25 new homes for Portland to be re-considered
The development was planned for land off Verne Common Road
A 25-HOME development off Verne Common Road, Portland is to be re-considered by Dorset councillors.
An identical application had previously been approved despite local objections.
The earlier planning hearing was told there were fears than some of the properties could become second homes.
Now the council say it will re-consider the proposal after receiving an update to the area’s housing supply figures and agreements not being reached with the developers on two key aspects of the consent.
This week’s Thursday’s (7th) area planning committee is being recommended to reject the application it approved by a 5-3 vote in September last year.
The site, off Verne Common and Ventnor Roads, had been used to graze horses. A previous application for eight homes on the site was agreed in 2016, but never built.
A planning officer report says the 25-home application should now be rejected because it is outside the defined development area, is only for open market homes and would result in the loss of a site of ‘incidental open space’ – making it contrary to local plan strategies, national planning policies and the Portland Neighbourhood Local Plan.
The same report also raises concerns about the effect of the development on the nearby Verne Citadel.
Councillors will be told that there has been no Section 106 agreement reached to provide affordable homes on the site with a similar position over an agreement about compensation for the loss of natural habitat.
Both were conditions which needed to be agreed before the consent was finally granted and the development allowed to start.
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.
The lone public voice in favour said the scheme would have a positive impact on the area and create jobs while those against argued that the site is outside the area for development; that brownfield sites ought to be considered first for housing and that there is no need for additional homes on Portland.
Portland councillor Paul Kimber said at the last planning committee that the site was unique and needed to be protected for the benefit of the community. He also said it was an overdevelopment of the prominent hillside location.
In a letter to the planning committee local historian Stuart Morris said the area was an important part of the local landscape and had always been excluded from building under the previous Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.
He claimed, as did Wyke Regis councillor Kate Wheller, that many of the properties were likely to end up as second homes.
Agent for the developers, Steve Hoskins, said the homes would be of high design standards, bringing people into the area which would support local businesses: “This is a carefully considered and sustainable proposal with clear community benefits,” he said.