The Planning policies for the former Mendip District Council area, covering the period 2006 – 2029, are contained in the Mendip Local Plan, Parts 1 and 2. Local Plan Part I (LPP1) was adopted in December 2014 and Local Plan Part 2 (LPP2) in December 2021. Part 1 covers the over-arching planning strategies and policies, whilst Part 2 seeks to set out where housing developments should be sited, in order to meet the housing needs of Mendip.
Following a Judicial Review of LPP2, the High Court ordered the deletion of five site allocations within LPP2, and required that the Council review and reconsider allocations to meet the identified district wide requirement for 505 dwellings. The council was required to review, prepare and publish modifications to LPP2 which allocate sites and submit these for examination.
As part of this process, landowners and promoters put forward potential new sites for housing in the former Mendip area (including several in Rode). Somerset Council has carried out a detailed assessment of all the sites put forward, and proposed a list of sites which would deliver the 505 additional dwellings required.
The sites in Rode which were put forward as potential new sites for housing are shown on the map below:
Somerset Council has not selected any of the sites in Rode for inclusion within the final version of LPP2. The main reasons for this decision is that (a) Rode has already over-delivered against the “target” of 65 new houses in the plan period; (b) there is a very high risk that none of the sites would be deliverable by 2029; (c) there are strong negatives relating to the individual locations (eg: impact on landscape, local character, etc); and (d) capacity issues on the A36 – in particular the capacity of the Beckington roundabout.
The individual sites put forward in Rode are listed below:
Somerset Council is now carrying out a consultation exercise in relation to the proposed housing allocations, which runs until 12th April 2024. If local residents which to comment, they can do so by following this link: https://somersetcouncil.citizenspace.com/planning/mendip-local-plan-part-ii-limited-update-reg-18/