Dozens of new houses for US Air Force families are set to be built after councillors gave the go-ahead to a development at a military base on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

Dozens of new houses for US Air Force families are set to be built after councillors gave the go-ahead to a development at a military base on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.

Plans for 76 dwellings at RAF Feltwell were approved by the Borough Council for King's Lynn and West Norfolk this week following a request from the US government for more accommodation for American service personnel based at RAF Mildenhall, Lakenheath, and Feltwell.

The application by Defence Estates will see 44 homes built on amenity space on the Cardington Road part of the base and 32 units on an area of grassland at Blackdyke Close - also within the RAF Feltwell boundary.

The scheme, which was supported by Feltwell Parish Council and received no local objections, aims to reduce the number of American families living in rented accommodation in the area.

A supporting statement from the USAF said that the three military bases, which employ 12,300 personnel and 14,700 US dependants, have identified a housing requirement of 2,820 residential units by 2011 against the 2,352 the air force currently has in its inventory.

Councillors approved the scheme, which includes a mix of two, three and four bedroom houses for USAF families, despite the proposed Blackdyke Close homes falling outside the district council's development plan.