A HOUSING developer has made another attempt to build in Wedmore, despite its previous plans being thrown out by villagers.

Fresh plans from Blue Cedar Homes for 20 new homes on land at Holdenhurst follow two previous applications for the site.

The first application was withdrawn, while the second was dismissed following an appeal by the developer.

The new development consists of nine adaptable housing units for the elderly and a mix of three open market homes and eight affordable homes.

Nick Avery, vice-chairman of Wedmore Parish Council, told the Weekly News: “In the previous plans, the planning officer thought there was not enough affordable housing included. We have a lot of demand for affordable, rentable housing in Wedmore.

“Many of the villagers were worried that this development is technically not located in the development area for Wedmore, so any project there would have to be exemplary.

“At the moment we have yet to view the new plans in detail but we will be discussing them at a planning meeting soon.”

Changes from the previous plans include providing some affordable housing as flats and all affordable housing as rented accommodation, rather than affordable homeownership.

Blue Cedar Homes area director Nick Yeo said: “Having received constructive feedback from the planning committee and from the planning inspector, we decided to go back to the drawing board. We clearly made mistakes when designing the previous scheme.

“Therefore, we have put a great deal of consideration into the layout and landscaping of the new proposals, to make sure we fully address all of the concerns raised in respect to the previous application.

“We thoroughly reviewed all of Wedmore’s housing needs appraisals, surveys and assessments undertaken since 2004 and we believe we have provisionally designed a scheme that will go a long way to addressing the community’s housing requirements, including the provision of 40 per cent affordable housing.”