North Somerset Council has given Yatton Parish Council permission to carry out tests on a potential new cemetery site, after years of uncertainty about the project’s future.

The parish council has wanted to build a new cemetery in Mendip Road for several years, as its graveyard near St Mary’s Church has been near to capacity for some time.

However, it withdrew a planning application for the site in 2015 after the Environment Agency raised concerns about the planned cemetery possibly polluting controlled waters nearby.

Plans to create a new cemetery have stalled since then, but the parish council will now be able to carry out ground investigations in line with the Environment Agency’s advice, after a licence to carry out this work was granted by North Somerset on March 9.

Parish council clerk Aleana Baird told the Times the council intended to start the work imminently.

Ms Baird said: “We have to carry out the assessments over the course of a year and once the analysis has been completed, we will obviously hope the Environment Agency looks favourably on the site.

“We have been very robust in the tests that are to be done.”

Ms Baird also revealed the parish council intended to submit a new planning application for the site, which could hold up to 1,750 adult graves, while works are carried out. It would then apply for the final reserved matters stage of the planning process, which would need to be approved before any work can start.

She added: “Depending on the results of the investigations and the Environment Agency’s response to them, we would then progress onto the detailed stage of reserved matters in the planning process.”