Plans to redevelop a major brownfield site in Cheddar have been approved, despite concerns about school places and the impact on the local landscape.

Yeo Valley Farms and Holt Farms Ltd have put forward plans to revamp the site north of the A371 Axbridge Road in Cheddar, building new homes, a care home, business units and a nursery.

Sedgemoor District Council deferred a decision on the plans in April 2019, claiming it required more information before it could decide whether to grant approval.

The council's development committee has now voted to grant approval to the plans after more than 18 months of delays.

Under the revised proposals, Yeo Valley intends for the site to deliver up to 100 new homes, along with nine "live/work units", which are designed for self-employed people who wish to work from home.

A 60-bed care home will also be built on-site, alongside 12 'extra care' units for people aged 55 and over who are more capable of living independently but want access to communal facilities.

Councillor Bill Revans questioned whether there would be sufficient school places in Cheddar to accommodate the inhabitants of the new homes.

He said: "We need to remember this is a three-tier system in Cheddar.

"There are 40 places available at the First School, and I look at the amount of developments that have been granted permission. I would like to scrutinise this in more detail."

Prior to the meeting, Sainsbury's won an appeal against the council over plans to build up to 60 homes on the B3151 Lower New Road near Steart Farm.

Both that site and the Yeo Valley start had been earmarked for employment use in the Cheddar neighbourhood plan – which Mr Revans should be upheld.

He said: "We are putting volunteers through the process of putting together a neighbourhood plan, including going through a referendum.

"It is very clear the plan wants light industrial use for this site, and that housing should be resisted.

"It is not surprising that there is going to be difficulty in securing a purchaser or developer for the land at the moment. To judge it in the context of the Covid situation is unhelpful.

"We should only allow this if it has been sufficiently marketed in fairer times than this."

Councillor Alan Bradford said: "I can think of no worse period to try and sell something than we've had in the last eight or nine months.

"We've had similar things in North Petherton where nice developments went up and people didn't take them up for a year."

Stuart Houlet, the council's senior manager for development management, said the Yeo Valley site had been marketed for 20 months without any interest being expressed.

Councillor Li Gibson said the site should be re-wilded given its proximity to the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

She said: "I feel like this is just waiting to be sold off for something.

"Why can't it not be sold off? Why can't it just be returned and left alone?"

Despite these concerns, the committee ultimately voted to approve the plans by a margin of ten votes to three, with one abstention and one councillor being absent from the vote due to technical issues.