PLANS for a new two-storey McDonalds restaurant at Dunball Roundabout have been given the green light.

The plans include a new fast-food restaurant, approximately 600m from the junction 23 of the M5.

The proposed McDonald’s restaurant is expected to employ more than 65 full and part time staff.

A McDonald's spokesman said: "With the exception of the management team, almost all of these will be recruited from the local community."

The proposals include a 48 space car park.

"Access will be directly from the existing road from Dunball Roundabout and a new pedestrian access point is proposed, linking to the existing pathway along the A38."

The two-storey McDonald's restaurant is planned on land to the south of Dunball Mill.

This is the first of three major applications submitted for Dunball Roundabout which will undergo major changes if all three are approved.

As well as the new McDonald's, plans have also been submitted for two new petrol stations, a hot food drive-thru, a coffee drive-thru and a series of industrial units.

A lot of this development will help service the workers who use the Park and Ride opened in February.

The J23 Park and Ride has parking for up to 1,500 vehicles so workers can travel to and from the Hinkley Point C site by bus.

The facility can also handle up to 85 HGVs, enabling smaller loads to be bulked into larger single loads to reduce the number of lorries delivering to the site.

The other outstanding applications include a petrol station located to the North West of Dunball Roundabout, which will include a car wash, and five industrial units across three buildings.

The 2.25 hectare site is an agricultural field of an irregular shape and has not been previously developed.

The final application is for a petrol station, two drive-thru units, trade units and parking on a 3.2 hectares to the north east of Dunball Roundabout.

Combined, the new hot food drive-thru, coffee drive thru and petrol station are expected to create up to 80 new jobs, meanwhile the new trade counters will also provide 'an unquantifiable but large number of new employment opportunities' according to the developer.