A village near Frome could soon have extra control over where new homes are built in the aftermath of an unusual legal challenge.

Residents of Norton St Philip put together a neighbourhood plan identifying future sites for local housing need, which was due to go out to a referendum in October 2019.

This referendum was cancelled following a lengthy legal challenge by developer Lochailort Investments Ltd., with the Court of Appeal ruling in June 2020 that the plan was in error over the allocation of green spaces.

Changes have now been made to the plan to reflect this judgement, meaning it can finally go to referendum and become part of Mendip District Council's planning policy later in the year (pandemic permitting).

The neighbourhood plan was discussed by the council's cabinet when it met virtually on Monday evening (March 1).

Parish council chairman Ian Hasell said the village remained committed to the principles of the plan, as well as the sites which it had identified.

He said: "We are lay people – amateurs if you like, not used to being involved in the complex legal issues surrounding this case.

"But we do remain convinced of the rightness of the things we are aiming to achieve."

Neighbourhood plans identify sites in a given community which can provide housing, employment and leisure use in the years ahead, and form part of a district council's planning policies once adopted – meaning they carry legal weight in determining new applications for housing.

In his judgement, Lord Justice Lewison stated that local green spaces identified in the neighbourhood plan were "not consistent" with national planning policies in terms of how development within the green belt should be managed.

Lochailort Investments Ltd, which lodged the legal challenge, is behind the Fortescue Fields development on the former site of the village's chicken factory.

Phase one (comprising 51 homes) was granted permission in 2011, and revised plans for phase two (a further 27 homes) being put forward in late-2020.

Jo Milling, the council's planning policy officer, said that this legal challenge should not discourage other villages in the district from pursuing neighbourhood plans in the future.

She said: "I don't think other communities should be put off starting a neighbourhood plan of their plan, because these are quite unique circumstances.

"It is unusual for such processes to go on quite as long as this one."

Council leader Ros Wyke added: "I think we should be commended that we're actually creating legal precedent here, by giving the level of support to a parish which has all down the line tried to do the right thing.

"We are here to support our parishes, and we are doing so with legal costs and support to take this through the various legal stages."

The cabinet voted unanimously to approve the changes to the plan. A further report concerning the timing of the referendum will come before the cabinet later in the year.