North Somerset Council consults over Weston Villages lake plan
A public consultation into plans to build a large lake as part of a wider housing scheme in Weston-super-Mare is due to get under way.
A 22-hectare lake is needed to prevent flooding of the proposed Weston Villages which is in a flood-risk area.
The lake would also protect existing houses along the River Banwell and Uphill Great Ryhne.
It has been estimated to cost around £10m and would be paid for by the Weston Villages housing developers.
Regeneration manager at North Somerset Council, Rachel Lewis, said: "It will need to eliminate the flood risk from the new developments.
"The intention is to also remove some of the flood risk from houses which are currently downstream along the Uphill Great Rhyne and through areas of Old Mixon and Uphill."
A second consultation event will be held in July and a formal planning application is expected to be submitted around August.
The Weston Villages development has been approved in the council's core strategy plans for the next 20 years and could see up to 6,000 homes built in the south-east of the town.
The public information session will be held in the Campus, Locking Castle, from 14:00 to 19:00 GMT.