RESIDENTS of Minehead’s North Hill are fighting plans for seven luxury homes in a conservation area next to the historic St Michael’s Church.

They claim the developments would involve felling nearly 50 trees, spoil the view of the “gateway to Exmoor” and could lead to North Hill being built over within ten years.

More than 25 protestors met last Saturday to plan a campaign to stop the developments – one for five homes and one for two – on land that is currently woodland and fields and in the North Town conservation area.

A spokesman for the group said there had been nearly 40 objections to the schemes and more than 30 posts on social media, and claimed some residents had not been notified by the West Somerset planning department.

“The current character of North Hill is special and deserves to be preserved. If these developments go ahead a precedent will be set and this could mean that the whole of North Hill would be built over within ten years,” said the spokesman.

A petition objecting to the development is available at Deerhurst, Beacon Road, and a further meeting will be held at Bay View, Weirfield Road, Minehead, on Sunday (February 24) at 11am.

Full report in tomorrow’s Free Press (February 22).