Somerset village to get new c-store as part of housing development

A small village in the Blackmore Vale will get a new convenience store as the construction of dozens of new homes moves closer.

Redcliffe Homes was granted outline planning permission back in July 2019 to build 65 homes, a convenience store and a community hub at the corner of Station Road and Wheathill Lane in Milborne Port, near Sherborne.

Having secured detailed approval for the new homes in December 2020, the developer has now put forward fresh plans for the store which will serve both the new homes and the wider village.

South Somerset District Council is expected to make a decision by the late-spring – around the time construction on the new homes will begin, according to the developer’s official website.

The store will be built at the south-western corner of the site, near the improved access arrangements linking Station Road and Wheathill Lane.

Redcliffe Homes – which is based in Chipping Sodbury near Bristol – has not confirmed which company will run the store once construction is completed, or how many local jobs would be created.

A spokesman for PlanningSphere Ltd. (representing the applicant) said: “The convenience store site has been subject to an initial marketing exercised by Chester Commercial; however no proceed-able offers have been received.

“Reserved matters approval will enable the applicant to undertake a full marketing exercise to maximise the prospects for finding an end user operator for the retail unit.”

Milborne Port already has two small Co-operative Food outlets.

The village has seen considerable interest from housing developers over the last few years, in part due to its position on the A30 arterial road and being within close reach of Sherborne railway station, on the London to Exeter mainline.

Bovis Homes recently completed work on The Hamlets, a development of 46 homes on Gainsborough at the town’s western edge, which was approved on appeal in July 2017.

LRM Planning is currently consulting on initial proposals for 60 homes on Wheathill Lane, to the east of the Redcliffe Homes site, while Burrington Estates has put forward plans for an additional 22 homes on Court Lane.

Plans for up to 30 further homes on the northern end of Station Road, put forward by Nottinghamshire-based developer Toft Hill Ltd., were defeated at appeal in March 2021.

The council will make a decision on the convenience store proposals in the late-spring.