Castle Cary misses out on more than £480,000 for new facilities

Developer Stonewater will no longer have to pay towards facilities including playing pitches

Residents of a Somerset town have missed out on £480,000 for improvements to local facilities and schools after changes to a legal agreement.

Stonewater is building 125 homes on the Mulberry Meadows site in Castle Cary.

In exchange, the developer committed to paying towards changing rooms, a village hall, pitches and arts venues.

But Somerset Council has now approved changes to the agreement after an assessment showed Stonewater would "make a significant loss".

The council's principal planning specialist, David Kenyon, said the changes were the only way to ensure the site could be completed.

The contributions for Castle Cary and Ansford parish that have been removed are:

• £104,565 for changing rooms

• £81,675 towards playing pitches (including ongoing maintenance)

• £62,445 towards community hall facilities

• £37,615 towards improvements to the Westlands Entertainment Venue in Yeovil

• £6,960 in additional play area contributions

• £26,335 for youth services

Under the original Section 106 agreement, drawn up in 2017, the developer would provide more than £350,000 towards school places in the town.

This been reduced to just over £190,000 - which has already been paid in full - resulting in a further loss of £160,000.

The new agreement allows the developer to build the 75th home before making road changes

The new agreement also allows the developer to make remaining transport improvements near the site later than was originally intended, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS)

New play area equipment will be provided by Stonewater, instead of £97,000 being handed to the community, and its future maintenance will also be paid for.

An independent viability assessment carried out in March 2021 said that the development "would make a significant loss" if these changes were not implemented.

Ansford Parish Council and Castle Cary Town Council both objected to the reduction in funding.