New plans to develop the former Countryman Pub site in Meare have been put forward.

It is four years since the owners of the site called time on the village's only pub, razing it to the ground.

The closure and subsequent demolition caused an outcry, with the owners of the pub being accused by angry villagers of destroying the heart of the village and causing incalculable damage.

Long a feature of the village, the small thatched pub was also the one-time headquarters of the Masqueraders carnival club.

Proposals to demolish part of the pub and build two houses on adjacent land were rejected by Mendip District Council planners late in 2005 and the pub closed its doors shortly afterwards.

In 2007 councillors voted to approve a scheme for four terraced and four detached houses on the site.

The scheme was given the green light despite the planning officer's recommendation that the proposal be turned down on reasons of design and inappropriate materials being used.

There had also been passionate pleas from villagers who had hoped that the site could be used to replace the pub with a community facility to help repair the village's wounds.

In July last year an application for ten houses was also approved, but they would have removed a lay-by at the from of the development

Now developers Mason Homes has submitted a new bid to develop the site with the lay-by reinstated. The houses would be situated with a terrace of six two bedroomed homes and two blocks of two three-bedroomed homes.

The terraced homes would be fitted with solar panels, and Mason Homes say that the house are intended to provide relatively low priced, modest homes which they say are needed in the village.

The application states: "This is both socially and environmentally important"