"Deeply resented" plans for 30 new homes in a Somerset village have been unanimously refused by district councillors.

Redrow Homes put forward plans for 30 homes to the south of Great Dunns Close in the village of Beckington, which lies on the A36 arterial road between Frome and Bath.

The site has been identified to deliver at least 28 new homes within Mendip District Council's Local Plan Part II, which is due to be ratified in December.

But the council's planning board roundly refused Redrow's proposals when it met in Shepton Mallet on Wednesday evening (October 13).

The proposed homes would be built south of the existing homes, with the southern end of the site being left as a green open space to provide a buffer to the existing homes on Goose Street.

Previous plans to develop the site have been refused twice before, with the council rejecting proposals for 32 homes in February 2016 and turning down a separate proposal for 28 homes in April 2017 (with the Planning Inspectorate upholding this decision at appeal in July 2018).

Of the 30 homes currently being planned for the site, nine would be affordable, with Redrow indicating that it could begin construction in early-2022 and deliver the entire site within 12 months.

But John Bennett – who owns a Redrow property in the village – urged the board to refuse permission, making a string of allegations about both the company's behaviour and the council's relationship to it.

He said: "My main concern about Redrow is their endemic reluctance to fulfill their promises.

"We bought our house in May 2016 on the understand that they would transfer the public land incorporated in the development to a management company after the last house was sold in 2017.

"For reasons known only to themselves, Redrow have not yet transferred this land, nor have we been given a date when they will.

"More widely, their undertaking to provide drainage systems fit for purpose failed to materialise, which has had effects on other parts of the village.

"It also seems that your planning officers now act as facilitators for Redrow.

"I urge you to stand by your guns and not inflicted this heritage harming and deeply resented application upon our village."

Parish councillor Clive Winterbourne added: "The general mood across the community right now is incredulity and frustration.

"We have identified two sites, the development of which wouldn't negatively impact existing residents – in stark contrast to the application before you today, which negatively impacts about 120 homeowners on the Redrow estate and down Goose Street, which lies within our conservation area and includes properties dating back to the 1300s."

One of the two sites identified lies on Warminster Road, between the existing David Wilson Homes development on Shepard's Way and the A36.

The Stonewood Partnership put forward plans to build 45 homes on this site and retain the woodland to the north – but these were refused by council officers in June.

Councillor Francis Hayden criticised this decision, arguing the Warminster Road site was a far more sustainable location for the village.

He said: "The site up by the bypass has room for a new doctors' surgery, which is not overlooking the heritage heart of the village, and links to a section of the sewage system which has no problems and is not vulnerable.

"This [Redrow] site seems worse in every respect. There is no contribution to the health service which is admittedly stretched and needs a new doctor's surgery.

"It links up to a section of the sewage system which already is actually over capacity – and everybody knows that two years running, foul sewage has been lapping at people's doors when we had heavy rain during the summer.

"I do not understand how this is the site that came forward as our policy. I cannot work that out – what are we playing at? Between the two, the choice seems to me absolutely obvious."

The Beckington Family Practice was denied permission to expand by the Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in March 2020 after concerns were raised about how setting up a new site would affect the quality of care being provided.

The Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA) has committed to upgrading the drainage infrastructure around Church Hill, Frome Road, Goose Street and Warminster Road as part of its annual £2.7M work programme.

Councillor Shannon Brooke – who represents the Beckington and Selwood ward – also criticised the plans via video link.

She said: "This is what happens when planning processes become more focused on the numbers than the impact on people, communities or heritage assets.

"We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world. Beckington, with its grade one listed church, castle and 100 listed buildings at its heart, is a gem.

"Isn't it our responsibility to ensure that future generations can enjoy the same unspoilt character at the historic heart of these 21st-century communities as we do?

"Change, growth and development are inevitable and very necessary – but shouldn't this be exercised with great care, so as not to destroy what is cherished?

"Sadly once a mistake is made and the harm or spoiling has taken place, then that's it – there's no going back, the damage is done for all to see."

After more than an hour's debate, the board voted unanimously to refuse permission.