25 new homes for Portland rejected
Dorset Councillors have performed a u-turn after previously supporting the scheme
Last updated 8th Jul 2022
In a surprise move, a 25-home Portland housing site, previously approved by Dorset Council, has now been rejected.
Island councillor Paul Kimber has asked the area planning committee on Thursday for the development off Verne Common Road to be rejected.
He said the site was an important area of open space in an otherwise built-up area and used by children from the Verne Common Road area to play without causing any problems.
He said to find another open site where they could “let loose” would mean them having to travel a long way and cross several roads.
Wyke Cllr Kate Wheller said she also believed the site should be refused and said that the area currently had adequate land supply for the housing.
“It’s an important open space, albeit not with full public access. There are horses grazing there and that’s a nice thing,” she said, asking that it be kept that way.
But Cllr Nick Ireland said the slight improvement to the area’s housing supply figures, which had partly prompted taking a second look at the decision, made little difference. He said that, in his view, it remained a good ‘infill’ site.
The committee voted 5-2 to follow the officer’s recommendation and reject the scheme from developers Laming and Sons.
An identical application had previously been approved despite local objections but came back to committee for a number of technical reasons including some agreements not being signed and changes to the housing supply figures.
Architect for the developers, Laurence Bowen, told councillors that the site, which includes five affordable homes, was ready to go and nothing material had changed since the last time it was agreed.
He said the only thing which had stopped the Section 106 agreements being completed was Dorset Council, which had decided not to sign them off.
Mr Bowen said the scheme would have brought a £60,000 contribution to affordable housing elsewhere as well as the five ‘affordable’ homes on the site and £16,000 to compensate for the loss of grassland.
A previous application for eight homes on the site was agreed in 2016, but never built.
A planning officer report said the 25-home application should be rejected because it is outside the defined development area and would result in the loss of a site of ‘incidental open space’ – making it contrary to a range of planning policies.
The proposed homes included two, 4-bed; fourteen 3-bed units; four 2-bed units and five ‘affordable’ 3-bed homes. Access to the site was to be off Verne Common Road on the eastern boundary and the proposed layout would have seen the homes on tiered terraces across the sloping site with 59 parking spaces and 22 garages.
Around forty people responded to the re-consulted application, all but one objecting.