Legal paperwork almost clearing the way for 118 new houses and flats to be built on green fields near a Gloucester business park has been agreed.

Developer Crest Nicholson won permission to build the homes on land near Waterwells Business Park South of Gloucester last year - subject to numerous clauses.

A legal agreement between Gloucestershire County Council and Crest Nicholson has now been put on record at the local authority which marks all but the final stage of negotiations - and developers now feel confident in predicting a date to begin work.

A spokesperson for Crest Nicholson said: "We are working closely with Gloucester City Council to complete the Section 106 Agreement for our new site at Waterwells Business Park in Quedgeley.

"Once this final stage has been agreed, the planning permission will be released for the first phase of 84 houses.

"The remaining houses lie within the boundary of Stroud District Council and it is expected that this application will be presented to the planning committee in December 2018. We expect to commence work onsite in early 2019."

It will also mean hundreds of thousands of pounds for schools in the county, as part of the agreement secures investment of almost £10,000 per house and £301 per flat for nursery schools, £3,600-plus per house and £367 per flat for Waterwells Primary School and £2,880-plus per house and £196 per flat for secondary school Severn Vale.

Part of the site off Marconi Drive - roughly 84 dwellings - is in Gloucester City Council and the rest of the properties fall into Stroud District Council.

The original letter confirming planning was granted in July 2017 and talked of 40-plus conditions which needed to be abided by - including Seagull Prevention Measures (condition 43).

From 2010 the site was listed as B1 employment land until the new permission was given for houses and flats last year - a percentage of which will be affordable or shared ownership.