North Somerset Council has adopted the Joint Local Transport Plan (JLTP).

Councillors voted 14 to two in favour of the revised plans at Weston Town Hall on Tuesday.

The JLTP, a multi-billion-pound transport scheme, will work to link North Somerset with other areas across the South West through walking, cycling and public transport routes.

The project will connect Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, and projects worth £8.9billion are set to be completed by 2036.

A network for Weston to link the Weston Villages developments and the M5 Junction 21 Enterprise Area is also proposed, while a new junction 21A on the M5 and a 'multimodal transport corridor' linking the junction and the A38 with a bypass for Banwell has been mooted.

At the meeting, North Somerset proposed to amend the plans to remove three link roads near Tickenham, Clevedon and Nailsea.

The authority also addressed the need to improve transport links along key roads, including the Clevedon-Nailsea-Bristol corridor.

Concerns about smart motorways were raised by both Weston and Tickenham road action groups during the meeting.

Weston group spokesman Geoff Mills expressed 'grave concerns' about the introduction of smart motorways without hard shoulders and said the risk to vehicles being involved in accidents on the M5 at junctions 18, 19, 20 and 21 is 'high'.

The Department for Transport and Highways will review the scheme after a 'number of incidents' caused 'concern' about the safety of smart motorways.

North Somerset also said improving transport links to Bristol Airport was 'crucial' regardless of its expansion plans and would work in the short term to provide more buses and coaches to the site.

Mary Short, representing campaigners in Congresbury, Churchill and Langford, previously said the JLTP was conceived 'before the four councils pledged to be carbon neutral by 2030'.

A decision about the amended plans are due to made by Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset councils on March 20.