PLANS to build a new dementia care nursing home in Alcombe look set to be given the green light, despite objections from the town council.

The new facility has a complex history and has caused controversy with some local residents.

The building was initially approved in 2017 for a six-bed bungalow which would be an assisted living annexe to the Dene Lodge Nursing Home, and part of this approval stated that there would be no access to the building from Dunster Close.

However construction of the new building ceased in December due to the decision by Dene Lodge Nursing to use the new building for long term care of people suffering from dementia, referred from Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

The new amended proposal, which will go before the new Somerset West and Taunton planning committee at its first meeting on Thursday, May 30, is to create a larger 'hospital' with bedrooms and en-suite wet-rooms, easier access corridors for the use of body hoist equipment, which proved impossible to incorporate into the shape of the approved building.

The council's planning officers have recommended approval for the new facility, saying it complies with the adopted West Somerset Local Plan.

However Minehead Town Council responded saying it has 'strong objections' to the revised plans.

In a letter to the district council, the town council said: "This represents a substantial enlargement of the existing domestic bungalow and is not in keeping with the surrounding bungalows in Dunster Close.

"There is insufficient parking within the home for staff and visitors as it is, besides the additional staff and visitors that this extension would require.

"Finally, there have been many local objections to this development and resentment of the existing disregard of their opinions and blockages caused to the turning circle in Dunster Close by staff and visitors’ cars."

Four objections have been submitted by member of the public, however there are no objections from the highways authority, and one of the conditions suggested by planning officers is that prior to any work commencing the access to the site from Dunster Close will be stopped up by fencing and retained once the development is complete.