MORE than 100 people attended a consultation event to learn more about a developer's plans to build 162 homes at Brue Farm.

Developer, Barratt Homes, held the event at the town's community centre on Tuesday (September 25) and said it is in the process of putting together a planning application to build 162 new 2, 3 and 4 bed family homes, a new primary school, a new roundabout on Huntspill Road, an accessible public open space and a play area on land adjacent to Huntspill Road, Highbridge.

The proposal represents the third phase of plans to build 550 homes, a primary school, a nursery and associated highways on the site, which has lain derelict for a number of years.

Residents said they have fears traffic in Highbridge will get worse during the development of the proposed four pronged roundabout and are concerned

One resident, who lives on Alstone Road less than a mile from the development, said: "I can see how the roundabout will help alleviate the traffic problems in the long term but what will be done to handle all the extra traffic while the roundabout is being built?

"There is nothing in the plans which talks about the impact the building of this roundabout will have on traffic around Huntspill Road.

"We already suffer really badly from traffic problems around here especially if the M5 clogs up or there is a crash and I am worried it will get worse when building work starts."

A spokesman for Barratt Homes said there will be a comprehensive traffic management plan which will be agreed with Sedgemoor District Council as part of the planning application.

"This plan will detail how construction processes will be managed to reduce potential impact on local roads as far as possible.

"We acknowledge that during construction periods there is usually some degree of disruption, however once complete, the new road layout should represent an improvement to the traffic flows in this area of Highbridge.

"The proposed road improvements will have a positive impact on the safety of both pedestrians and motorists on this stretch of the A38.

"We will work with the relevant officers and representatives closely to minimise any potential disruption as far as possible. "

Residents also voiced concerns about the proposed primary school and said they have fears the school will not be built.

A resident said: "Somerset County Council has just announced that they need to save millions of pounds and are trying to make cuts everywhere.

"If they are cutting services across Somerset how do they plan on paying for a new school to be built."

Barratt Homes said it is working closely with the county council to make the land available for the school and will continue to do so until the project is delivered.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council, said: “As was discussed at the Cabinet meeting last week, given the increased pressures on our finances, we will be reviewing all spending including our schools building programme – how it is funded and its time scales.

“We will continue to work with district council colleagues to secure appropriate funding from developers as the population of Somerset grows and making requests to Government for more grant funding to support the need for places. The need for many of the places will be linked to planning applications and housing developments and some of these are likely to move forward at a slower pace than previously anticipated.

“We are still confident. The programme looks years ahead and a lot of the projects are driven by housing developments and planning applications and many of these may well not progress as quickly as first anticipated (or progress at all).”

The firm says it plans to submit a planning application for the site in October/November and said they were pleased with the turnout at the consultation event.

"Over 100 people came to view the plans and talk to us, so we had a very helpful level of feedback from the local community," a spokesman for Barratt Homes said.

"It was great to see a range of ages in attendance and the written feedback we've received so far shows that there is a desire for new homes in Highbridge.

"We're currently looking through all of the comments people provided and will be working on finalising our plans for the application to be submitted in the next couple of months.

"We'd like to thank everyone who attended the exhibition for their time and considered feedback."