Call to ditch scheme for hundreds of new homes

From the Echo, first published Thursday 2nd Oct 2003.

A CONTROVERSIAL proposal for hundreds of new homes in the middle of the Dorset countryside near Dorchester could be deleted from a planning blueprint.

Purbeck councillors are being urged to throw out the Redbridge Pit proposal from the local plan and challenge the demands for housing allocation in the district in a bid to protect the countryside.

A local plan inquiry inspector had originally backed a concept of a major new estate of 600 new homes at the former gravel quarry site between Crossways and Moreton railway station, much to the dismay of villagers who oppose a development of this size.

A planning application by developers Hallam Land Management and Old Road Securities was submitted earlier this year envisaging a larger scheme of 750 homes together with commercial development.

This application will be decided at a local planning appeal to be held next year.

But developers could be faced with a major stumbling block if changes are made to the local plan.

Councillors are being recommended to throw out the Redbridge Pit proposal at a special meeting on October 7.

The council's community planning and policy manager Mark Sturgess said the authority was mindful of Government advice which said the proposal would conflict with planning policy guidance which favours urban areas for major new housing

developments. The removal from the local plan of both the idea of a major estate at Redbridge Pit and another equally unpopular development at Holton Heath would mean there would be a shortfall in the housing provision.

Dorset County Council's structure plan requires Purbeck District Council to plan for an allocation of 3,800 new homes to be built between 1994 and 2011.

Purbeck councillors have long argued that housing demands placed on the authority could not be met without inflicting serious damage on the landscape and infrastructure which makes the area so special.

More than half of Purbeck is covered by important conservation designations and any large development is likely to have a major impact.

Mark Sturgess said a forthcoming review will take a fresh look at the amount of housing appropriate for such a heavily protected area as Purbeck.

During that review the local plan - along with all the protection it offers to other sites within Purbeck - could be adopted if the requirement to provide for such a heavy allocation of new housing in the district is scaled back, he explained.

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