MAJOR plans for a new housing development in West Parley have undergone significant changes ahead of submission.

The scheme for 386 homes, shops, offices and a new food store have been submitted to East Dorset District Council.

And there are also plans for a link road, designed to 'reduce traffic from Parley Crossroads', applicant Lewis Wyatt construction said.

The outline application for land east of New Road comes after a major consultation exercise by Wyatt Homes last year.

More than 850 people attended the consultation event, with many raising concerns about the scheme.

These included the extent of the development, the lack of infrastructure, use of the greenbelt and food store.

Now, the number of homes have been reduced from 420 to 386.

Other changes have seen the plan for a hotel removed, an increased public square and revised building layout to integrate better with the existing local centre in New Road.

More room has been given for parking, turning, servicing, refuse and emergency services and the proposed food store has been moved to a different position.

This is so the building doesn't dominate the street scene, a design and access statement says.

The layout has been changed so there is a "feathered edge", which will allow for green corridors and open space buffers.

And the proposed link road between New Road and Christchurch Road will have a 30mph limit, a shared pedestrian and cycle route.

The design and access statement says: "Both New Road South and Christchurch Road East will experience a material decrease in traffic."

Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group have said if the application was approved, they estimate a population increase of 930.

They have called for a financial contribution to fund the additional NHS infrastructure which will be needed.

Residents have already started to respond to the application, with a handful registering their objections.

Issues include the access and flooding concerns.

One resident has said: "The traffic situation around Parley Cross is already dire - traffic queueing all the way down New Road to Northbourne for two hours every morning and the same in the evening.

"Such a large additional development will make this worse and I don't believe the proposed relief road will help much."