Covering an area of 333 hectares at Bertha Park, the proposed new community will include 25ha of land allocated for employment such as business parks, two new primary schools and secondary school, as well as shops, restaurants, medical, leisure and community facilities.

The project was approved by Perth & Kinross Council’s development management committee on Wednesday.

Developer Springfield Properties expects to complete the site at a rate of around 100 homes a year over the next three decades.

Phase 1 of the development will begin in 2017 with more than 1,000 new homes including private, affordable and retirement accommodation. The homes will cater for a wide range of needs with 2 bed apartments and 2, 3 and 4 bed detached and semi-detached homes. Springfield said it has taken design inspiration from Perth and the surrounding towns and villages to achieve a traditional look and feel for Bertha Park.

The development also involves a significant stage of the proposed Cross Tay Link Road with a new River Almond bridge crossing. This will link up with the reworked A9/A85 Crieff Road Junction, due for construction later this year.

Local community groups had raised concerns about the impact of potential of flooding and the developer is required to investigate the risk of flooding from the Tay and Bertha Loch.

Plans for a satellite village of up to 1500 homes in the Almond Valley were rejected at the same meeting.

Council planning officers had recommended both plans for approval to help Perth cope with a forecast population boom but councillors overruled them and instead only approved Bertha Park in principle.

Springfield managing director, Innes Smith, said the firm is “delighted” with the decision.

He added: “This is a big step forward in a 30 year project and the result of five years of planning and design in partnerships with Perth and Kinross Council. We have set our sights on delivering an exceptional place for people to live and work and we are excited to be bringing Springfield’s award winning homes to Perth. We are on track to start building in 2017, initially creating around 450 new jobs and supporting many more.”