Campaign group wants to halt 230-home development

Parsonage Farm is the former home of Watchet Music Festival

A group in a small harbour town is campaigning against plans to build 230 homes on farmland which used to host a popular music festival.

The Parsonage Farm Action Group (PFAG) said the site in Watchet, along the West Somerset coastline, is the wrong location for the homes.

The development is one of several proposed schemes in Watchet which could deliver almost 900 new homes between them, increasing the current population by about 45%.

The Wyndham Estate, which owns Parsonage Farm, said the site has been allocated as part of the West Somerset Local Plan for development and it wants to contribute to local housing need.

Watchet is home to an active, working harbour

Campaigners say the large number of new homes being planned, which includes a scheme at the town's former paper mill, would put pressure on local services, such as schools and doctors' surgeries.

Lucy Shaw, who set up PFAG, told BBC Radio Somerset: "I don't think there's any division on the Parsonage Farm site.

"With over 120 comments on the planning portal - not one is in support.

"The site was identified in the 2016 adopted Local Plan, but we believe this plan is now out of date, and what might have been a potential site, eight to 10 years ago, simply isn't today".

Campaigners say the site is the wrong location to build homes on

The Watchet Music Festival was held at Parsonage Farm, off Brendon Road, annually between 2007 and 2022.

Organisers previously said it was the right time to allow the even to "come to a natural end" due to the tenant farmer ending his lease and the proposed housing plans.

Savills, the agent working with the Wyndham Estate on the proposals, said the festival may still be able to run on the land, but some elements would need to be changed.

"For many generations the estate has supported the neighbouring community, and we believe that our proposed scheme will similarly contribute to local need for current and future generations," said the Wyndham Estate.

The farmland looks out towards the Quantock hills

Councillor Rosemary Woods, who represents Watchet and sits on the planning committee at Somerset Council, said while she agrees on the need for housing for young people, the plans will need to be looked at closely.

"I'm torn, which is why I haven't made up my mind yet.

"I listen to people and I know there's a large scale 'ooh we don't want this'... but I have to look at the way the whole of the county feels as well," she added.

On the issue of services potentially being stretched, she said: "When a new build is proposed, a certain amount of school places need to be provided and they increase the number of doctors, because it's part of the planning process."

A total of 124 objections have been lodged with the council over the development and no date has been set for a decision.