Councillors have been urged to invest in a Somerset town's struggling high street instead of turning green fields into an "unnecessary" £30m business park.

The fields next to the Old Mills Batch "volcano" just outside Midsomer Norton were first allocated as land for employment by Bath and North East Somerset Council in 2007.

Now the council is planning a local development order which would allow businesses to develop the site — known as the Somer Valley Enterprise Zone (SVEZ) — without seeking planning permission, providing they meet a design code and masterplan set out by the council.

But the fiscal benefits for businesses in the enterprise zone expired in 2022 and locals opposed to the plans have argued that the scheme is no longer needed or wanted — and could hurt businesses in the nearby towns.

When councillors on the council's corporate scrutiny panel received a briefing on the plans on January 16, Angharad Barber, who has led the campaign against the SVEZ, addressed the panel as a public speaker.

She said that there had been a net gain of almost 3,000 jobs in the area since 2011, adding: "The SVEZ proposal states it is an employment-led enterprise zone. But where is the demand for employment? The area enjoys a very low unemployment rate at just 1.8%."

Councillor for nearby Clutton and Farmborough Sam Ross added: "In both Midsomer Norton and Radstock there are retail and industrial units sat empty and in need of investment and or redevelopment.

"By encouraging businesses to use these existing spaces the council would save unnecessary greenfield development and promote sustainable transport, reduce commute times, and breathe life into towns that are not reaching their full potential of both business and local employment due to years of underinvestment"

There has been a recent outcry from the towns' high streets over the council's plans to end free parking in Midsomer Norton and Radstock, with local businesses warning it will "kill the town."

Farrington Gurney parish councillor and organic farmer Andy Jeffrey added that he was "astonished" that a new pub could be built at the SVEZ under the plans.

He said: "Nationally, the pub trade is in crisis, with over two pubs a day closing in 2023 due to higher staff and energy costs and dwindling consumer spend. Any new pub on a main road will draw existing customers away from their regular pub."

He added that road widening schemes planned as to help facilitate the development would see the road eat into valuable "grade one" organic land. With a fast food restaurant also included in the SVEZ plans, he warned: "I don't need to tell you the environmental impact of fast food packaging flung out of car windows."

Council officers said that they would make sure uses of the SVEZ did not conflict with businesses on Midsomer Norton's "struggling" high street, and said they had been in touch with several businesses interested in the site already.

Although businesses wanting to build on the site will not need planning permission, they will still need to submit a "compliance application" to show their plans are in line with the plans for the site.

The council is currently seeking just under £30m from the West of England Combined Authority to make the SVEZ a reality, council officers said.

One major cost will be the land, which the council does not yet own. It has been in negotiations with the landowner since 2019 and made several offers.

Bathwick councillor Toby Simon, who sits on the corporate scrutiny panel said: "The risk is that when you have a scheme that has been 15 years in the making it loses its relevance. But I'm not sure it has lost its relevance.

"There's a flexibility in the uses that are proposed on this site. People will still need employment in goods and in manufacturing and in sort of services that are not provided in town centre and this offers and opportunity to create employment in the area where we are getting a lot of housing […] and this is our opportunity to provide that out of centre working accommodation that will be needed."

The "Stop the SVEZ" campaign are planning a protest at Old Mills by the site on Sunday January 21 at 2pm. A previous protest in October saw about 20 people brave torrential rain to voice their opposition to the plans.