There were cries from the public gallery as B&NES Councillors voted through the finer details of the Greenlands Road planning application in Peasedown St John last week. The sloping, green field site has a long and chequered past, having been won at appeal by a previous developer and then being sold to Curo, who have spent a long time looking at ways to engineer 89 homes on site. Protestors now say they are investigating legal action following the decision.

Unfortunately for protesters, since the appeal, the site had been included within the Housing Development boundary for the village through the Placemaking Plan, and now serves as a site to help the Council achieve its target for housing.

The B&NES Officer had recommended approval of the site but also noted past furore over it, too. Most are concerned about the loss of green land, which has needed significant work to plan the build on; insubstantial access, an oversubscribed doctor’s surgery for a village and one of the largest primary schools in the area potentially under pressure for space.

Curo’s Chief Executive, Victor da Cunha, said: “We are pleased that our Reserved Matters application for 89 much-needed new homes in Peasedown St John has been approved by B&NES. We are excited to be able to move forward with the site, and help deliver the homes our region needs. Wtih 35% affordable housing, this development will give more local people and their families the opportunity to stay in an area they love.”

A spokesperson for Residents Protecting Peasedown, a campaign group in the village set up to stop overdevelopment, told The Journal: “Everyone in the village is very surprised by the B&NES Committee’s decision.

“In our opinion, Curo has gotten away with an extremely poor design that we believe is outside the lawful scope of ‘Reserved Matters’, given the amount of re-engineering and massive groundworks that are required to make the site habitable.

“Even after this work, we believe the development, littered with steps – will be inaccessible to young families, elderly and disabled people.

“In addition, the proposed three-storey homes facing out to the green belt are totally out of keeping with the rural environment.

“Another thing that worries us, and which sets a dangerous precedent, is that Curo has provided very little open space. They have counted the top of retaining walls; an ‘orchard’, which is effectively a line of a few trees, and the back of an apartment block cut eight metres into the ground.

“Given all of this, you would have expected some meaningful debate among the Councillors at the Committee. But there was none. Their mind was made up, and the development had to happen.

“We are talking to our lawyers with the backing of the community to see what can now be done.”

In a statement released to The Journal last week, B&NES Councillors for Peasedown St John, Cllrs Sarah Bevan and Karen Walker said: “We are hugely disappointed with the decision. We have been, since such plans first came to light in 2012, opposed in principle to any houses being built on this land.

“Over the last 25 years, our village has seen considerable growth, with more than 1,300 new homes built. It has not seen the same level of growth in the amount of amenities though, meaning that those services we have are stretched almost beyond capacity.

“The strength of public opinion against this development is far greater than any other campaign we have seen locally in the last twenty years. More than 1,000 villagers signed the petition against the development, almost 300 objection letters were sent to B&NES, and the full weight of the Parish Council, neighbouring Parish Councils, and B&NES Councillors, past and present, have opposed any attempt previously to build homes here.

“Housing on this site is highly inappropriate and we have deep reservations over how Curo can safely build them without causing damage to the environment and surrounding homes.

“We will be calling a meeting with Curo’s Directors over the coming months to address our concerns, and those of the hundreds of residents who have contacted us. As the housebuilding process starts, we want to ensure that local residents are consulted and informed every step along the way.”

A spokesperson for Curo told The Journal this week that it did not yet have a date for work to commence.