Plans for a new housing development consisting of 154 homes on the outskirts of Bristol are poised for approval.
South Gloucestershire councillors have been advised to approve the project at Mulgrove Farm Village, which is part of the expansive East of Harry Stoke New Neighbourhood.
This area was released from the greenbelt and incorporated into the council's core planning strategies back in 2013.
Wain Homes, the developer behind the scheme, has already completed around half of the dwellings within its estate located north of the railway line, flanked by the Stoke Gifford bypass and B4427 Old Gloucester Road, following prior approval for a total of 327 homes alongside a primary school and nursery.
The "reserved matters" application, detailing the plans for the remaining structures, has been escalated to South Gloucestershire Council's strategic sites delivery committee due to concerns over insufficient visitor parking.
A report prepared for the committee meeting scheduled for Thursday, May 29, highlighted that the initial proposal included only 19 visitor parking spots for the 154 homes, but subsequent collaboration between planners and Wain Homes has increased this number by nine.
Despite still falling short of the council's policy requirement by three spaces, the report notes that Wain Homes had previously provided an excess of 20 visitor parking spaces during the first phase, resulting in a net surplus of 17 across the entire development.
The report highlighted that the council's self-build officer had raised concerns due to insufficient information, yet a prior agreement compelled the developers to deliver these plots, so this was not sufficient to refuse permission.
It noted that an initial condition from the outline consent had earmarked 37 dwellings as "affordable", with the developers affirming their commitment to contribute an extra 20 homes.
The document stated: "Through extensive negotiations with the applicant, revisions and additional information have been received.
"There are some very limited matters that have not been resolved, and these need to be considered in the planning balance.
"This includes the minor outstanding landscaping and public open space details, and the lack of details regarding the self and custom build plots.
"Nevertheless, this report has assessed each of these instances and it is not considered that any significant harm would arise.
"As such, officers consider the weight applied to these matters should be very limited in nature.
"The main benefit of the scheme is the provision of 117 market homes and 37 affordable homes.
"This is given significant weight in the planning balance.
"It is considered that the benefits of the development clearly and demonstrably outweigh the harms."
