The final details of the controversial Foundry Lea 760-home development on the outskirts of Bridport are expected to be approved next week.

Dorset Council’s western area planning committee is being asked to look again at proposed changes to the size and position of three drainage ponds on the site.

One will be reduced in size, another moved further to the north and the third re-shaped into a more linear design.

The appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the development was approved when the committee met in August 2022 but has not been ratified by the council planning team while the changes to ponds 2, 6 and 7B have been under discussion.

If approval to the changes is agreed by the committee, as expected, council officers will then be given delegated authority to sign off the development so that the main building work can start. Some preparatory activities having already got underway, including the destruction of an ancient hedgerow last November which the developers have since apologised for.

The planning committee meeting, in Dorchester on Thursday May 18, will be told that the developers will not be given the all-clear for the 43 hectare site, off the A35, until all the outstanding items are satisfactorily resolved.

Councillors will hear that several changes have been made to the layout of the site, house types, materials and landscaping with a re-consultation resulting in nearly all the previous objections being withdrawn.

Ninety four per cent of the development will now be houses and 6% flats, with 70 per cent either three or four-bed homes. Of the overall total 302 homes will now be classed as “affordable”, 36 above the minimum level initially agreed between the council and the developers. These additional homes will be funded by Homes England.

Seventy per cent of the affordable housing will be for rent (186); and 30% share ownership (80) with 5% of the rented units classed as ‘accessible and adaptable’.

An update on revisions to the plans went on public show at Bridport Town Hall on March 1 with several visitors saying then that the scheme would overwhelm the town and lead to additional traffic problems.

The site is expected to eventually also house a care home, employment space and a primary school although these will not be part of the housing developers brief and will need further talks and separate planning consents.

The development will also include a new roundabout at Miles Cross, between the junction of the A35 and B3162 to be constructed and delivered by Highways England.

Although still widely referred to locally as Vearse Farm, the developers have named the scheme Foundry Lea.