A NEW home at Jesmond Farm, off Monmouth Gardens, Beaminster, could play a role in reducing crime in the area.

Dorset Council planners heard that there has been a series of burglaries at nearby Fox Joinery which might have been prevented by people living in the immediate area.

Area planning committee members approved an application for a single three-bed house on a paddock site off Monmouth Gardens despite the site being outside the defined development boundary and also within the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The home, described to the committee as ‘modest’, will be one and a half storey with dormers in the roof and the walls clad in larch boarding with a brick finish.

Planning officer said that the building would not cause significant harm to the AoNB and although just outside the building boundary was very close to nearby homes.

Beaminster town council asked for the application to be rejected claiming the site is part of the area’s flood alleviation scheme, designed to hold flood water, although the Environment Agency and Dorset Council’s environment team did not object to the home.

The committee heard that the site for the house is not within a high flood risk zone although part of the access track leading to it is classed as high risk. It is claimed that this will be taken care of by a surface water management plan and the owners will have a flood escape plan in place should the worse happen.

Landscaping work will thicken and reinforce the field boundary as part of the building work.