More than 200 new homes, shops and a drive-thru will be built in Frome, despite fears it will create "traffic chaos" on local roads.

Silverwood (Ditcheat) Ltd applied to build 235 homes and a number of commercial units on land either side of Sandy's Hill Lane, near the town's Sainsbury's supermarket.

Mendip District Council's planning board deferred a decision back in June, arguing it needed more information about the access to the site before making a decision.

But just one month later, the same plans have been approved by the same committee – despite fears about whether Frome's roads would cope with additional traffic.

The council's planning board met virtually on Wednesday evening (July 22) to discuss the plans.

Andrew Pope, co-founder of the Somerset Independents political group, described the development as "a Trojan horse" – and accused planning officers of kowtowing to the whims of the council's executive.

He said: "This is a dreadful and offensive planning application. This is employment as a Trojan horse for development.

"Residents' and organisations' concerns are being ignored – the officers' reports are drivel written under orders from Lib Dem members of the cabinet."

Committee officer Simon Trafford responded that the board was "apolitical" and that comments about the party affiliation of its members were "not relevant" to the matters being discussed.

One of the site's landowners is Philip Ham – who represents Coleford and Holcombe on the district council, and is also the county councillor for Mendip Central and East.

The commercial space on the site will include a food store, a non-food retail outlet. and a drive-thru of some description.

As part of the plans, Sandy's Hill Lane will be closed off at the eastern end of the site, near the McDonalds restaurant, with a new distributor road to the new homes and businesses being constructed.

The new homes will be built by Curo, a non-profit house-builder and housing association based in Bath, with 71 of the properties being affordable.

Councillor Helen Kay said: "We know we need to build houses, but that doesn't mean we should build in a way that will create traffic chaos.

"Since the deferral in June, the developers have done almost nothing to allay our concerns.

"I've seen queues on this road way before covid-19. I dread to think what will happen here when construction starts."

Councillor Richard Pinnock said the developers had "showed a lack of respect to local residents" by refusing to make any significant changes to the plans since June.

He went on to say: "There is a serious traffic issue on The Butts which could have been dealt with through this application. It is already a serious bottleneck."

Councillor Frances Hayden added: "If Sandy Hill Lane is the only way construction vehicles can get in and out, it's going to show how painfully inadequate that access is.

"People queue from McDonalds all the way back to the roundabout and even back towards Frome."

Somerset County Council's highways department did not object to the plans – meaning the district council would have struggled to defend any refusal on those ground in the event of an appeal by the developer.

Councillor Nigel Woollcombe-Adams said: "We might not like the county council's highways advice, but none of us here are highway engineers."

After nearly two hours of discussion, the board voted to approve the plans by a majority of eight votes to six.

A reserved matters application – detailing the designs, size and layout of the houses – is expected to be submitted before the end of the year.