The first week of an inquiry into a controversial development in Thornbury has come to an end.

The16-day inquiry, sitting at Turnberries Community Centre, will decide the fate of plans for 370 homes on land South of Gloucester Road.

Developer Bovis Homes launched an appeal after South Gloucestershire Council failed to reach a decision on time for the scheme.

The bodies, along with neighbouring landowner Tortworth Estate made opening submissions when the inquiry go underway on Tuesday.

Bovis Homes says its development will provide 370 much-needed homes, including 130 affordable properties, in a “logical extension” to Thornbury.

A bus service will be provided to increase its sustainable credentials, and any harm to the heritage assets in the area would not outweigh the public benefits, it said. 

Bovis Homes’ lawyer argued that the West of England Joint Spatial Plan (JSP) is at too early a stage to be relevant so the plans are not premature.

Tortworth Estates contested that the development would undermine its proposals for a new 3,000-home garden village at Buckover because it would eat into the green space separating it from Thornbury. 

Lawyer Rupert Warren said the JSP was more advanced than Bovis Homes had suggested and would continue to progress until Planning Inspector George Baird made his decision, and beyond.

That argument was echoed by South Gloucestershire Council’s representative, Suzanne Ornsby QC. 

When Bovis Homes submitted its application, the authority had a housing shortfall but a recent calculation – fast-tracked to be ready for the appeal – shows it now has enough sites allocated to meet demand. 

Despite missing the deadline to determine the application, councillors on the development control committee were asked in March 2018 what their decision would have been. They said they would have followed officer advice and refused it.

Members opposed the 'urban sprawl' in open countryside that would compromise the green gap between Thornbury and Buckover, and the impact on a number of listed properties. 

The authority said the harm to Grade II* Morton Grange and the Grade II Yew Tree Farmhouse outweighed any public benefit. 

The inquiry will resume on Tuesday and is scheduled to come to a close on March 1.

In the meantime there will be lengthy debates between the three parties, who will each bring their own expert witnesses.

Other groups including residents, councillors and campaigners will make their representations on February 1.