Persimmon Homes had plans for a large development turned down in January 2015 and are now attempting to right that wrong by consulting with local residents over their plan for the land between Sector Lane and Chard Road.

Persimmon Homes said: “East Devon District Council have a newly-adopted Local Plan – Persimmon submitted proposals in the form of a planning application in January 2015 to commence the process of implementing the council’s strategy. EDDC refused the applications.

“We are aware that Axminster Town Council is preparing a Neighbourhood Plan and wish to hear how Persimmon’s proposal might contribute to that. We wanted to hear views in the issues that are important to Axminster.”

The application site forms part of the Local Plan and is allocated for mixed use. The site is available for the delivery 650 dwellings, employment land, community and open space facilities, a primary school and a north/south relief road. A road linking through the scheme would act as a relief road to traffic from the A358 Chard Road to the north and Lyme Road to the south.

At the public meeting Persimmon laid out some of the positives of the site and also how they will deal with some of the constraints.

They stated that the site benefits from its green surroundings, there are good existing road links to provide access, an existing public footpath provides walks to the countryside, plenty of views to the surrounding hills and a provision of a relief road would ease congestion in the town.

Persimmon said: “Existing significant trees and hedgerows on the site boundary will need to be protected; Weycroft Hall and Mill Brook at the north of the site both require sensitive treatment. Residential edges would be dealt with carefully and industrial edges of the site will need buffers.”

The Crown Estate, who owns around 50 per cent of the land Persimmon hopes to build on, were also at the public consultation and explained their role.

The Crown Estate said: “We are committed to working with the local community, other landowners including Persimmon and the district and town council to deliver the vision set out in the Local Plan.

“We understand there are realistic concerns about traffic levels and are looking at options to address this, including a possible relief road. We will look to carry out further public consultations on our emerging proposals later this year and will announce more details nearer the time.”

Plans for the original development were turned down in January last year for several reasons, including an unacceptable masterplan that had not been subjected to meaningful consultation.

There was also a failure to provide an acceptable level of affordable housing.

Persimmon Homes will look to re-submit plans for the new development later this year factoring in details that have arisen from meeting with local residents.