The engineering firm Roger Bullivant is to build a new link between its site at Drakelow and the A38, crossing the river near Walton Upon Trent.

Campaigners said it would run through an already-agreed conservation area.

Planners at South Derbyshire District Council approved the scheme as long as further consultation is undertaken with the Environment Agency.

Roger Bullivant, which operates out of premises close to the former Drakelow power station applied to build the bridge to have a more direct route for trucks.

Currently, and until construction is complete, the firm's lorries travel through Walton and use an old bailey bridge or use residential roads through Stapenhill, Burton Upon Trent.

A residents' association, cricket club and more than 80 residents, including the vicar, objected to the plans which they claimed would badly affect village life the setting of the cricket pitch and the church.