Land Os 6143 Sparkford Road West Camel Yeovil Somerset Data via plota.co.uk

Proposal

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Screening Opinion in relation to the development of a new Trunk Road Service Area incorporating a farm shop and restaurant/cafe, hotel/lodge accommodation, energy station (including electric vehicle energy hub and petrol filling station), photovoltaic solar arrays, truck stop, strategic landscaping and other ancillary works Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
EIA Not Required
26 Jul 2026
✓
Received
28 Jul 2026

EIA Not Required on 26 Jul 2026 · Last checked 30 Sept 2026

Site constraints 6

Nutrient neutrality catchment: Parrett Catchment
New homes and overnight accommodation must show nutrient neutrality before approval.
Natural England advice: extra wastewater in these catchments harms protected habitats, so schemes must offset their nutrient load, usually through credits.
Public footpath 19 m away
Matters where it crosses or adjoins the site: obstructing a path without a diversion order is an offence, and work cannot start until the order is confirmed.
Compiled from highway authority data, not the legal definitive map. A few authorities have not published, so no path shown is not proof there is none.
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s), which most planning maps still show, had this area as grade 2. The predicted grade is Defra's current estimate; only a site survey settles it.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 1
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
National infrastructure project 735 m away: A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Dualling
The site is 735 m from the project boundary. Highway, decided. The project page says whether consent was granted.
Nationally significant infrastructure projects (power stations, electricity lines, pipelines, major roads and railways, harbours, airports and reservoirs) are consented by a Secretary of State under the Planning Act 2008, after an examination by the Planning Inspectorate, rather than by the council. The boundary is the one the Inspectorate consults on and can change as the scheme does. Projects are shown within 2 km of the site.
Planning Inspectorate project page ↗
Also on the record
Radon affected area, class 2.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · Not green belt · No listed building at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Planning Inspectorate, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Application type
EIA Screening and Scoping Request
Received
28 Jul 2026
Validated
28 Jul 2026
Ward
CASTLE CARY
Parish
West Camel
Target decision
18 Aug 2026
Decision
EIA Not Required
Decision date
26 Jul 2026
Agent
Grass Roots Planning Ltd.

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 30 Sept 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Statutory expiry
18 Aug 2026
Env. assessment
No