ANGRY Williton residents have joined forces to dig their heels in over controversial plans to build a major housing and industrial estate on the edge of the village.

The green field site to the east of Williton has been earmarked for 200 new homes on 16 hectares of space with 2.5 hectares set aside as employment land.

West Somerset District Council has opted for Williton after scrapping plans to develop on Dunster Marsh but campaigners say the land between Raglans Cross and Pondhead Cross is a much-used amenity area.

Council chiefs have made draft alterations to the West Somerset Local Plan which puts larger settlements under the spotlight as being able to accommodate added housing and business developments.

The 12-member action group has now mounted a campaign to drum up support and has begun hitting homes with leaflets with signatures for a petition being collected over the next fortnight.

Anxious villagers fear the possible risk of flooding, a rise in traffic and the extra strain put on local services.

They are also concerned that the area's special landscape quality will be destroyed and that West Somerset's road network will not be up to the job which will deter new businesses from setting up in the area.

Now opponents to the scheme are calling for as many local people as possible to turn out for the public meeting on November 20 where the plans will discussed.

Following the group's inaugural meeting on Monday night, spokesman Peter Cleere, of Catwell, said: "This land is a wonderful amenity for local people that is popular with walkers, dog owners and families. We are determined to protect it.

"It is the wrong place for the development for a variety of reasons, not least because it is too far away from existing facilities and people will have to get into their cars to reach the shops, schools and other services."

If the scheme gets the green light, work will start on a new linking road between the A39 and A358, drawing traffic away from the centre of Williton.

Another fear is that St Peter's First School and Danesfield Middle School will not be able to cope with the influx of children to the village.

The action group's secretary Ken Cordingley said: "With the leafleting, we need to gauge the opinion of the villagers but we also want them to join with us.

"The actual shape of the action group may change but we are hoping it will act as a catalyst to stop the development."

Mr Cordingley told the Free Press yesterday (Thursday) that Long Street and, hopefully, Townsend would have received leaflets by today, with all roads visited by the end of next week.

The district council's planning policy and rural regeneration officer Trevor Shaw said: "Providing substantial opportunities for local job generation at an accessible point in the transport corridor is seen as the key factor, given long-term constraints on releasing land elsewhere."

Mr Shaw said the site would be blessed with better transport access than either Minehead or Watchet and the scale of the development would enable "maximum provision of contributions to community facilities".

Within the new Local Plan, the council has chosen to give greater emphasis to larger settlements such as Minehead, Watchet and Williton in providing sites for new business and housing.

In contrast, defined small villages such as Brompton Ralph, Huish Champflower and Old Cleeve will probably provide few, if any, sites due to the lack of key local services.

District councillors decided last month to include Williton in the blueprint for the Local Plan and throw out Dunster Marsh after a barrage of criticism over details of 135 homes in the pipeline.

District and Williton parish Cllr Hugh Davies said: "There is a need for more housing because there is quite a large waiting list but I would like to see housing behind Fore Street to make the village more compact."

Local businessman Cllr Davies said he wondered whether the housing would be low cost or more upmarket or even flats.

He said he thought the idea that the new residents would become isolated from the rest of Williton and be forced to use their cars was not valid.

"They would be bound to walk possibly through Catwell. As a retailer it could have an effect if they built a shopping precinct down there but you are only talking about 200 homes which is about 800 people.

"I think the County Stores and the Co-Op need more business and the development will give them more full-time staff instead of part-time employees."

Williton Parish Council clerk, district Cllr Jean Tillotson expressed concern over possible flooding on the land and the distance of the homes from the centre of Williton.

"The position is not going to make it easy to reach the shops and the centre of Williton and the idea that they are going to put business units on there is ridiculous because they can't sell the ones they've already got."

Commenting on the Local Plan, district councillor and environment portfolio holder Ann Foxhuntley said: "The council has had to weigh up testing requirements over recent months in reaching the present proposals.

"I very much hope that local residents and local groups will take the opportunity to check and comment on the plan.

"Our aim is to put forward a package of policy measures which makes sense for the rural dimension of West Somerset."

The meeting to discuss the local plan will be held in the Council Chamber in Fore Street, Williton, at 7pm on November 20.