A DECISION to refuse permission for a 136-home Watchet housing development was controversially overturned by Somerset and Taunton Council’s planning committee after a three-hour discussion last Thursday.

Committee members initially voted 7-5 to go against their planning officers’ advice and refuse consent for the development at Cleeve Hill on the grounds that the site was unsafe and there was no provision for affordable housing.

But after chairman Cllr Simon Coles pointed out that no legal grounds had been advanced for refusal and that the applicants would probably win an appeal against the decision, it was instead agreed to postpone a decision until the committee has received reports on the affordable housing situation and stability of the land.

Now, community leaders including Watchet and Williton district councillors, Watchet town councillors and representatives from neighbouring parish councils will meet next week to plan a response.

The application included the developers paying to replace a section of the B3191 road -recently involved in a landslip scare – in exchange for not providing the usual 35 cent affordable housing.

That would save Somerset County Council from having to pay for the diverted road.

After the meeting, Williton and Watchet member Cllr Ian Aldridge, who had voted to reject the application, said he was “very unhappy with the decision”.

He added: “I am not convinced that what happened was legal.”

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