Merley residents launch new home development objection

The Save Land North of Merley group has submitted around 10 official objections prior to the most recent one, described by the groups chair as a “comprehensive” way to convince the case officer and planning committee that the application in its current form is a “non-runner”.

The new document objects to developer Richborough Estates’ plan to build 600 houses and a care home at Cruxton Farm in Wimborne. The Cruxton Farm fields lie adjacent to the conservation area of Canford School and Canford Magna village.

Cruxton Farm, near Wimborne, is part of the plans

Their objection summarises 12 key areas in which they believe the application fails to satisfy planning requirements, including sewage systems and sustainability.

Frank Ahern, chair of the Save Land North of Merley committee, said: “There are a number of issues that have not been addressed by developers, namely why they wish to build 600 houses when the original allocation was for 500.

“The more deeply we probe Richborough’s plans, the more we see how blindly misguided Poole Council were in allocating the land. They seem to have taken too little heed of crucial issues of traffic, of more houses adding additional run-off water into the River Stour, and of the damage that will be done to the adjacent conservation area of Canford Magna.

He added: “It is time for BCP to take a clear-eyed view of things.”

Plans are part of a government backed scheme to increase housing across the country and these plans were submitted prior to Poole Council merging with Bournemouth and Christchurch authorities to form BCP Council.

The Poole Local Plan, outlined in November 2018, set out the strategy for the delivery of 14,200 new homes, jobs and infrastructure in Poole to 2033. As part of this, green belt protection status for the land north of Merley was removed to make way for developments.

Earlier this month, Councillor Philip Broadhead, BCP Council deputy leader and portfolio holder for strategic planning, told the Daily Echo: “Many people are very concerned about releasing the green belt.

“Ideally you don’t want to release any green belt but actually with the housing numbers we have and the population growth that we are seeing, one of the ways we could protect the green belt is to regenerate our more urban centres and go a little bit higher than we have done before.”

In May this year, Richborough Estates submitted a series of amended documents to satisfy the BCP planning authority that outstanding issues had been resolved.

According to Frank Ahern, nothing of substance has changed. “It’s all cosmetic,” he said. “The plans are essentially the same, with the bloated figure of 600 houses unchanged and the drainage issues still remaining worryingly unresolved.

“They are taking the public and the planners for fools.”

• Read more: "We continue to fight it vigorously"

A Richborough Estates spokesperson said: “The site is in an allocated housing site, we have and will continue to discuss the planning application with objectors.”

As well as the new 70-page objection, more than 100 resident appeals have been lodged to BCP Council. Residents have also raised more than £6,500 to fund the SLNoM group, a figure described by Mr Ahern as “fantastic”.

He added: “People feel so passionately about this. They don’t want to lose the green space and that has certainly been expressed.”

The 70-page objection also contains an independent report by transport consultants, Railton, which criticises Richborough’s traffic modelling and the BCP Highway Authority’s assessment of it.

BCP Council declined to comment as a result of this being a "live planning application".