Plans for a new 70-home estate on a former Stoke-on-Trent hospital site have been approved.

Now the former central outpatients department site on Thornburrow Drive is set to finally be developed following a 10 year delay.

The site, which is owned by University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has been used as a car park until the multistorey car park for staff opened at Royal Stoke last year.

This comes as outline plans for the former Royal Infirmary site for 200 homes were also agreed at the same meeting.

Planning permission for homes had previously been granted on the site, however it has since expired.

Plans for the site have been resurrected and are set to include a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes, as well as a children's play area and open spaces.

Speaking in favour of development, planning agent, Michael Burrows said: "The buildings which made up the former central outpatients department were demolished in an outline scheme in 2015 for redevelopment for a scheme focused on new homes.

"This site was also subsequently used to provide temporary car parking for the trust until the new multistorey car park was opened at the Royal Stoke.

"Given the previous planning permission for redevelopment of the site has expired the trust has submitted this outline planning application for up to 70 dwellings with a focus on the delivery of new homes."

No objections from statutory consultees were received on the application. Despite this eight residents did object to the scheme over concerns of overdevelopment and traffic impacts.  

It is planned that the scheme will make financial contributions to offset the impact of future residents on the highway network. The current contribution stands at £82,000, however this could change during a future reserved matters application when another viability assessment will be done.

It is planned that any profits made from the sale of the development will be reinvested back into the trusts estate. As the current application is an outline, a more detailed application will be submitted at a later date which will contain more detailed information on the matters reserved including design of the homes and landscaping.

Councillors at Stoke-on-Trent City Council unanimously approved the scheme.