A HOTLY debated develop-ment in a leafy Ferndown street has again been put on the backburner after a year of wrangling with planners.

The developer, Moorcross Homes, already has planning permission to build six flats on land at Beaufoys Avenue, despite local objections, but work was halted last year after it was discovered conditions on the permission had not been met before work started.

A tree was removed without consent and work was begun before the council had received details of landscaping to be carried out.

Last week, after long-running negotiations between the developer and East Dorset District Council planning officers, another application went before the council's planning committee but was deferred after members heard full landscaping details had still not been received.

Planning officer Neil Lancaster told councillors: "There have been a number of meetings with the applicant since work was stopped and it is almost there. This is essentially the same applica-tion that you approved in March."

Beaufoys Avenue is within an area of special character, where individually designed houses are set in large plots of land in a distinctive setting surrounded by a range of varieties of tree.

Neighbours object to the new flats on the grounds of overcrowding, increased traffic, devaluation of other homes and worries about trees.

Queenie Comfort, district councillor for Ferndown central, said: "I have said many times before that Beaufoys Avenue is an area of special character. When there was a site visit, 30 or 40 residents supported the refusal of this plan but it was approved. I want to ask how confident you are that the 10 conditions will be met this time."

Cllr Derek Burt said: "I worry that we have still not got the landscaping details from this applicant. We are being asked to approve this and then basically put it on the backburner for officers to sort out but I move for it to be deferred."

The application will be brought back to the planning committee once full landscaping plans have been received.