A DEVELOPER whose plans for 72 retirement flats beside the river were blocked has come back with a new application.

Churchill Retirement Living wants to build the homes on the former Lidl site fronting onto the River Tone, opposite Goodland Gardens.

The company is already appealing against Taunton Deane Borough Council's decision this summer to refuse a previous application.

The application is for homes for people aged 60 and over, a guest apartment, communal facilities including a lounge and a video entry system linked to residents' TVs, car parking and landscaping.

A lodge manager would provide "assistance and security" to owners of the apartments on Tangier Way.

The previous application was turned down as the design was deemed by councillors to not be of a sufficiently high standard.

The currently fenced off site has been vacant since the former Lidl building was demolished shortly after the store closed in December 2015, when the discount store opened a new outlet 100 metres down the road.