OBJECTORS to a plan to build two houses in a Lyme Regis wood are calling on councillors to reject the scheme.

The controversial plans would see timber-framed chalets built in Whistler’s Wood in Pound Street in a move the developer said would preserve the future of the wood.

Landowner Quentin Craven proposes to remove unhealthy trees and replace them with new ones while making way for the two and three-bedroom houses.

The latest proposals are a scaled down version of plans to build three houses in the wood, which were withdrawn last November after wide-scale criticism in the town.

Surrounding residents held a meeting on Monday to discuss their concerns and encourage worried neighbours to make their objections known to district planners.

Franny Owen, who lives at Rose Hill which adjoins the wood, said: “I can't seriously believe that any other wood in the country has ever been preserved by development, but this seems to be the basis of Mr Craven's argument – and it's fatally flawed.”

She added: “People are really angry because he is disguising the profit motive. People think they are being patronised and being told they don’t understand and they are fed up with that.”

The Lyme Regis Society is also objecting and believes the character and quality of the area would be degraded by the development.

The society’s planning officer Stephen Wilkins imagines how the wood might look when developed. He said: “Remove half the wall, add car park, boardwalk, railings, chalets on their decking, tiny permissive gardens with planters. By no stretch of the imagination can this be termed preservation or enhancement.”

The objectors are expected to attend Lyme Regis Town Council’s planning meeting next week. The committee was due to convene last night but the meeting was cancelled as several members were unable to attend.

Mrs Owen said: “We are not going there to do battle with them, but to encourage them to make the right decision.”

The town council can only make a recommendation on the plan. The final decision will be made by West Dorset District Council.

Mrs Owen said Monday’s meeting was not just about objecting to the plans but also to discuss alternative uses for the wood.

“The wood should be available to the community and I think the formation of a trust to raise funding to buy it is a challenging but realistic proposition,” she said.

Prominent Lyme Regis botanist Sir Ghillean Prance, whose Silver Street house is above the site, agrees it is an ‘important green space for the town’. He said: “A much better use for this wood would be to make it a public space available to our community here.

“It would be a valuable and enriching resource for education and for the conservation of wildlife.”

Objectors say this would be in line with the wishes of former owner Laurence Whistler, a poet and glass engraver who the wood is named after.

Mr Whistler, who lived at Little Place in Silver Street, bought the wood in the 1960s to save it from development as a municipal car park and to ensure it was safeguarded from the threat of development.

According to the Lyme Regis Society, on his departure in 1978 he planned to gift the wood to Dorset County Council, but at the last moment the deal fell into difficulties over funding and maintenance – but not before the council had accepted five provisos, among them that the area should never be built on.

“We’d really like to talk to Mr Craven about serious alternatives that could finally return the wood to the community as Mr Whistler once hoped,” said Mrs Owen.

Comments can be made at www.dorsetforyou.com and comments will be accepted after Friday, October 9.