Council, which said the town lacked the infrastructure to support further large scale housing.

However, the planning officer at the time said Minehead had infrastructure such as GP surgeries, a hospital, police station, schools, shops, and services, while the ‘overall impact’ of residential development along the Hopcott Road strategic site had been factored in during the adoption of a local development plan for the town up to 2032.