`News from Councillor Helen Kay.
Hello!
My Somerset division of Frome East is the largest in the county by population due to the large number of housing developments we’ve had in the south and east of Frome over the last 20 years. Before Somerset Unitary council came into being I was a Councillor for Keyford in the old Mendip District Council, which was also the largest ward in Mendip for the same reason. I am therefore naturally interested in planning issues and have been on the planning committee for six years.
Many of the new housing developments the planning committee approved during that time have higher standards of energy efficiency due to the pressure exerted by myself and the more progressive members of the committee, also working alongside Frome Town Council, the Frome Civic Society and various residential groups and associations, like Friends of Little Keyford. This is despite the existing Mendip Local Spatial Plan having very weak policies to guide developers to build more sustainable and energy efficient housing.
The new Local Plan for Somerset
I’m writing today about the new Somerset-wide Local Spatial Plan and how you might influence it to improve housing built in future, through the strategies and policies within it. At the moment, the timetable for the new Plan is that it will be ‘adopted’ in 2029 and become the guidebook and bible for any housing developers wanting to build in Somerset from March 2029 until 2045. It will cover the Somerset Local Planning Authority (LPA) area, excluding Exmoor National Park.
Nationally, Local Plans take an average of 7 years to produce, and Somerset council have made a start – see timetable outline at bottom of page. The new Labour government is trying to speed that up to reduce the time taken to 30 months, but it’s not clear when and how that will happen. If it does, then the 2029 adoption date may be brought forward.
In the meantime we will carry on using the old Mendip Local Plan which was designed to go from 2006 to 2029. The other former Districts in Somerset are also using their old Local Plans until 2029. The Mendip Plan has policies in it guiding developers as to what kind of housing we want and where to build it. Unfortunately this government, and the one before, have given us targets to build more houses than were planned for. Therefore the Mendip Local Plan is weaker in planning terms and carries less ‘weight’ than it used to. Housing developers are always trying to build in places that were never agreed and we have to take them seriously and treat them fairly according to current rules.
In my view the Mendip plan has weak policies anyway, with no real commitment to ecology, landscaping, walkable neighbourhoods, energy efficiency, or even basic place-making. Hence Curo being allowed to build 4 and 5 bedroom executive homes all around the beautiful old Keyford farmhouse and being allowed to knock down the outbuildings. See picture below of how it was. Wouldn’t this have been a great place for a community centre and a cricket pitch?
What follows is based on the facts as I understand them, on how Somerset Council (Lib Dem)
administration is managing the process of developing the new Local Plan, peppered with some of my own views on planning matters. Please bear in mind that as Green councillors we have little influence over the process which is managed by Lib Dem Councillors on a sub-committee of the Lib Dem Executive, despite my repeated requests that it be managed by a cross party committee.
Having said that, it is mainly officers of the council that do all the work and make recommendations to that sub-committee who mostly agree with them. But Green councillors do ask lots of difficult questions when these matters are debated at various committees!
The 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act places a duty on local authorities to carry out plan-making with the “objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development.”
Furthermore the Planning Act (2008) puts an obligation on plan-making authorities to ensure their development plan documents (taken as a whole) include policies that are “…designed to secure that the development and use of land in the local planning authority’s area contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change.”
A Local Plan should reflect the vision and objectives of Somerset’s communities, although it’s not clear how the people of Somerset are being consulted on their Vision. The Green Party has a vision of truly sustainable housing developments with 40 to 50% affordable housing, allotments, shops and schools within walking distances, community meeting spaces and play areas, orchards, safe routes for Active Travel, fewer parking spaces but more car clubs and electric bike clubs, and all infrastructure like sewage disposal, bus services, sufficient doctors etc sorted out before any planning permission is given – then built out or provided for at the same time. But too often this is not the case; many of these things, facilities and infrastructure come afterwards if at all, not just because of poor local policies and plans, but also because of national policies and funding. Although housing developments are supposed to be ‘sustainable’, this word is interpreted to mean almost anything you want to mean in the planning context.
In terms of the timetable, currently the national government gives local authories a guideline to produce a new Local Plan with defined stages as set out by legislation. See stages at end. The plan must be informed by strong ‘evidence’ and it must involve sufficient consultation and engagement of the public. At the end of this long process the new Local Plan is examined by an independent Planning Inspector, who checks we have done it all properly and then (hopefully) declares the plan is ‘sound’.
