A SMALL Somerset village could soon welcome 25 new low-cost homes if plans are approved.

The LiveWest housing association has applied to build the homes on the Charity Farm site on Middle Street in Ashcott, near Street.

The homes form part of the company’s pledge to deliver more than 600 new homes in rural locations by 2024, with the Ashcott site being targeted for completion by the end of 2022/23.

Sedgemoor District Council is expected to make a decision on the proposals before the end of the year.

The Charity Farm site lies at the eastern edge of the village, south of the existing homes on Glebeland Close and north of a right of way leading towards Buscott and Shapwick.

Access to the new homes will be from Middle Street, with a play area being provided near the junction and the homes bending around the existing farm buildings.

The properties will range from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses, with five of the properties being offered as shared ownership and the remaining 20 being affordable rent dwellings.

A spokesman for LiveWest said: “The mix of homes, their size and style aims to provide a range of house types to create a mixed community and reflect local housing need.

“We want to create a development with its own sense of identity grouped around an open landscaped space at the centre of the site -and to protect the amenity of adjacent homes at Glebeland Close by placing private garden areas adjacent to existing gardens on this side of the site.”

Ashcott lies on the busy A39 Bath Road, which connects commuters to Street and Glastonbury in the east (over the border in the Mendip district) and the M5 and Bridgwater in the west.

Proposals for a new bypass around Ashcott and the neighbouring village of Walton were submitted to the government in July 2019, with chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak MP including the proposal in his budget of March 2020.

The proposals for the £90M scheme are currently being refined, with a view to construction beginning some time in 2023.

To reduce congestion and encourage more sustainable transport, residents of the new Charity Farm homes are being provided with cycle spaces, with the new estate also connecting up to the existing public right of way.

Sedgemoor District Council is expected to make a decision on the outline plans before Christmas.