After a long running battle by Cheddar Parish Council and local residents to prevent developer Bloor Homes from building a road across the public right of way Holwell Lane, the parish council has had to withdraw its objection to Bloor's claim for ownership of the lane.

This means that Bloor will be able to connect the proposed development to the north of the lane with the existing estate to the south.

A local petition to Save Holwell Lane gained more than 1,000 signatures, and concerned residents joined parish councillors to object to the plan at Sedgemoor District Council's development management meetings.

Despite this and Sedgemoor's Local Plan stating clearly that a new junction on to the A371 from the north east corner of the site is the preferred vehicle access point, the district council granted planning permission on September 17 2019.

Since then Cheddar Parish Council has continued to make the case for Bloor Homes to use this preferred location for access to the proposed site and explored all options to prevent them going ahead with the Holwell Lane crossing.

Bloor have now indicated that they will take high court action to resolve the dispute – something the parish council cannot afford to pursue, leaving the council with no choice but to withdraw its objection.

Chairman of Cheddar Parish Council, Peter Colton, said "We are deeply disappointed with this outcome and know that the local community will be too, but without the support of Sedgemoor District Council, we have no other viable option."

However, as a result of extensive discussions through Bloor's solicitors, Gowling WLG, highways engineers have relooked at the crossing and submitted a revised design to Somerset Highways for a safer, single lane crossing of the public right of way.

Bloor have also indicated that they may at some stage be willing to purchase the final parcel of land at the north east end of the site, which would enable them to create the junction on to the A371 as laid out in Sedgemoor's Local Plan and for which the parish council has been campaigning since the beginning.