Primrose Lane

Overview

Location: Land at Primrose Lane
Proposal: Large-scale residential development

Application Name: Abbey Manor Outline Planning Application at Primrose Lane, Yeovil

Application Reference: (Ref: 14/02554/OUT)

This proposal represents one of the most substantial developments affecting the parish and surrounding catchment area in recent years.

Why This Site Matters

The scale and location of the proposal raise questions relating to:

  • Traffic volumes and highway safety
  • Emergency access
  • School and healthcare capacity
  • Flood risk and surface water management
  • Downstream drainage impacts
  • Landscape character and rural setting

The cumulative effect of development at this scale extends beyond Mudford into neighbouring communities.

For further details, see below. 

Historical Land Use & Site Investigation

Parts of the wider area have documented historical agricultural and industrial activity, including recorded anthrax outbreaks in the mid-20th century.

Given this history, FOMAG has sought clarification regarding:

  • The scope and depth of site investigations undertaken
  • Whether testing is proportionate to documented historical risk
  • The evidential basis for public health conclusions

Our focus is not speculative. It is centred on due diligence, transparency and ensuring that site assessment is robust and evidence-based.

Background

Outline planning permission was granted by Somerset Council Planning Committee South on 22nd October 2024. Mudford Parish Council and FOMAG made representations at this meeting. While the planning consultant was able to speak for 90 minutes, only a few local representatives were able to speak, and then for 3 minutes. The decision made was really made without taking into account serious concerns that FOMAG has consistently raised, rooted in evidence and data and laid out in reports by experts, paid for by FOMAG.

At this public meeting, the FOMAG highlighted some key areas of concern.

Flooding and Sewage Issues

Mudford suffers regular flooding from both the river and the rain. The amount of water coming downstream floods large areas of the parish. This can, in turn, make the road – and surrounding roads impassable.

But it gets worse! There is need for a new sewage treatment site. The measures in place for this scale of development and, when overwhelmed, the pumping station shut down and allow human waste to flow into the river. Couple this with the flooding problem and another 765 dwellings and this consequences hardly bear thinking about.

Three ‘Retention Ponds’ have been planned. Oddly they have been placed alongside a National Gas Pipeline, which does not seem safe. When these tanks are full, the water is channeled to the river upstream of the Mudford Bridge, which already slows the water down and creates more flooding. This development will make flooding even worse which seems hard to imagine.

Worse, the land on which the development is proposed, lies on a recognized spring line. These retention points, only one metre deep, will be totally overwhelmed immediately! This has happened on the construction of the A303 upgrade which also now floods regular. Somerset Council Planning Committee South and planners have completely failed to engage on this and issue any kinds of assurances.

Environmental Impact

The development requires visualizations (modeling) needs to be done to provide an evidence-based decision. Despite being called for since 2014, they have never been produced so attempts to mitigate the impact of this enormous development remain guesswork. It’s also essential that any mitigation is protected. For example, trees were planted around Wyndham Park to screen the visual impact. Local residents felled trees so they had a nicer over the countryside! That shouldn’t have happened. And there seems little way to ensure that doesn’t happen in this proposed development.

Traffic

The planning decision was made based on erroneous, out of date information provided by the Highways Agency. They said that Mudford weekly traffic was in the low thousands. The village camera on the A359 puts the weekly average much higher.

760 more dwellings could bring another 1.38 cars per household which means over a thousand extra cars in the parish of Mudford. Add traffic from the proposed care home, and construction vehicles (assuming at 15+ year development) and Mudford, by a very conservative estimate, will be looking at 82,400 vehicle per week. The planners either seem not to know this, or not be concerned.

Most of this traffic passes through Marston Magna and Queen Camel. Queen Camel already experiences serious congestion with a number of pinch points in the village. These cannot be easily mitigated or alleviated. No thought or care has been given to this.

Employment

What employment? The traffic is exacerbated by the fact that a required commercial area to provide local employment will be the last thing to be built, probably over a decade after work has begun! This means that everyone in the new development looking forw work will have be driving either into Yeovil or through Marston Magna and Queen Camel. And where are these employment opportunities?

Anthrax

There remains serious and credible reports of anthrax sites, where infected cattle have been buried (not burned). The planners and developers have brushed aside these concerns in a manner which seems irresponsible and unsafe.

Affordable Housing

The normal miminum requirements of affordable housing (30%) have been relaxed so that the developer can keep his margins and profits. There is no other way of expressing this, and no-one is denying it. The current amount of affordable housing is now at 15%. There is appetite for affordable homes in Mudford. Young people who would like to remain local are struggling to find options anywhere near Yeovil. Why has this number of homes been allowed to drop?

Sarah Dyke MP

Sarah Dyke, the new local LibDem MP, has recently become highly engaged in this development and has serious concerns. LibDems have even more ambitious targets on affordable homes than current government policy and she seems disappointed that this is being waved through by many of her fellow party members. Sarah Dyke MP has visited the parish and walked around the church, the bridge and the sewage pumping station to see the areas most affected by flooding. She also saw bones washed out of the graveyard that were reported in the local press.

A Positive Vision for the Future 

In the meeting, we noted that there is an appetite for affordable houses, and that FOMAG does not simply oppose the development on principle. It is clear that this proposal is a poor one, will cause devastation in the long term in terms of flooding and traffic. And it will essentially make the area a building site for the next 15-20 years.

So, what happens next?

Answer: a Judicial Review

This will probably cost £40k.

This was granted by a judge and will take place in Bristol on 28th April 2026. Mudford PC has some funds set aside, as does FOMAG although FOMAG funds are depleted after a decade of action and commissioned reports and legal advice. FOMAG, therefore, is aiming to raise at least £15,000 in order to contribute to the judicial review and have funds available for further work on continue scrutinising planning applications.