Controversial plans for 90 homes in a town have been withdrawn.

The outline application for up to 90 houses off Dottery Road, Bridport, had included preliminary details of the homes as well as amenity areas and landscaping, a play area and a sustainable drainage system. It was first submitted to Dorset Council in May and had attracted almost 50 comments, almost all against.

When asked for recommendations, Bridport Town Council made the 'strongest objections it can make' when it discussed the plans back in June. Town councillor Sarah Carney said at the time it would be 'quite devastating' for the plans to go ahead.

At least 35 per cent of the homes had been earmarked as ‘affordable’ as part of the application for the 6.5 hectare site, north of Orchard Crescent and east of the B3162 Dottery Road, from Gladman Developments of Congleton.

The details of why the plan has been withdrawn have not been made public.

Many of the objections to the site were based on its location, outside the defined development area and in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The objection letter from the West Dorset branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England summed up many of the comments made about the scheme: “The West Dorset branch of the CPRE objects to the above planning application for up to 90 houses because it is on greenfield, farm and area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) land, and because it breaches local and national planning regulations and guidelines. The development would cause irreparable harm to the landscape and environment and to the character and heritage of the town of Bridport, place increased strain on already over-burdened local services, while offering no reasonable public interest benefits in the form of genuinely affordable housing for local residents.”

Concerns were also raised about road access to the site, parking in the area and the potential risk of flooding.

Comments from the Dorset Council landscape officer said building on the site would impact on the rural character of the area while the council’s infrastructure service team said: “The roads, junctions and footpaths serving the site may be unsuitable to cater for the increased traffic and pedestrians likely to be generated by the development which would have an unacceptable impact to the condition of safety for users of the highway.”

Officers had recommended that the application be refused on a number of grounds, including that the housing it would provide was not needed in the area because of permission for the Vearse Farm scheme and other developments already approved in the Bridport area.