COTSWOLD District Council (CDC) has been urged to defer further consideration of an outline planning application for 2,350-homes in Cirencester until it has adopted its long-awaited Local Plan housing strategy.

The application for the proposed Chesterton Farm development was submitted last January by Bathurst Developments Ltd (BDL) which, if approved, will see Cirencester's population increased by a third.

Plans for the proposed estate have been developed to coincide with CDC's Local Plan as a strategic site to take much of the government’s housing allocation for the district in one area, and protect against future speculative applications.

At a public meeting on Tuesday evening, town councillors reluctantly voted to approve an official recommendation that the development proposals detailed in the outline application are ‘acceptable’.

However, the recommendation – drafted following a CTC investigation into a variety of concerns raised by residents, including the impact on the town’s infrastructure – required that the Local Plan has been “submitted to the Secretary of State for approval” and then formally adopted before any definitive decisions are made on the Chesterton scheme.

Despite the town council’s approval, criticism was aimed at CDC over its lack of consultation regarding the initial decision to go ahead with a single strategic site approach in Cirencester.

Speaking at the meeting, deputy town mayor Nigel Robbins said: “We expected a large share of the housing need for the Cotswolds being allocated to Cirencester, but we didn’t expect it like this.

"Nor did we expect, nor were we consulted on, a single strategic site in Cirencester. And at no stage has the district council suggested that there might be a Plan B or alternative strategic sites."

He also raised concerns over the relatively short timescale proposed for the construction of the development, which will see the homes likely built at an average rate of 200 per year for 12 years from 2019.

Cllr Patrick Coleman also questioned why a proposal put forward by a different developer nearly two years ago, to build up to 2,000 homes at the Cotswold Airport site, was not considered in the same way as the Chesterton application by CDC.

At the meeting, David Jackson, representing BDL, said: “The Local Plan is due to be subject of an independent examination later this year.

"The purpose of submitting the application last year was so that the inspector would have before him all the relevant information as well as all public comments when the allocation was assessed at the examination."