UP to 180 homes could be built on the northern edge of Taunton – four times more than the local authority intended.

Gladman Developments has put forward amended plans to developer the land near Pyrland Farm on Cheddon Road.

The site has been set aside for housing by Somerset West and Taunton Council as part of its wider strategy for providing new homes across the district.

But the council only planned for 45 homes to be built on the site when this strategy was approved.

The council’s site allocations and development management plan identifies sites across the former Taunton Deane area which can be brought forward for either housing or employment use up to 2028.

The Pyrland Farm site, on the northern site of Cheddon Road, is earmarked for “around 45 dwellings, including 25 per cent affordable housing.”

The document also specifies terraced or semi-detached houses should face onto Cheddon Road, and that development should be “set away from higher land on the western part of site.”

Gladman has put forward some changes to the original plans submitted in 2018, modifying the proposed access from Cheddon Road and how pedestrian access will be provided throughout the site.

Somerset County Council, which is responsible for highway matters, said it had concerns about pedestrian safety near the junction with Cheddon Road, but ruled that “there will not be a severe impact on the existing highway network” as a result of extra traffic from the site.

A spokesperson for Gladman said: “This site provides an excellent opportunity for a development which integrates well with the existing settlement area of Taunton.

“The site has no overriding environmental or physical constraints, and provides the opportunity to establish a sustainable development which is both physically and visually well contained.”The former Taunton Deane Borough

Council has a mixed record with Gladman, having fought three appeals against plans brought forward by the company in the last 12 months.

The council threw in the towel in July 2018 against plans to build 250 homes in Rockwell Green near Wellington, claiming its reasons for turning down the plans were “not maintainable”.

It fared better in November, when the developer withdrew an appeal over 95 homes in Wiveliscombe, and subsequently won an appeal against 200 homes in Creech St Michael.

Taunton residents have until May 10 to make comments on the plans, by visiting www.somersetwestandtaunton.gov.uk and quoting reference number 08/17/0040. The council will make a final decision later in the year.