Consultation & Engagement:
The document that shows how Somerset will consult with the public is called the Statement of Community Involvement. There is a stage called “Regulation 18” that is currently scheduled for Spring 2026. This is where Somerset Council publishes the first draft Local Plan with its proposed policy approaches and the public can comment on it. This will last for a minimum of 6 weeks.
Somerset Council say they “will make people aware of this consultation mainly through their website, social media coverage, the consultation portal, and the Press… Other methods that may be used to involve people in the consultation include videos, quick polls, workshops, presentations, surveys, newsletters, forums, or drop-in events.”
The results of all this consultation will be used to edit the first draft and lead to a 2nd draft which will also go out for consultation around Autumn 2027 but in a more formal and semi-legal framework. So in theory you will get 2 bites at the cherry, but you will have more influence and scope for creative suggestions the first time around. You need to look out for announcements in the press on all of this.
The Green Party will also be publicising it to make sure all views are captured.
These two statutory consultation stages were preceded by some early engagement workshops in January and February 2025 but you had to be in the right place with the right connections to know about these!
See here for more detail on SC approaches to getting communities involved in all sorts of planning issues, not just the new Local Plan; look at pages 8 to 11 specifically for Local Plan:
https://www.somerset.gov.uk/planning-buildings-and-land/statement-of-community-involvement/
Policy issues to comment on:
The current Mendip Local plan has strategies and policies in it, like the ‘spatial strategy’ that says the larger towns must take more housing while villages are protected against too much housing, although larger villages with shops or a bus service can take some. However you might wish to argue that the villages can take more housing, especially if more of it is Affordable Housing and social housing. After all, that is what the Labour govt did in the 1950s and 60s building council housing on edges of villages and this is still generally seen as a good thing. It would bring younger families into the villlages which often have aging populations. Alternatively you might like to suggest a new town somewhere in Somerset, but where? In my view it would need to be on a good rail or bus service route with plenty of employment opportunities.
There will be maps going out as part of the new Local Plan that show where planning officers have concluded are the best places to build all the new houses. This should correspond to the spatial strategy, but either way, you can comment on their suggestions and object to them if you want to.
The Local Plan is supposed to also look at Infrastructure requirements, although at the moment there is no requirement to get Wessex Water to do anything! This is something you could comment on, but it might not be something our planners can do much about. You would have more luck pushing for better traffic management, like getting housing developers to help pay for new traffic lights or roundabouts. Also planners and developers keep saying Frome is ‘sustainable’ because it has a railway station, but we all know parking is limited down there and train services are poor. So we could all suggest that if we are to accept more housing in Frome then there should be upgrades to the train services. This might be more trains, or could be putting in another rail track through Frome so trains can pass each other, or somehow finding more parking spaces. You might have to put that sort of suggestion into a text box marked ‘Other comments’.
At the moment ye olde Mendip Local Plan says new housing developments must have 30%‘Affordable Housing’ (AH) of which 80% is usually social housing. So in a big development of 100 houses, 30 are affordable and 24 are usually social housing. Green Party councillors think this should be more like 40% AH in towns like Frome, which would give approx 32 social housing units per 100 houses. Make sure you have your say when the Regulation 18 consultation starts.
At the moment the layout of new housing estates are often detached or semi detached unimaginative ‘anywhere’ housing, with garages set back, so they can be converted into outside studios or offices and still have 2 parking spaces down side of house. This is wasteful in terms of space, bearing in mind they are usually taking up good farmland. It would be more efficient in terms of space and energy efficiency to have more terraced houses, or houses with garages attached. They must also have good sound-proofing as well as good insulation, and small offices built in from the get go. The houses on the Print Works estate have triple glazed windows. If we all had those, energy efficiency would be improved.
Is Somerset providing the right type of housing for its residents? Another criticism we often hear is that there needs to be more 1 and 2 bed flats and fewer 3 and 4 bed houses. These could be geared towards younger people wanting starter homes and older people downsizing. Again, make your views known.
Again, Government reforms may muddy the water here and may take away some of our power to decide what policies are important locally. They are proposing “National Development Management Policies”, a draft of which are expected in summer 2025. The detail is not yet known but these could tell Local Planning Authorities to use certain policies to assess the detail of individual planning applications. In which case, the Somerset Local Plan would mainly cover strategic policy matters such as the spatial strategy, housing and employment site allocations and infrastructure planning.
