Plans to build 2,350 homes near Cirencester have overcome a major hurdle after Cotswold District Council and Gloucestershire County Council signed off on a Section 106 agreement with the developer.

The Chesterton Development now has outline planning permission and the development will now progress to its final stages of design and implementation.

The Section 106 agreement sets out the obligations that the developer has to ensure that community and infrastructure needs are met for any new development.

And in two exhaustive documents between the two councils and the Bathurst Development Limited, that total in excess of 200 pages, these have finally now been set.

At the heart of the agreement is the instruction that 30 per cent of the 2,350 homes must be "affordable."

Of the 705 houses earmarked as being affordable, 458 will be available for rent, with the rest sold on a shared ownership basis.

The development contains plans for 9.1 hectares of employment land and sets aside land for public realm spaces, green space infrastructure as well as a new primary school.

Green space accounts for 40.9 hectares of the site, 6.7ha of which will be as a formal park known as Chesterton Ride.

There will be a 0.3 hectare central square which will include a 1,000 square metre community centre and 250sq m sports hall, which will have three outdoor tennis courts and two mini football pitches.

The developers have also committed to £900,000 of funding to enhance sports facilities in the area.

These include contributions to a new artificial pitch at Deer Park School, the 3G surface at the Corinium Stadium, enhanced floodlighting at Cirencester Rugby Club and Cirencester Leisure Centre.

Up to 27 defined play areas are also included in the scheme as well as 0.7 hectares set aside for allotments.

The developers will also pay £212,000.77 for improvements to Cirencester town centre parking provision and £100,000 towards improvements to the town's 'public realm'.

A further £348,000 will be provided for additional healthcare provision, which includes funding for a new surgery for three GPs as part of a public service and retail development in the central square.

A further £400,000 has been committed to Cirencester College to provide extra sixth-form places that will be needed following the increase in population.

The plans for 2,350 dwellings include 60 homes for the elderly and 100 units of student accommodation.

The County Council and developers have agreed a transport plan that will see £1.8 million invested into the infrastructure needed to link the site to Tetbury Road and Spratsgate Lane.

A new bus service, hourly initially and then increasing to half-hourly as the development progresses will operate between Cirencester, the development and Kemble Railway Station.

The Section 106 agreement sets out legal obligations to ensure that all of the community and infrastructure matters are completed ahead of certain numbers of houses being built.

The outline planning permission granted by Cotswold District Council includes 69 reserved matters that must be applied by the developers.

The final layout of the development must be submitted to the council within two years for final approval. If granted work must then start within two years.