A dental practice in Bishops Lydeard will be able to treat more patients very soon after plans to expand its physical base were approved.

The Church House Dental Clinic, located on West Street in Bishop’s Lydeard near Taunton, has been providing dental treatment for local patients since it was established back in 2017.

Dental practitioner Ulrich Nieuwenhuis applied in December 2023 to expand the business by converting a flat on the first floor into a dental surgery and laboratory.

Somerset Council has now approved the plans, which will allow the business to take on take on two more dentists, two hygienists and two dental nurses.

In a statement released in December 2023, Mr Nieuwenhuis said the clinic currently had around 300 people on its waiting list and that this expansion would enable more patients to be treated locally.

He said: “We already offer 134 hours per week of clinic time – and with the planned expansion, we can offer another 50 per cent more and increase our access levels to 201 hours per week.

“Our services have become an extremely popular choice for most, including disabled and elderly as we have a ground floor access with accessible parking for our patients.

“Our capacity to see our current registered patients and helping new enquiries are proving difficult due to the sheer number of new enquiries and patients in severe pain, struggling with acute infections who call us every day.

“We have started a waiting list and there are just shy of 300 people on this list who wish to wait and join our clinic, whilst we try and accommodate as much as we can in the hours, clinicians and diary capacity that we currently have.”

Bishop’s Lydeard and Cothelstone Parish Council voted to support the plans in early-January, despite concerns about a lack of car parking spaces at the northern end of the village.

The plans were approved through the delegated powers of Somerset Council’s planning officers, rather than a public decision by its planning committee south (which handles major applications in the former Somerset West and Taunton area).

The new sections of the clinic are expected to be completed and open to patients before the end of the year.