Controversial plans for almost 60 new homes in a Suffolk village have been recommended for approval. 

Persimmon Homes plans for 59 homes on land to the west of Ixworth Road in Thurston will go before Mid Suffolk District Council's planning committee on Wednesday. 

The proposals, now reduced by two homes from the original 61, include 20 affordable homes - six shared-ownership and 14 affordable rent - and 39 market homes. 

They would be a mix of one, two, three, four and five-bedroom homes with open space and associated infrastructure included. 

This is the second phase of the Persimmon Homes development, the first phase being known as College Park.

A report that will go before the planning committee on October 23 outlines the parish council's concerns for the plans. 

Their statement reads: "The parish council, having considered this application further in light of the revised documentation submitted, would like to confirm that it continues its objections to this application in its current form.

"The revised layout and the reduction of two dwellings in the southern section of the site has failed to address the council’s concerns over the urban design that is now being proposed." 

In response, officers wrote: "Whilst the parish council’s preference for a looser layout is understood, the site’s narrow and geometric zig-zag shape makes it difficult to accommodate dwellings in organic arrangements at densities that are compatible with the character of development recently approved in Thurston." 

The parish council also raised concerns over the layout failing to represent the delivery of mixed communities, as the affordable housing is mainly in the western area. 

Officers said: "The concern of the Parish Council is noted but the distribution of affordable dwellings whilst not scattered liberally throughout the site is arranged in clusters that do not exceed 15 dwellings. The Council’s Housing Strategy Team has not objected." 

The report states that, while "rapid residential growth without the necessary infrastructure" is an issue, the application includes a "sizeable financial package of mitigation" to support the village, facilities and highways. 

It has recommended approval of the plans, and states there are "no reasonable or sustainable grounds for refusal."