80 home development for Broadmayne APPROVED

Plans for 80 new homes for the West Dorset village of Broadmayne has been given the go-ahead.

Dorset Council's approved the development, and an associated country park, despite a last-minute attempt to get the Secretary of State for housing to intervene.

Residents of the village near Dorchester, and some councillors, warned the decision could open the floodgates to other developers, claiming it ignores many key planning policies and rides roughshod over a policy not to build on sites outside of defined development boundaries.

There has been widespread opposition in the village to the scheme, to be built by the Abri housing association, claiming it will lead to a loss of good quality agricultural land; is outside the development boundary; will cause traffic problems and will mean almost everyone living there needing to use a car – making the development unsustainable.

Chickerell councillor John Worth told the area planning committee that while he favoured the promise of ‘affordable’ housing on the site, he questioned whether it would be a good place to live – in a rural area with few facilities, a poor bus service, no GP and an over-prescribed school:

“I don’t think we will be doing young people any favours by putting them in this location."

The planning committee had, at its July meeting, made a ‘minded to’ decision to give outline consent to the controversial scheme, but had deferred the final decision, to hear further information about proposed planning and legal agreements to be negotiated with the developer.

Parish councillor Karen Ellis told the planning meeting that only village residents would understand the problems the extra traffic to and from the site was likely to bring.

The parish council had asked the Secretary of State and local MP, Chris Loder, to intervene and take the decision out of Dorset Council’s hands, but had lost that argument.

Phillipa Yates, an Abri director, said the housing association intended that 100% of the homes would be affordable with the help of Homes England funding – the scheme putting £26 million into the local economy.

She said Abri were keen to work in partnership with the community and would employ as much local labour as it could during construction.

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