Residents of a small Somerset village are demanding action to protect their homes from "extreme flooding" in the wake of nearly 1,000 new homes planned nearby. Two major housing developments on the north-eastern edge of Yeovil were recently given planning permission - 765 homes within the Up Mudford urban extension (along with a community hall, care home and other elements) and a further 252 homes on the A359 Mudford Road (which was granted on appeal).
Residents of Mudford have campaigned against both developments, arguing they will increase the risk of flooding as surface water runs down the hill towards the slow-moving River Yeo. Residents have now joined forces with the neighbouring villages of Ashington and Chilton Cantelo to create the Three Villages Flood Group, which will be pushing for major improvements in the local area to reduce flooding and ensure new homes are delivered in more appropriate locations.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service caught up with several group members in Mudford on Thursday (March 21), just over a week before the group's official launch meeting on April 5. Dawn Woodward said: "We're trying to disrupt people's perceptions, in that they think: 'Mudford always floods, so what's the problem?' or 'Mudford hasn't really got a problem, what they're whingeing about?'
"We're trying to sort of raise awareness of the peril that we're under." The village made national headlines in mid-February when its churchyard flooded, bringing interred bones to the surface - some of which were more than 100 years old.
This turn of events prompted the involvement of Glastonbury and Somerton MP Sarah Dyke, whose constituency includes Mudford.
Ms Woodward said: "She came out for a good long meeting with us as a group. We talked about the history of the village pumping station, we talked about the fragile and inadequate sewage system which overflows whenever there's heavy rain. We then took her to the churchyard and she was horrified.
"We showed her a video of what it's like down there when it's in full flood, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing." Mudford Bridge (which carried the A359 north of the village) is partially silted up and has not been regularly dredged in more than two decades - meaning that during heavy rainfall, it can act like a dam and keep water close to the neighbouring homes for longer.
Following her visit, Ms Dyke raised the issue of flooding within Mudford during a Westminster Hall debate which took place on March 12. She said: "I met residents of a little village called Mudford in my constituency last week.
"Two new housing applications have recently been approved for up to 1,000 homes just upstream on the River Yeo. Mudford already suffers from extreme flooding and relies on inadequate and fragile sewerage systems that already overflow regularly during heavy rain.
"Worryingly, the developers plan to use the same system despite clear environmental risks. Water companies must be fully involved in the planning system, to ensure that water infrastructure can handle the demand and prevent future flooding and spills of sewage."
Ms Woodward said that the risk of increased flooding had barely been mentioned or taken into account with either of the two major Yeovil developments. She elaborated: "It barely touches on the subject, and what's worrying is that the developers are thinking of using the same inadequate system for those 1,000 houses."
The legal agreements between Somerset Council and the two developers in question - the Abbey Manor Group and Yeovil LVA LLP respectively - remain unsigned as of Monday (March 24), meaning there is scope for flood prevention measures to be at least partially renegotiated. As part of the Up Mudford proposals, new attenuation ponds will be constructed at the northern edge of the development - but concerns remain about the standard of the ditches into which they will drain, or the rate at which the water will be released in the event of heavy rain.
Ms Woodard said: "The building that's proposed up here, it's all on clay soil - meaning it's impermeable. When it rains heavily, there's a river running downhill through the farmland.
"The attenuation ponds are three feet deep - the volume of water we've had s seven feet deep across a huge expanse of land." Members of the Three Villages Flood Group will be meeting shortly with Ashley Pratt, Wessex Water's regional pumping station manager, to discuss the operation of the current pumping station near the churchyard.
She said: "What we're going to be doing is really drilling down on what their plans are for the development of 1,000 houses. We've got a voice, and we need to move it into the next phase, which is action, negotiation and resolution.
"I feel we are ahead of the curve of what other villages might be doing down the line. We are right on the edge of what Mother Nature throws at us - and it's only going to get a lot worse."
The Mudford Bridge is owned by Somerset Council, meaning any clearing of the silt would have to be undertaken either directly by the council's chosen contractors or through the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA). The group is also investigating the prospect of slowing the flow of water through the creation of new wetlands - though this would require both external funding and the cooperation of local landowners.
Ms Woodward said: "One of our members, Stephen Bartlett, is already talking with the Yeovil Rivers Trust about turning the Spinny into a nature reserve. We're trying to get funding together to turn that whole area into a community project. It's got a rare pear tree in it - one of the rarest trees in Somerset."
Mr Bartlett - who is also a member of the Friends of Mudford Action Group (FOMAG) - said these issues could be escalated since the village lies on the Monarch's Way long-distance walking route (which follows the route taking by the young Charles II when he escaped to France during the English Civil War).
Mr Bartlett said: "It does carry a lot of weight with regard to highways. Bridges on the route are being prioritised for replacement because it is an ancient route." The Three Villages Flood Group launch meeting will take place at Mudford Village Hall on April 5 from 10am to 2pm.
The event will be attended by SRA chairman Councillor Mike Stanton, along with representatives from the Environment Agency (EA), the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Somerset Council, Reimagining the Levels, the Emergency Voluntary Action Group (EVAG) and the Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT).
For more information on the event, or how to join the group, visit www.3vfg.org.uk/2025/02/15/3vfg-launch-day.
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