DEVELOPERS will be asked to provide details of how they will deal with water run-off when building 320 homes in Lydney after concerns were raised about flooding issues caused by similar schemes.

Councillors granted permission to build the homes between Lydney Bypass and Naas Lane at a planning committee meeting last Tuesday (December 14) after they were assured that attenuation measures put in place on other developments had successfully prevented the run-off of excess water.

The application from Robert Hitchins Limited had previously been discussed at last month’s committee meeting, but was deferred until a site visit could be completed after concerns were raised about drainage issues at the site.

Lydney has been flooded several times in recent years, particularly in the areas surrounding Lakeside Avenue, which is near the development site.

Ward councillors James Bevan, Alan Preest and Claire Vaughan had all previously spoken in opposition to the scheme, with Cllr Bevan saying in November that the plans contained no suggestion that the drainage system would be improved to accommodate the new homes.

But the council’s development officer, Mr Clive Reynolds, explained that the amount of water coming onto the site from the area above, which has already been developed, had slowed because of measures put in place.

He said the developers would be asked to provide a "detailed" drainage scheme during construction so that the water flow can be effectively managed.

"The one area where we did experience problems with run-off in the Lydney area recently has been during the construction phase", Mr Reynolds told the committee.

"People have stripped out the sites and piled up soil while they are doing their development and that alters the way the water runs, it is not permeating down and perhaps flowing in a different direction.

"As a consequence of that and various meetings with Lydney Town Council and the drainage people, particularly in the Lydney area we now propose a drainage condition that asks them (the developers) to provide a detailed drainage scheme during construction so they are managing the water flow while they are doing the building works."

He added: "A developer can’t be asked to fix existing drainage problems but, because of the need to take into account climate change, the amount of water retention they have to deliver is not just the existing water run-off rates it is a higher rate."

Cllr Bevan commented: "Constituents are concerned about drainage - I have more confidence in it now.

"It is not going to improve what is there but the attenuation has worked on the sites above."

As well as the homes, outline plans for the development, which was labelled the biggest the authority has seen for several years, include a local shopping centre, land for employment and a new road from the bypass to the 51.1-acre farmland site.

Councillors voted to approve the scheme by 12 votes with one abstention, subject to planning officers securing contributions of more than £2.8 million from the developers for facilities including education, libraries, highways and transport.