A planning refusal for 55 homes on a site claimed to be Wimborne’s last area of Green Belt is being appealed.
Over a hundred residents objected to proposals to build on the site off Birchdale Road between Wimborne Minster and Colehill.
Dorset councillors then refused the outline, or ‘in principle’ planning application, for the site, also known as Leigh Farm Field.
Developers, Nightingale Land, have now lodged an appeal to the Secretary of State against the council’s decision, the appeal to be arranged by the Planning Inspectorate’s regional office at Bristol.
Nightingale Land described the site as a 5.5 hectare “irregular shaped field of rough grassland, which is un-grazed and has not been used as arable farmland in recent history.”
A report with the planning application said the field is of low agricultural quality because of wetness or problems in working it, including a steep slope to the north of the site.
It lies between Leigh Common and Wimborne town centre, which is said to be a 15-minute walk away along the B3073.
The developers claimed the site could be used for a mixture of homes, including bungalows and self-build plots with open spaces and new recreational routes for walkers and cyclists.
Among the claims, made is that the site could deliver 50 per cent of the homes as “affordable” – which one resident claimed was unlikely to be delivered.
In submissions to Dorset Council a resident from Greenhill Close told the authority’s planning team: “We need to preserve the green belt areas between Wimborne and Colehill. Wimborne has built thousands of new houses recently with no sign of infrastructure additions to cope with the extra capacity.”
Others claim the access to the site, as proposed, would be dangerous and would add unacceptable levels of traffic onto already busy local roads.
At the time of the application, the then ward councillor for Colehill and Wimborne Minster East, Maria Cole, said the site is inappropriate for development, situated on a blind bend, and would lead to ‘extreme disruption’ for residents of Birchdale Road.
She said in her objection that the draft Dorset Local Plan placed a high priority on maintaining the separate identities of Wimborne Minster and Colehill and argued that if extra housing is needed there are brownfield sites at The Pippins and the former East Dorset Council offices at Furzehill which could be developed, together with empty shops and offices in the area.