A controversial planning application for five luxury houses on Minehead’s North Hill has been turned down by Somerset West and Taunton Council after a wait of more than a year.

The outline proposal, submitted by Mitchell Architects, was for five two and a half-storey houses with large gardens on a 2.7 acre site in Beacon Road.

But the North Hill Action Group, Minehead Town Council, Minehead Conservation Society and 245 residents protested about the scheme for executive homes on moorland next to St Michael’s Church.

Campaigners described it as “the equivalent of an acid attack which would despoil and disfigure North Hill” and “a blot on the town which would never be healed”.

The planning application was submitted in January 2019 and under Government guidelines should have been determined within eight weeks.

But last December, Minehead Town Council sent letters of protest about the delay to Local Government Minister Robert Jenrick and district council executives and councillors, calling for a decision to clear up worry and uncertainty in the town.

Now, the district council (SWAT) planners have turned down the application and Minehead’s mayor Cllr Sandra Slade said: “We are delighted to hear of the decision.

“Had the application been granted and a housing development been built there, one of the most iconic, beautiful and instantly recognised views of Minehead would have been lost for ever and the setting of a beautiful Grade Two historic church totally spoiled.

“We can only say how relieved we are that the planning department of Somerset West and Taunton Council came to this decision.

“We trust that the future of this site may, in some way, be preserved from future development plans such as these.”

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