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To: Local residents and councillors

Stop the developers attempt to overturn August planning refusal at Prestleigh Road

Evercreech - We WON! 🌳🐷🐽🐖

Every so often, a village proves what it’s really made of. And last week, Evercreech did exactly that.

It started with a few worried voices, a muddy field, and the thought that “someone ought to do something.” Well — someone did. You did. More than 300 of us signed the petition, shared it with friends, and turned out to speak up for our countryside. Then came the meeting — packed with villagers, heartfelt speeches, and, yes, even the pig farmer having his say!

It was honest, passionate, and deeply rooted in what makes rural England worth defending.

And guess what? It worked! The planners and councillors didn’t just hear us — they felt it. They specifically mentioned the petition and the strength of feeling from local people. That combination — your signatures, your words, and your presence — carried real weight.

The result? The green fields of Evercreech will stay green! The piglets keep their sunset mud. And we’ve reminded the council that this community won’t be trampled over by glossy brochures and “desktop exercises.”

So thank you — each and every one of you — for proving that ordinary people, when they act together, can still move mountains (or at least stop bulldozers).

With heartfelt thanks and a muddy pair of boots,

Barry O’Leary
(on behalf of everyone who stood up for Evercreech’s green lung) 🌿💚🐖

Please help stand up for rural communities. Don’t give the developer a second go.
Stop the Developer’s Attempt to Overturn Evercreech’s Planning Decision at Prestleigh Road



In August, Somerset Council’s planning committee made the right decision to refuse a development proposal on Prestleigh Road, Evercreech. The plan would have put the wrong type of houses in the wrong place, threatening the landscape, the village boundaries, and the character of our community.


Now, just months later, the developer has added a couple of new documents to their original plan — and the planning officer appears to be fast-tracking it back to the committee. This is highly unusual and risks undermining public trust in the planning process.


The original refusal was well justified, and if anything, further and stronger reasons for refusal have since emerged. It is unacceptable for developers to keep resubmitting applications until they get the answer they want — that’s not how local democracy should work.


We, the undersigned, call on Somerset Council to:


  • Reject any attempt to bring this application back prematurely, unless there are clear and material changes to justify it.
  • Defend the integrity of the August decision and the authority of the planning committee.
  • Protect Evercreech’s village boundaries, countryside, and landscape from inappropriate development.


Planning decisions should be made once, fairly, and transparently — not rewritten behind closed doors.


✍️ Please sign and share this petition to ensure Evercreech’s voice is heard and respected.



Why is this important?

⚠️  Shock planning return for Our Village?! 🏡❌

I’m honestly baffled 😳 to see this planning application back on Somerset Council’s table. Not often that happens — usually, once it’s gone through an officer’s report, that’s it. So why now?



Here’s the kicker: it’s an outline application 😡. That means:



 • No actual houses need to be built yet 🏚️



 • They just get to change the principle of the land from agricultural ➡️ housing 🌾➡🏠



 • And it could push our village boundaries further out 🚧



Meanwhile, there’s plenty of land already available ✅ — old factory sites, brownfield plots, areas in the local plan. We don’t need to eat up more countryside just to satisfy developers’ profits 💸.



Also, I’m incredibly puzzled .. 🤷‍♂️why is there no new officers report or any assessment and  why  has gone directly to planning board



From what I can see, this has all the same problems as the last plan:



 • Wrong type of housing ❌



 • Wrong location ❌



 • Minimal benefits to the village ❌



And here’s a huge problem: we STILL don’t even have a secondary school locally 🏫. Children would continue to be forced onto circular bus routes to Shepton Mallet or Castle Cary 🚍💨, and those additional transport needs are often ignored. This isn’t just inconvenient — it’s a real community failure.



And don’t get me started on developer 💰💰💰 contributions… supposedly to help the community, but Somerset Council has one of the worst records for making developers actually pay up 💀. “Oh, they can’t meet their profit margin” 💸… and the council rolls over. Seriously? 😤



We need homes, yes. But we need:



✅ Affordable homes



✅ Properly designed homes



✅ Homes in the right places



Not another cookie-cutter sprawl ruining our village and our community 😡



Perhaps this is yet another incompetent error administration? By  who ? The developer ‘chancing it”.. someone else ? 🕵️🪽🐷🐖🪽- I mean given it is adjacent to a former pig farm perhaps flying pigs are as likely!



If you care about our village, this is the kind of thing we can’t let slip through. Speak up, comment, and ask questions before it’s too late 🗣️✊
Evercreech, Shepton Mallet BA4, UK

Maps © Stamen; Data © OSM and contributors, ODbL

Category

Updates

2025-11-05 11:17:48 +0000

Petition is successful with 311 signatures

2025-10-29 17:33:20 +0000

100 signatures reached

2025-10-29 11:27:19 +0000

50 signatures reached

2025-10-29 10:16:46 +0000

25 signatures reached

2025-10-29 09:47:03 +0000

10 signatures reached