OUTLINE plans for a further 60 homes off Broadwindsor Road have been announced.

Representatives from Gladman Developments gave a presentation of proposals on the site off Cockroad Lane to Beaminster Town Council at their meeting last week.

These included up to 60 new homes - a mixture of sizes and types, including 35 per cent affordable –new areas of greenspace, including woodland and hedgerow, and access through Cockroad Lane and over a bridge.

The proposed site is next to the approved scheme for the development of 100 homes opposite the entrance to Buglers, north of Broadwindsor Road, but is a separate scheme.

This is also in addition to a proposed 38 homes off St James Road and Cockroad Lane put forward by Aster Homes.

The land was previously allocated in the West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Local Plan for a mixture of housing and employment, however, following a review of the local plan and since the scheme for 100 homes was approved, the remaining corner of the site – for where the 60 homes are planned – was considered no longer suitable for employment uses, something the town council does not support.

Cllr Chris Turner, chairman of Beaminster Town Council, said: “The fact that the district council has defined it as something else is not necessarily something we have agreed to.

“We do believe the economic prosperity in the town does need to be addressed and we need a balance of employment opportunity together with housing.

“We need the employment land first, that will draw in people who will want to work here, and when the housing is provided, they have the work and can find local housing which will suit.

“Do it the other way around and the housing just gets taken over by those who need housing, with no reference to the employment needs of the town.”

Members of Beaminster Society, the town’s neighbourhood plan, were also at the presentation, who said they would like to see some live/work units in the scheme – accommodation with work facilities - and would like to see shared access with the Buglers site as access through Cockroad Lane was “less satisfactory”.

Michael Dower said: “I think it is a crying shame that Buglers and Gladman didn’t work together on a single scheme, and we are living with the consequences.

“Between the two developments, this is effectively adding a whole new hamlet, or even a village to Beaminster, of people who will be of a long walking distance away from the town centre.

“They will have, within the Bugler scheme certainly and I do hope within this scheme, a sense of villagehood, green internal spaces, play areas for the children and so on, and it should somehow be made to feel like a single development still, even though it is done by two developers.”

The company is in the early stages of preparing an outline planning application for the site and will engage in consultation with residents, with leaflets already delivered to local homes and businesses.

A planning application has not yet been submitted to West Dorset District Council, but information on the plans can be seen at www.your-views.co.uk/cockroadlane