diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5f98adb7ea..62e63e5a0f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## Fixes
 
 - [Pull request #995: Allow Node 15 to be used](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/pull/995)
+- [Pull request #990: Make sass errors clearer to the user](https://github.com/alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit/pull/990)
 
 # 9.12.1 (Patch release)
 
diff --git a/gulp/sass.js b/gulp/sass.js
index 1b33eed74c..318d423692 100644
--- a/gulp/sass.js
+++ b/gulp/sass.js
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ const fs = require('fs')
 
 const extensions = require('../lib/extensions/extensions')
 const config = require('./config.json')
+const stylesheetDirectory = config.paths.public + 'stylesheets'
 
 gulp.task('sass-extensions', function (done) {
   const fileContents = '$govuk-extensions-url-context: "/extension-assets"; ' + extensions.getFileSystemPaths('sass')
@@ -24,9 +25,17 @@ gulp.task('sass-extensions', function (done) {
 gulp.task('sass', function () {
   return gulp.src(config.paths.assets + '/sass/*.scss')
     .pipe(sourcemaps.init())
-    .pipe(sass({ outputStyle: 'expanded' }).on('error', sass.logError))
+    .pipe(sass({ outputStyle: 'expanded' }).on('error', function (error) {
+      // write a blank application.css to force browser refresh on error
+      if (!fs.existsSync(stylesheetDirectory)) {
+        fs.mkdirSync(stylesheetDirectory)
+      }
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(stylesheetDirectory, 'application.css'), '')
+      console.error('\n', error.messageFormatted, '\n')
+      this.emit('end')
+    }))
     .pipe(sourcemaps.write())
-    .pipe(gulp.dest(config.paths.public + '/stylesheets/'))
+    .pipe(gulp.dest(stylesheetDirectory))
 })
 
 gulp.task('sass-documentation', function () {
diff --git a/start.js b/start.js
index 3ea89565a8..9bb0a29760 100644
--- a/start.js
+++ b/start.js
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ function runGulp () {
   const spawn = require('cross-spawn')
 
   process.env.FORCE_COLOR = 1
-  var gulp = spawn('./node_modules/.bin/gulp')
+  var gulp = spawn('./node_modules/.bin/gulp', ['--log-level', '-L'])
   gulp.stdout.pipe(process.stdout)
   gulp.stderr.pipe(process.stderr)
   process.stdin.pipe(gulp.stdin)