A former clay pit near Swadlincote is set to be turned into a site for more than 300 homes.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey applied for permission to restore the site off Church Street in Church Gresley a couple of months ago - and now South Derbyshire District Council officers have recommended that the plans are approved.

A decision will be made by councillors at a meeting on Tuesday, November 9.

Once remediation is carried out, 306 homes are due to be built on the former clay pit, between St George's Primary School and Gresley Woods, with the council already granting approval for an outline scheme.

A detailed application to tie together the final parts of the development are to be decided later this year.

Nine households have submitted objection letters opposing the plans with opposition largely focusing on the impact that construction traffic would have on the surrounding roads around the site and footpaths across it.

The application also seeks to create a new site access off Rockcliffe Close, with temporary construction access through a narrow lane to the west of the site, which leads onto Church Street, past homes and a small industrial estate.

It also includes the construction of the roads for the new estate and flood mitigation and drainage works around the 30-acre site.

Objecting residents wrote: "This lane is crossed by elderly residents on Church Street, members of the congregation of Gresley Church, workers on the industrial estate, dog walkers and visitors to the National Forest and the most vulnerable group is the school children.

"Lots of children use this bridleway to get to and from school – proposal puts their and many others lives at risk, this is used as a walkway through to the National Forest.

"Mount Pleasant Road must be unaffected by the proposed development as there are a number of businesses and houses that rely on this for access.

"The driveway will be significantly damaged by construction traffic, it would make more sense to use the main site access throughout the build."

A report submitted by Taylor Wimpey says vehicles will not be permitted to park on Rockcliffe Close or any other residential roads or grass verges near the site at any time.

The main route into the site would be Rockcliffe Close but early access for large vehicles would be through the small lane leading to Church Street.

The developer says it will take an estimated 40 weeks to prepare and reprofile the site – level it out and make it fit for development – if there are good weather conditions.

It says construction would take place from 7.30am until 6pm on weekdays and from 7.30am until 1pm on Saturdays, with no work on Sundays or bank holidays.

Council officers say that construction would be allowed until 2pm on Saturdays.

Recommending approval, officers wrote: "The proposed development would seek to carry out remediation works, engineering works and ground works and install relevant infrastructure to facilitate the further development of up to 306 dwellings in the future

"The proposed development would ensure the quickened delivery of a designated housing allocation, which in turn, would assist in the long term with the council's five-year housing land supply.

"Whilst certain levels of disruption are unavoidable, it would be necessary to mitigate the impacts as much as possible."

The cost of remediating the site is the reason why the initial developers, St Modwen Developments and Beepart Ltd, said they could not afford to build any affordable housing.

However, they did agree to contribute £1.8 million for improvements and expansion plans at the primary school and at Pingle School, along with half a million pounds for a new community facility at Gresley Football Club.

Part of the site will also be set aside for the primary school expansion.

It was also agreed that £80,000 would be paid out for the building and maintenance of ponds to gather flood water.

The developer agreed to give half a million pounds to the district council to build 12 affordable homes elsewhere, instead of the 46 initially promised on the site.

Taylor Wimpey submitted a separate reserved matters application in May which seeks to tie up the details of the overall 306-home scheme, including the designs of the proposed homes.

The detailed application says that 60 homes would be two-bed, 162 homes would be three-bed and 84 homes would be four-bed.