PLANS have been submitted to Somerset Council with hopes to gain permission to build a new housing estate near Bridgwater.

Wallbridge Estates Ltd has applied to build five large houses with associated access, parking, and landscaping works on Rhode Lane, just south of Bridgwater.

The new application comes following a successful application for Permission in Principle (PiP) which was accepted by Somerset Council in 2021.

Another application submitted in 2023 was met with disproval by planning officers, who concluded the buildings in the plan had 'grown and dispersed' beyond the PiP layout, to the detriment of the character and appearance of the location.

This application was then withdrawn and replaced with the most recent plans which aim to adhere to the advice of planning officers.

The land of the proposed new estate lies just 650 metres from the Bridgwater boundary, in Rhode.

The site currently serves as the applicant's contractor’s yard, and contains several 'tired' storage buildings.

Current plans seek permission to build five new houses, each of which would be detached, two-storey, with their own garages, parking spaces, and private gardens.

It is proposed that the houses will be arranged around a forecourt style layout, utilising the site’s existing access point from Rhode Lane.

Three of the planned houses would feature four bedrooms, whilst the remaining two would boast five bedrooms.

The applicant added: "Each property would have a minimum of four parking spaces and space within their respective curtilages and garages for cycle parking and refuse/recycling storage."

Speaking further on the updates to the previously withdrawn application, the applicant said: "In response to the criticism of the withdrawn application, the architect has reduced the overall proposed GIA by almost 100 square metres, and brought the group of houses closer together/linked them, to create more breathing space around the buildings and create a more courtyard farmstead-style development.

"The house designs have been simplified to three types, and the materials see more brickwork included on front-facing elevations.

"The garages, which are faced in brick, seek to visually break up the houses and give the appearance of farmstead scaled buildings."

For more information on the application, search reference number 37/24/00026 on Somerset Council's online planning portal.

Public consultation on the plans is now open, and comments are welcomed until Friday, May 31 - approval could be given from the following day.