A MAJOR housing plan for a huge green belt site has had its outline application approved.

Christchurch's planning committee voted to approve the outline plan for the proposal to build 875 homes on Thursday night.

The 'urban extension' site is just north of the A35 between Somerford and Hinton and has been in development for more than a decade.

At the meeting of Christchurch's planning committee, the outline application was considered with details of the means of access for a new and integrated neighbourhood to the north of Christchurch.

The access proposals comprise new access to Lyndhurst Road, a new eastbound access on the slip road to the A35 Christchurch Bypass and new access to Hawthorn Road.

Planning officers recommended the approval of the application from planners Taylor Wimpey, partly due to its alignment with the Christchurch and East Dorset Core Strategy adopted by the council in 2014.

The adopted strategy set a requirement for approximately 8,490 new homes in the area by 2028 and planning officers said that this plan would make a significant dent in that.

Planning officers also felt the development posed limited harm to the environment in an area that does not have high ecological value.

The site will provide at least 27% affordable housing, which goes some way to hitting the council's target of 35% from 2014.

Despite concerns from some councillors that the new houses would cause extra traffic in the area, planning officers assured the committee that this would not be a major issue.

Officers said that research has shown the traffic flow at the Stony Lane roundabout would be near identical in the area by 2028 if the plans go ahead.

On this, Cllr Trevor Watts asked the planners to consider starting work on the Stony Lane roundabout before building the properties as he feels this is a crucial access point for the borough.

However, the applicants are under no obligation to do so. It is not until approximately 300 homes are built that work would need to start on the roundabout, as that is considered to be enough houses to cause a significant increase in traffic.

There were also concerns at the meeting about a lack of health care facilities on the site, but officers outlined that Dorset CCG have not objected to the plan and would not be able to staff a new facility.

Instead, the plan has committed £55,000 to the NHS to add 20 new parking spaces at Burton and Bransgore surgery and Highcliffe Medical Centre to deal with more patients.

A lack of schools in the area was also an issue for some councillors, but again the officers outlined that existing schools have the capacity to accommodate the new pupils. Somerford Primary School and The Grange School are said to be within walking distance of the site. Officers said that DCC Education does not object to the plan and accepts that a new school is not needed. It is also worth noting that the outline plan includes a contribution of nearly £2.9 million to education facilities in the area.

Another concern about the plan is that the over ground power pylons will need to be moved underground. It was confirmed at the meeting that no works would be able to start before this change was made and a representative from Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) said the company were neither for, nor against the plan. Talks are said to be underway between the developers and SEPD about the pylons.

After the councillors' questions to the planning officers and the debate, the outline application was carried by five votes in favour to one against, with two abstentions.

Cllrs Watts, Smith, Spittle, Grace and Geary were the votes in favour. Cllr Hall voted against the outline plan, whilst Cllrs Mr and Mrs Jones abstained from the vote.