WATCHET will get a new road and a facelift for an ancient monument if Somerset West and Taunton Council approves a new 136-home development on a controversial greenfield site next week.

The council’s planning committee meets on Thursday and is being recommended by planning officers to grant outline planning permission for houses, flats and bungalows to be built on two sloping fields at the top of Cleeve Hill on the B3191 road to Blue Anchor.

The application from Cleeve Hill Developments also involves replacing a section of the road – recently closed for a week after a landslip scare – with a new carriageway running further inland and linking up with roads in the development.

And the developers would also have to make a contribution to the enhancement of Daws Castle, the remains of a ninth century fort on a nearby headland and now an ancient monument.

The new homes, overlooking the former Wansbrough Paper Mill site, would include three and four bedroomed detached and semi-detached houses, three and four bedroomed bungalows, split-level and terraced houses and one-bedroom flats.

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