Plans have been lodged to build 100 homes at a site in Beaminster.

Developers The Bugler Trust has submitted a proposal for outline planning permission for 100 houses on land to the north of Broadwindsor Road.

Residents and stakeholders are now being invited to give their views on the plans, and can comment online at the Dorset For You planning portal until Wednesday (Mar14).

It will be considered by a meeting of West Dorset District Council’s planning committee at a date to be dertermined.

As well as the houses, The Bugler Trust has also requested planning permission for ‘associated infrastructure’, including a means of access to the development.

In a planning statement, the Trust sets out the need in West Dorset for more homes. It also states the proposal will deliver ‘significant benefits’, including market and affordable homes, public open space and ecological enhancements.

An archaeological assessment was carried out, which concluded that while the site was probably part of the medieval open field system around Beaminster, there is no evidence for prehistoric, Romano-British or early medieval activity in the vicinity.

The site is in the Dorset Area of Outstanding Beauty (AONB) but, according to the developers’ planning statement, the site is in a ‘relatively visually contained valley edge context, and there would therefore be no effects on the landscape beyond the immediate site context’. The site is also allocated for development in West Dorset’s local plan.

Developers also held a public drop-in session at Beaminster Public Hall in December, attended by around 40 people. A number of residents left comments at the event in support of the scheme, saying Beaminster needs to ‘develop, not stagnate’ and that affordable housing is needed, including one-bedroom accommodation.

Planners welcomed the support, adding that the exact type and mix of the houses will be determined later in the application process. But others raised concerns regarding the loss of a view and the loss of value for neighbouring properties and over the type of architecture and building materials used.

Developers have carried out a landscape and visual impact assessment (LVIA), which concluded: “Whilst there would be some substantial landscape effects at very near distances in a very localised area, and some slight effects at greater distances in the most open and remote locations, the AONB objectives would not be impacted on by the proposed development.”