New travellers' pitches could be created behind allotments in a small Somerset village if proposals are approved.

Mark Goddard has put forward plans to create two travellers' pitches and a communal day room on East Mead Lane in Walton, near Street.

The site lies immediately west of the village's allotments, and within a few hundred yards of a planned development of 78 homes and commercial space behind The Royal Oak public house.

Somerset Council is expected to make a decision on the plans within the next six months.

The site is presently occupied by five stables, with an agricultural barn currently being constructed under previous plans approved in 2021.

Under the proposals, two pitches for mobile homes will be provided behind the allotments, with an access road being provided onto East Mead Lane to the north.

Space will also be provided for two touring caravans and a communal day room, with the site being screened from the allotments and surrounding countryside through a mixture of new and mature hedgerows.

A spokesperson for Stokes Morgan Planning Ltd (representing Mr Goddard) said: "The application site is within walking distance of Walton, including to bus stops providing regular services to Street and beyond.

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"The entrance is of a sufficient width to enable a car and touring caravan to enter and exit the site, which will provide ample space for car parking and vehicle manoeuvring (including towing vehicles). The applicants are an ethnic gypsy and traveller family, and are seeking a secure, permanent pitch.

"The council continues to experience a shortage of gypsy and traveller sites across the former Mendip district, and the additional pitches proposed would represent a contribution to the identified need, in a suitable location that is not at risk from flooding, and where there are no other issues which would warrant refusal."

The site lies within the River Brue catchment area, meaning any new development must secure additional mitigation to prevent any net increase in phosphates on the Somerset Levels and Moors.

To offset the new pitches, two package treatment plants will be installed within the site, which will chemically dose the collected sewage from the mobile homes to remove large quantities of phosphates before they enter the local watercourses.

The council is expected to make a ruling on the plans by the early-autumn.