Chickerell farm refused permission to house shipping containers

Dorset Council say it's 'unacceptable' in a rural area

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 9th Aug 2023

An application to site more than 100 shipping containers on a farm at Coldharbour, Chickerell has been refused.

Dorset Council say the use of the land for up to 109 containers at Coldharbour Farm would be unacceptable in a rural area – affecting nearby residents.

Local councillors, the town council, Weymouth Civic Society and three people living in the area had raised concerns about the proposal.

The Chickerell Town Council objection said:

“It is an over industrialisation of a rural area. Councillors are very concerned about the increase in traffic that this would cause on what is a rural road with no pavements, thus affecting the safety of pedestrians.”

A planning case officer report said there has already been a number of unauthorised containers on the site with the Environment Agency currently investigating materials which appeared to have been left on the land.

The report said that the likely use of the containers, for storage and distribution, could generate a large volume of traffic in a relatively tranquil location, over seven days each week, concluding:

“The scale, extent and design of this scheme is unacceptable for a range of reasons including visual impact, ecological impact, lack of a suitable existing building, and likely impacts on residential amenity. Hence the scheme is contrary to a range of policies.”

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