Residents of Evercreech, a small village in Somerset, are gearing up for a renewed campaign to block the construction of 40 new homes adjacent to an active pig farm.
In April 2024, Rubix Strategic Ltd. submitted planning applications to develop 40 houses along B3081 Prestleigh Road, close to Shepton Mallet. The local Somerset Council’s planning committee east, responsible for major planning decisions in the former Mendip area, rejected the proposals twice—in August and November 2025.
Despite these refusals, the developer has appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, potentially overturning the decision by year-end. The proposed site lies north of Prestleigh Road and is within walking distance of the former Greencore factory, where a previous plan for 118 homes, commercial spaces, and a community hub was also rejected on appeal in July 2024.
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Earlier proposals by M7 Planning Ltd. suggested 56 homes and a convenience store for this site but were withdrawn in June 2023. The current plan concentrates most homes near the existing properties on Maesdown Road, with access directly off Prestleigh Road.
Of the 40 homes planned, 12 will be affordable units, complying with the council’s policy requiring 30% affordable housing in developments of ten homes or more.
In an effort to offset environmental impact, particularly to prevent an increase in phosphates affecting the Somerset Levels and Moors catchment, local farmland will be withdrawn from active farming and replaced with new woodland planting.
The site is outside designated development boundaries and is absent from both Mendip Local Plan Part I (2014) and Part II (2021), which underwent revisions after judicial review.
The planning committee’s rejection focused on two primary concerns: the proximity to an operational pig farm on Watery Lane, which raises questions about future living conditions for residents, and the loss of open countryside and farmland, as the site lies beyond Evercreech’s development boundary.
Councillor Barry Clarke (Conservative, Mendip Central and East) expressed strong opposition in November 2025, stating: “If you spoke to a farmer and said you want to buy land 80 metres from their farm, they would laugh you off. You’d want at least 200 metres distance. This application is unacceptable.”
Rubix has requested a public inquiry for the appeal rather than a written review, though the Planning Inspectorate has yet to confirm the procedure.
Representations to the Planning Inspectorate can be made using case reference number 6009482 at www.acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk.
A spokesperson for OG Group, representing Rubix, highlighted ongoing housing needs: “The council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of housing. The benefits from this development are significant, and there is a compelling need for new homes.”