The company which cleans bed linen at Butlin’s is relocating – with new flats and retail space being built in its current location.

Julian’s Laundry Service currently operates out of its base on Market House Lane in Minehead, with 34 people being employed there.

The company is in the process of relocating to larger premises on Mart Road, to meet the increased demand not only of the holiday camp but the area’s many hotels.

Once the relocation is complete, its former base will be demolished and replaced after plans were approved by Somerset West and Taunton Council.

Each of the flats would be one-bedroom dwellings, with four being on the first floor and the remaining three on the second floor, while the ground floor will be reserved for offices, retail space or a cafe.

The applicants originally wished to turn the nearby White House into a further six flats, but this element was subsequently removed from the application.

Planning officer Alex Lawrey said: “This will be a car-free development – there is no associated car parking. Instead, there is an area earmarked for cycle parking.

“There are at least four public car parks within less than a five-minute walk from the site.”

Julian Bloys, who runs Julian’s Laundry Service, said allowing his business to relocate less than a mile away would create more local jobs.

He said: “As a business, we currently produce in excess of five million pieces of linen annually, much of which comes from one of Minehead’s main tourist facilities – this being Butlin’s.

“As UK holidays in places such as Butlin’s continue to be increasingly popular, the demand for commercial laundry facilities has increased.

“As a business, we have therefore found that our current aged and small premises has become unsuitable for commercial laundry use.

“As a resident of Minehead, it is extremely important to me that my business remains in Minehead. My business has begun a partial relocation to Mart Road.

“Full relocation will enable us to double our capacity for commercial laundry demand and provide a further 20 additional jobs on the Mart Road site.”

A further 19 additional jobs are expected to be created in the new office or retail space on the ground floor of the Market House Lane site.

Councillor Andrew Sully raised concerns about the design of the new building, stating its eastern side resembled “a prison” and could impact on Minehead’s conservation area.

He said: “The proportion of the windows in the locality should be respected – at the moment, they look like little slits.

“If today we were proposing to do this sort of design at Corfield Hall in Taunton, next to the church, we’d all be up in arms, as it’s not in keeping.”

Councillors voted earlier on the same meeting to approve plans by the Taunton Heritage Trust to turn the disused Corfield Hall on Magdalene Street into 11 new almshouses.

Councillor Sue Buller disagreed, stating: “I actually like the design – but it may well be because I’ve spent a lot of my time around the London Docklands area and seen how things developed there.

“This isn’t a business that’s closing down – it’s a business that’s relocating and expanding its workforce. Looking at the existing building at the moment, it doesn’t fit – it’s got a metal roof that’s not fit for purpose.”

Councillor Roger Habgood added: “This is meeting the housing need – there’s no doubt about that. This is good stuff, because the local housing need in Minehead is asking for these kinds of units to be built.”

The committee voted to approve the plans by a margin of nine votes to three, with one abstention.