CONTROVERSIAL plans to build hundreds of homes on former green belt land north of Poole have been approved.

BCP Council's planning committee unanimously agreed to grant outline planning permission for the Magna Road scheme on Thursday, despite warnings there were "major flaws" with its traffic modelling.

Councillors said the Bearwood development would be "as good as it gets" and welcomed the "huge" contribution it would make towards meeting its housing target.

The 79-acre site in Knighton, just north of Magna Road, forms 80 per cent of a former green belt plot allocated in the Poole Local Plan for more than 800 homes.

WH White Limited submitted its outline application in early 2019, saying its plans would make "efficient use" of the site and that there was a "chronic undersupply of housing" in the area.

It calls the development Canford Park.

Its application included the provision of 695 homes, 40 per cent of which would be ‘affordable’, and a new community hub with a care home and retail space.

The plans were supported by both Dorset Chamber of Commerce and Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership.

But they drew heavy criticism from people living in the area with more than 300 people writing in objection to the scheme.

As a result of the opposition, and because council planning officer Steve Dring had recommended it be approved, the proposal was brought before the planning committee on Thursday for a decision.

Speaking at the meeting, former Poole councillor Marion Pope said the application "did not comply" with the local plan because parts of the development fell on green belt land.

And Stephanie Thorne, of Bearwood Action Group, raised concerns about the impact the development would have on traffic, saying the decision was being made on "unproven assumptions" that new residents would walk, cycle or take the bus instead of their private cars.

Despite this, the planning committee agreed unanimously to approve the application.

"This is a place where there will be a development at some point, regardless of whether it's this application or another," councillor Toby Johnson said. "Therefore, it's about picking the right one that comes forward."

"I think this is as good as it gets for a community in this area."

He said any traffic issues could be worked on during the construction of the new estate, which is expected to take several years to complete.

Committee chairman, councillor Dave Kelsey, said the development would be lead to "huge" progress being made in the council hitting its housing target.

A proposal by Cllr Johnson that outline planning permission be granted, in line with the recommendations made in Mr Dring's report, was supported unanimously.

Reserved matters applications for specific details of the development will now need to be submitted and approved by the council before work can start.

Should these be agreed, construction will mostly be carried out by Taylor Wimpey while "a specialist delivery partner" will build the care home.

It said construction would create 249 jobs while it would indirectly support a further 226 each year.