by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporter.
The 500-home scheme for Crossways has been given planning consent – for the third time.
The scheme, wrapping around the business park and on the same side of the main road as the village hall, will see 99 homes in the first phase – to be completed by 2030.
Benefits for the community include new green spaces, a new village hall and a new health centre, along with 2.5hectares for industrial or commercial uses. A similar-sized natural green recreation area will have to be provided before any of the homes are occupied.
Details for the larger part of the scheme for the 401 homes will need to come back to Dorset Council in the future for final approval.
A total of 175 of the homes will be classed as ‘affordable’.
The whole site development was last approved in 2019, but several planning policy and other changes since then, meant the scheme had to come back before councillors for a re-assessment.
Thursday’s area planning committee again approved a full application for the 99-home first phase and an outline application for the remaining 401 properties.
There were concerns during the debate about the loss of trees and hedgerows, a plea to reduce the speed limit on the main road to 30mph and to segregate traffic and pedestrians on roads which do not have a pavement.
Ward councillor Nick Ireland made a plea for the new hall to be delivered during phase one of the housing development – claiming there was no justification for a later time.
Other councillors also called for the new village hall to be provided before half the 500 homes are occupied and for a similar earlier start to the new health centre – but were told by officers that both decision were likely to come down to a discussion with the developers about whether or not they could afford to bring one, or both, forward earlier than initially agreed.
Wyke Regis councillor Kate Wheller also made the case for an earlier start on the village hall pointing out that the existing hall, already in a poor state and dating from the time of the Second World War, was likely to be unusable if the community had to wait for the scheme to be half completed.
She was also adamant about not having ‘shared’ areas for pedestrians and vehicles and asked the developer to segregate them.
Portland councillor Paul Kimber said he would have liked to have seen more energy-efficient measures for the homes, other than fitting electric vehicle charge points, a point backed by Upwey and Broadwey councillor David Northam: “Building regulations are the minimum we should look for but we should encourage the developer to do more than that to improve the sustainability of the site for the future,” he said.
Cllr Northam said he was also disappointed than only 2.5hectares was being provided for employment use.
His proposal to accept the plans was unanimously approved with the comments made during the meeting to be passed on to developers C&G Properties.
The company will contribute almost a million pounds as part of the development for various road improvements in the area together with providing a new bus stop fitted with real-time travel information.
Most of the road improvements will be within Crossways although there will also be a payment to upgrade the Dorchester A35 bypass turn off at Max Gate.
Money will also be set aside for the management of green areas within the development including a ‘natural’ green recreation area and a new ‘Village Green’.
The company say that, in all, around £3million, will directly benefit the area.
An agent for the company said that to deliver 500 homes with relatively few objections was remarkable, which he attributed to listening to councillors and the community as the plans have progressed over more than a decade.
