Yesterday at a meeting in Thornbury the Strategic Sites planning committee approved the Woodlands Farm “Reserved Matters” application, with extra conditions over those proposed by officers when they originally recommended approval.

Some had objected to the very principle of development, but that battle was lost at the appeal last summer against refusal of the outline application. This application was about the detail of how the site should be developed. Issues discussed at the committee included the design of the housing along the northern boundary, the amount of trees to be planted and the pedestrian accesses into the neighbouring developments.

One extra condition was about providing broadband to all properties before they were occupied. This did not happen at The Meads; some have since had it supplied through the publicly-funded Broadband UK scheme, other households are still without it. Getting this in place protects both future residents and taxpayers’ money. The other was around the surfacing and construction of the pathways on site. The developers will have to submit their plans for the pathways to the council for approval.