A surprise delay has held up the final decision on the 760-home Foundry Lea development on the outskirts of Bridport.

It had been expected to be debated and decided at Thursday's Dorset Council area planning committee meeting held in Dorchester.

Committee chairman Cllr David Shortell told the meeting that the item had been removed from the agenda and would not be discussed "for technical reasons."

He did not explain what the reasons were in and further detail and was not questioned on his announcement by councillors at the meeting.

A request to Dorset Council for further information has not been responded to at the time of writing.

The next scheduled meeting of the committee is in the diary for June 15.

The committee had been due to look again at proposed changes to the size and position of three drainage ponds on the site and, subject to agreement on that, delegate agreement to officers for the approval of the overall scheme.

It had been proposed that one pond would be reduced in size, another moved further to the north and the third re-shaped into a more linear design.

The appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the development was approved when the committee met in August 2022 but had not been ratified by the council planning team until the changes to ponds 2, 6 and 7B were agreed by committee.

It had been expected that, subject to the agreement on the ponds, council officers would then be given delegated authority to sign off the development so that the main building work could start.

The proposals for the 43 hectare site, off the A35, have been controversial with several changes been made to the layout of the site, house types, materials and landscaping with the most recent re-consultation resulting in nearly all the previous objections being withdrawn.

Ninety four per cent of the homes will now be houses and six per cent flats, with 70 per cent either three or four-bed homes.

Of the overall total, 302 homes will now be classed as 'affordable', 36 more than the minimum level initially agreed between the council and the developers. These additional homes were due to be funded by Homes England.

Seventy per cent of the affordable housing will be for rent (186); and 30% share ownership (80) with 5% of the rented units classed as 'accessible and adaptable'.

An update on revisions to the plans went on public show at Bridport Town Hall on March 1 with several visitors saying the scheme would overwhelm the town and lead to additional traffic problems.

Although still widely referred to locally as Vearse Farm the developers have named the development Foundry Lea.

The housing site will include a new roundabout at Miles Cross, between the junction of the A35 and B3162 due to be constructed and delivered by Highways England.