A PRIVATE dental clinic in Bishops Lydeard with nearly 300 people on its waiting list is planning to expand to meet demand.

Ulrich Nieuwenhuis has applied for planning permission to convert a flat above Church House Dental Clinic into a dental surgery and dental laboratory.

A submission to Somerset Council says the proposals could lead to the business, which was set up seven years ago, taking on two more dentists, two hygienists and two dental nurses.

A statement accompanying the application says: "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."