Persimmon Homes has launched a public consultation exercise over plans to build a major housing estate on green fields in Backwell, North Somerset. 

Previous plans for Farleigh Fields, which are outside the settlement boundary of the rural village, were turned down by the Secretary of State after also being rejected by the parish council, North Somerset Council and on appeal through a Planning Inquiry. 

Persimmon has announced their intention to submit a controversial new planning application to North Somerset Council after the consultation finishes on March 26. 

The estate of 125 new homes would be accessed by demolishing existing houses on the main A370 Bristol to Weston-super-Mare road.

Farleigh Fields, which is currently used to graze cattle, is agricultural land also used by local people for recreation as it is crossed with footpaths. It is a sloping site with the Grade I listed Church of St Andrew a prominent landmark. 

The new plans differ from the previous application, which attracted more than 400 letters of objection, by reducing the number of homes to be built from 200 to 125. 

Backwell was one of the first villages in the UK to register a plan of where new homes should be built when the Conservative Government launched the scheme with Farleigh Fields earmarked as vital green space.  

Details can be viewed at  https://www.sites.google.com/view/farleighfields/home

Photo Credits: Neil James Brain