Development plans for the next stage of a sustainable holiday park have been given the go-ahead by civic chiefs.

Plans by Habitat First Group Ltd for phase three of the Silverlake holiday park scheme in Crossways were approved by West Dorset District Council under delegated powers this week.

Phase three of the development, known as Overton Island will see the construction of 28 detached, two semi-detached and two studio flat holiday units along with 26 boat stores, a 'Community' Building and bin stores, together with other operations including an access road and bridges.

Habitat First say the completed scheme, which was unveiled back in 2015 on the former Warmwell Quarry site will cover a 650-acre estate and will feature a country club, spa and 1,000 sustainable holiday homes with bosses saying the scheme will be a "key economic driver for the future of the west Dorset economy".

Meanwhile, phase one and two opened to the public in February last year with first arrivals arriving at Easter.

In a statement about the plans, a spokesman for West Dorset District Council said: "Silverlake is an ambitious project which has the potential to deliver across the full range of environmental, social and economic benefits that underpin the National Planning Policy Frameworks definition of sustainability.

"The outline application received support from all of the key stakeholders and the applicants are have concluded further pieces of technical work necessary to discharge key conditions.

"The application in question seeks approval of reserved matters - appearance, landscaping, layout and scale - for “Village 3” of the Silverlake development.

"Ideally, there are further amendments that could have resulted in an improved scheme, but the proposed details are considered to be acceptable, and the application is recommended for approval."

Warmwell Parish Council who were consulted on the application said that while it had no specific comment on the phase three application it confirmed that they were supportive of all applications at Warmwell Quarry.

Meanwhile, the Environment Agency, who were also consulted raised no concerns about the application but warned about the possible need for an environmental permit for foul drainage and also safeguards to minimise pollution prevention during construction.

Construction on-site is expected to start later this year.