Six years on from the initial outline approval, a 2018 bid for 42 new homes on land adjacent to the Gloucester-Bristol rail link near Cam has been given a green light by planners.

Stroud District Council has approved fine details on the completion of the project from Wain Homes. The Lister Gardens development, near Dursley, will see 42 residential dwellings on the greenfield plot, which includes open space and associated landscaping, a new access road, parking and a much-needed overflow car park for the next-door Cam and Dursley railway station.

The decision means that fine-tuning of the project has seen six years of negotiation and, as of this week, Wain Homes' website indicates that the estate and new access off Box Road now has only one remaining vacant home.

Colin Fryer, Stroud District Councillor for Cam, told Punchline-Gloucester.com that the project had been outside the local plan and had been a concern locally, given complaints of how long it had taken to be completed.

Cllr Fryer said: "Make no mistake, we recognise that we need houses and have 3,000 people on the waiting list, but it needs to be done right." Many residents of Cam had been very unhappy, he added, with the way that Box Road has been developed.

In the eight years since he had become a councillor, the route had transformed from a rural lane to an urban scene, he said, while a nearby stretch of hedgerow had been removed without permission by a neighbouring developer.

"There has also been uncertainty over the provision of additional overflow car parking for the railway station, which is part of the plan here - and we need to see that that actually happens now."

Original approval was for 29 open-market dwellings of which 10 are two-bedroom houses, 13 three-bedroom, and six four-bedroom houses, the remainder being affordable units. When expressed as a percentage, SDC's planning report stated, the house type mix broadly aligns with that which is identified in the Gloucestershire Local Housing Needs Assessment of 2019.

Much of the delay appears to have been over ecological agreement for the site. SDC said that a submitted Ecological Design Strategy initially showed that existing habitats on site amounted to 8.21 habitat units and 1.45 hedgerow/linear units.

Case officer Alena Dollimore said: "Initially, the reserved matters proposals resulted in a net loss of -2.43 habitat units. Amendments to the scheme, including an increase in the total area of species-rich and wetland grassland, additional individual trees, and greater extents of native shrub/mixed scrub planting resulted in a net loss of -1.16 habitat units.

"Furthermore, the trading summary rules were not satisfied. To satisfy the trading rules and deliver a minimal net gain of 0.49% on site would require a substantial reduction in the sealed surfaces, which would translate into a substantial loss of dwellings on site, including at least three affordable units."

Her report concluded: "Officers are therefore satisfied that the developer has demonstrated that it is not possible to deliver any gains on site without significantly impacting the delivery of housing, including affordable housing."

Concern over proximity to Network Rail's boundary has also ensured that a trespass-proof fence was installed as part of the conditions for the work.

Punchline-Gloucester.com has approached Wain Homes for comment.