Call for Sites
The call for sites was a six-week period in Jan and Feb 2025 where landowners, agents and individuals could submit sites for potential future development for Housing, Employment and Energy installations like wind turbines. Anyone could submit a site, regardless of ownership. Across whole of Somerset we received over 1,000 site submissions. This stage helps understand what land is available in Somerset to identify a pipeline of deliverable and developable sites, both short-term and long-term.
Submitted sites will be assessed and included in the Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HEELA) report, which evaluates the suitability, availability, and achievability of sites being developed. It will take considerable time to assess these sites to determine which might be suitable for development.
Evidence base:
Much of the evidence base research needs to be done in the early stages of a Local Plan production and that is what is being focussed on now. This is to understand the baseline position around topics, such as economic development needs, or flood risk, and to forecast the need or situation expected in future, up to 2045. The Local Plan would then have to include policies to address these identified needs. There are eight such pieces of work on the go at the moment (Spring 2025), with a further 10-15 to start later in the year. Due to the very large geography of Somerset, the evidence base is likely to be more complex and lengthy than when we were individual district authorities.
Key Challenges already identified by officers:
- Housing Requirements: Meeting the significant housing requirement set by the updated National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which involves finding sites for approximately 57,000 homes over a 15-year period.
- Engagement and Representation: Ensuring broad and diverse community engagement, particularly involving underrepresented groups such as young families, ethnic minorities, and people with accessibility issues. There is also a need to engage with local community networks (LCNs) and parish councils effectively.
- Assessment Methodology: Developing and publishing a transparent methodology for assessing submitted sites, ensuring consistency and fairness in the evaluation process.
- Deliverability and Achievability: Identifying sites that are both deliverable in the short term and developable in the long term, considering constraints like flooding, heritage, and landscape issues.
- Balancing Development: Ensuring that development is balanced across different areas, particularly focusing on larger towns while also addressing the needs of rural areas and smaller settlements.
- Transport and Infrastructure: Addressing public transport challenges and embedding sustainable and active lifestyles, especially in rural areas where transport options are limited.
- Climate and Ecological Considerations: Integrating the council’s climate and ecological emergency declarations into the local plan, ensuring that new developments are sustainable and resilient.
- Community Concerns: Managing community concerns about development, particularly in areas not currently within settlement boundaries, and ensuring that the local plan reflects the needs and priorities of all communities.
These challenges highlight the complexity of developing a comprehensive local plan that balances growth, sustainability, and community needs.
Timeline:
The development timeline for the new Local Plan is outlined in the “local development scheme”. For more detailed information see here: https://www.somerset.gov.uk/planning-buildings-and-land/local-development-scheme/
These are based on nationally prescribed stages that an LPA must go through to develop a new Local Plan. Somerset has adapted and added in a few extra stages, as follows:
1. Evidence Gathering and Early engagement – January to March 2025
Purpose: Collect relevant and up-to-date evidence to support the development of the Local Plan.
Activities: Extensive data collection, review of key issues, and initial consultation with stakeholders to guide the draft plan’s Vision, Objectives issues and options.
This stage in Somerset also included the ‘Call for Sites’ – see below
2. Setting the Scene – April to November 2025
Purpose: Preparing the draft plan and draft policies to be consulted on
Activities: Further Evidence Gathering and Informal Consultation, analysing the results such as applying sustainability scoring to the sites put forward for consideration.
3. Early-Stage Consultation on the draft Plan (Regulation 18) – Spring 2026
YOUR BEST CHANCE TO HAVE YOUR SAY!
4. Pre-Submission Publication Stage (Regulation 19) – Oct 2027 to Dec 2027
Purpose: Present the draft Local Plan for formal /legal public consultation.
Activities: Publish the draft plan and invite comments from the public and stakeholders. This stage ensures transparency and allows for feedback on the proposed policies and site allocations.
5. Submission of Plan for Independent Examination (Regulation 22) – Jan 2028
Purpose: Submit the Local Plan to the Secretary of State for independent examination.
Activities: The plan is reviewed by an independent inspector to assess its soundness and compliance with legal requirements. This includes public hearings where stakeholders can present their views.
6. Inspector’s Report and Adoption (Regulation 24) – March 2029
Purpose: Finalize and adopt the Local Plan.
Activities: The inspector issues a report with recommendations. The local planning authority makes any necessary modifications and formally adopts the plan, making it part of the statutory development plan for the area.