One hundred new homes will be built on the edge of Somerset's smallest city after plans were approved by councillors for a second time.

Gladman Developments applied in June 2019 to construct the new homes south of the B3139 Elm Close on the western edge of Wells, close to the city's existing cemetery.

Mendip District Council's planning board originally voted to grant permission after a "long and detailed debate" in January 2020.

However, the legal agreements between the council and the developer were not signed before the phosphates crisis began – meaning planning officers had to demand additional mitigation to prevent any damage to the Somerset Levels and Moors.

Somerset Council's planning committee east voted on Tuesday afternoon (December 5) to grant permission for a second time now that this mitigation has been agreed.

Following the Dutch N court ruling, and the resulting legal advice issued by Natural England in August 2020, any development within the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment area (which includes Wells) must include additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates.

Around 18,000 homes across Somerset have been held up as a result of lengthy negotiations between developers and planning officers to secure this mitigation – including a substantial number of major sites in the former Mendip district.

The mitigation can take numerous forms, such as upgrading waste water treatment plans, fallowing agricultural land or creating new wetlands.

Gladman's mitigation within the site takes two forms – a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) to remove phosphates within the site before they enter local rivers, and purchasing phosphate credits to fund off-site mitigation elsewhere in the catchment area.

These credits were generated by the fallowing of land at Manor Farm in Prestleigh, which will unlock a total of 1,400 new homes within the River Brue's catchment area – including 280 homes on the B3151 Somerton Road in Street, which were approved in January.

In addition to this mitigation, Gladman will provide financial contributions towards local facilities – including more than £700,000 towards new school places and more than £24,000 towards extending or improving the Strawberry Line active travel route.

A new uncontrolled pedestrian crossing will also be delivered to provide safe passage over Elm Close and the A371 Portway, near the Rose Banks and Foxglove Heights estates.

While new bus shelters will be provided on either side of Elm Close, a £16,000 contribution to support the 67 bus route is no longer deemed to be necessary by St Cuthbert's Out Parish Council, in whose parish the Gladman site lies.

Parish councillor Jim Reeves argued that the land allocated for extending the cemetery should be retained for a future community centre if the extension was deemed to be unnecessary.

He said: "There has been no discussion or feedback about extending the cemetery. We don't want a situation where, as on Wookey Hole Road, the school was not built after a 14-year period and the land was handed back to Bovis Homes.

"If there is no requirement for the cemetery extension within the Local Plan period, the land should revert to community use."

The site is allocated within the Mendip Local Plan Part II, which identified 37 additional sites for delivering homes and employment in the Mendip area by 2029 – including five in Wells.

Councillor Barry Clarke (who represents the Mendip Central and East division) warned: "These outline planning permissions are hedged with so many conditions, and I don't know how you can make people stick to them."

After around 20 minutes' debate, the committee voted to approve the amended plans.

A reserved matters application for the Gladman site, which will specify the design and layout of the houses, is expected to come forward by the summer of 2024.

A decision on plans for 47 homes on the adjoining site, between Gypsy Lane and Burcott Lane, is expected to be make around the same time.

Plans for a further 50 homes to the north of Elm Close, put forward by Gleeson Strategic Land Ltd., were refused by planning officers in September.