A NEW application for housing on the site of the former Thornlow School in Weymouth has been submitted.

It seeks to demolish part of the school building in Connaught Road and build 12 two-bed flats and a four-bed house within the grounds – three additional flats compared with the previous application.

The last plan, for nine flats and a four-bed house was approved by Weymouth and Portland borough councillors in May 2018 but did not proceed. The new application, submitted to the new unitary Dorset Council, is for an increase to 12 flats with a detached house.

Public comments on the scheme are open until May 13 with Dorset Council saying that the decision will be made at officer level. There will be no local council planning meeting until the last week of May.

Weymouth Civic Society says it has commented that the previous two applications are an over development of the site and will cause additional parking problems in the area. It is worried that the latest application may be worse.

The new full application registered with the council is in the name of Silver Arrow Bespoke Ltd from Poole.

A consultant report argues that it will not be financial viable for the developers to provide the required 25 per cent affordable housing on the site in line with council policy for sites which create nine or more homes.

Councillors were told last year that the building, with several protected trees in the grounds, plays an important part in the local street scene – a view reflected in more than 20 letters of objection at the time, including the one from the Civic Society.

The letters cited over-development of the site, inadequate parking, increased traffic, loss of privacy and light, and the harm to a building of ‘special architectural and historic interest’ in a Conservation Area.

Said the Civic Society: “The Committee considered the earlier proposals for the new blocks, to emulate the tall red-brick facade of the original building, created a heavy and overwhelming impact at odds with the surrounding conservation area. It will need to consider whether the revised plans to demolish and rebuild in a similar style offer any great improvement."

The existing building was constructed for use as a school between 1866 and 1902 and began operating as Thornlow School in 1912, being requisitioned during the war in 1940 and then re-opening in 1947. The school closed in 2015 after falling pupil numbers. It was sold on the open market for £750,000, twenty five per cent lower than it was expected to fetch.

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