by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
NEW plans have been revealed for 57 homes on the Crown Gate site at Poundbury.
The area had previously been earmarked for a 76-home ‘extra care’ retirement complex which dates back to 2017 but has never been built.
It remains one of the last un-developed plots on the Duchy site and is adjacent to the cemetary and Great Field.
Dorchester town councillors have backed the outline proposal for the homes plan, which will include 35per cent ‘affordable’ properties, many one-bed flats and smaller homes in terraces.
They were shown the plans, from Places for People, a not for profit housing company, at a meeting on Monday evening.
Places for People senior south west planning manager Mathew Besant outlined the proposals to town councillors and a handful of Poundbury residents.
Some at the meeting were critical of the housing mix being suggested and unhappy that the site, close to the Poundbury cemetery, shows no vehicle access to the Bradford Peverell Road.
Cllr Stella Jones told the meeting that it was” not very green” of the Duchy to insist on no direct vehicles access to the site to and from the road, forcing people who will live there to drive through the Poundbury estate.
The meeting heard that the initial Poundbury masterplan had included a road access at that point, but it was dropped before any building got underway, because the narrow road is considered unsuitable for any increase in traffic.
Mr Besant said there would be a footpath which could also be used by cyclists onto the Bradford Peverell road, adding that there was a reluctance to press again for a road access in the area, given long-standing opposition from the Duchy and Dorset Council highways officers.
Other criticisms of the new proposals was that most of the social housing being proposed for the site was ‘lumped together’ adjacent to existing social housing on an adjoining site – also against Duchy design guidelines.
Mr Besant said although he did not accept that argument over the massing of affordable homes he said he would ask designers to look again at the layout if it was felt it did go against Duchy principles.
The developers will have to prove they can achieve a minimum 10 per cent biodiversity for the site before it can go ahead, assuming Dorset Council is prepared to approve the change of use for the site, which had been earmarked for only 50-plus accommodation.
Mr Besant said that most of the proposed homes will be no more than three storeys, lower than the previous development, which proposed some buildings up to five storeys. He said the designs would be similar to those found elsewhere on Poundbury.
A small area of open space, described as “a parklet”, likely to include a viewing platform and benches, is being proposed adjacent to the cemetery and looking towards Poundbury hillfort, a scheduled ancient monument on the other side of the Bradford Peverell Road.
Heating for the new homes will be by air source units coupled to underfloor heating, which Poundbury councillor Richard Biggs welcomed, also requesting solar panels, something which the Duchy has always rejected. Cllr Les Fry asked the developers to also consider a rainwater harvesting system for the homes.
Cllr Molly Rennie said she believed too many one-bed properties were being proposed for the site but was told that Dorset Council has advised the developers that there was a need for smaller homes. She also argued for lifts in the three-storey homes, but was told the cost was likely to make that un-economic.
The current proposals include nine 1-bed flats and eleven 2-bed terraced houses.
Poundbury residents, who attended the town council meeting, also asked for consideration for a café or bar in the area, describing that section of the development as a ‘cultural desert’ compared to nearby Crown Square.
A consultation meeting is being promised with residents in the New Year when the plans are expected to be submitted to Dorset Council.
The previous plan, for extra care housing, which might have created up to 50 jobs, had raised some concerns from Historic England about the scale of the development saying it would have an impact on the setting of nearby Poundbury Camp hillfort and the open rural area beyond that – but planning officers decided it would cause less than substantial harm when weighed against the benefits of the proposal.
Mr Besant said that smaller homes had been proposed for the current development in the light of those concerns.
