A café and co-working offices next to a Bristol train station have been approved despite fears over parking.

The three-storey office block next to Patchway station on the northern outskirts of the city will include hundreds of desks and a fitness suite but only a few dozen parking spaces.

South Gloucestershire Council’s development management committee voted to permit the plans on Thursday, November 27. Estrans Developments is planning to build the offices on a long, narrow strip of derelict land north of the station. The café and gym will be open to the public.

There are few facilities in the local area and the café will be a boon to train passengers at the barren station. But locals are concerned that a lack of parking spaces will lead to chaos on the surrounding roads and the developers’ claims for how people will get there are unrealistic.

Andrew Shore, who sits on the Stoke Gifford parish council, said: “We believe the details, especially the car parking, make this application unacceptable in its current form. We believe the applicant is overestimating the use of public transport or bicycles to travel to the site.

“33 parking spaces for 400 desk spaces would mean 92 per cent of the occupants using public transport, bicycles or walking. This is unrealistically high. This will lead to issues affecting amenity and highway safety. The reality is the building is too large and needs more parking spaces.”

He added that the lack of parking spaces at the office could lead to drivers parking in the small car park next to Patchway station instead, leaving fewer or no spaces left for passengers catching a train. The station car park has 19 spaces. But developers hope the majority of people will walk, cycle or catch public transport to the new building.

Chris Dance, a planning agent, said: “This is the right form of development in the right location. I’ve been involved with the site for about nine years now, trying to bring about some form of development. It’s a visual blot on the landscape. We’re creating a highly sustainable, innovative form of development which will create a vibrant place for people to work.”

Rob Williams, from the developer, added: “The site is immediately adjacent to a mainline railway station that provides a fast, efficient and high-capacity alternative to private cars, for travel for commuters across the region. There is also the prospect of further service improvements through regional rail plans.

“There is access to both Metrobus and local services connecting the site to key residential areas and employment centres across the Bristol urban area. All these stops are within a five-minute walk. There is a wide-range of cycle routes and facilities such as showers, lockers and cycle storage will support cycling to and from the site.”