MORE housing growth is planned for Shaftesbury – with an application for 160 homes due to be considered next week.

The north Dorset town is one of the areas identified for housing growth in the local plan.

Dorset councillors will consider an application for 162 homes off Wincombe Lane when they meet virtually on January 11 – with a recommendation to accept the proposals, despite the objections of the town council and others.

Members of the northern area planning committee will be told there is no reason not to accept the proposal for the site, on the northern edge of the town, which already has an existing permission for 174 homes on the same site, granted in 2016.

The new plans include 30 per cent affordable homes – 24 for affordable rent, 17 for discount market sale and 7 for shared ownership.

Overall the development will provide 6x 1-bed units (all affordable), 46x 2-beds (24 affordable), 80x 3-beds (16 affordable) and 30x 4-beds (2 affordable).

Planning officers say the new proposals are acceptable in terms of design, scale and appearance and would have a looser and informal layout than the previous proposals with proposed landscaping which should avoid harm to the setting of the nearby Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Two equipped play areas are proposed by the developers along with informal greenspaces with improvements planned for Wincombe Lane.

The amended plans were submitted in response to concerns raised by Dorset Council’s landscape architect, urban design officer, highway authority and flood risk management team.

Shaftesbury Town Council claim that the proposals are contrary to the Neighbourhood Plan, that Wincombe Lane is inadequate as the only access and the development could interfere with the protection of the bypass corridor. It is also concerned about the impact on the Cranborne Chase Dark Skies reserve and the lack of protection for bats and newts in the area and says it is disappointed that no 1-bed flats are proposed, something which it says is needed in the area. It also describes the layout as ‘cramped’ and lacking in trees and open spaces with a lack of a footpath and access to the east and north.

Ten neighbours to the site have expressed similar concerns with the Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England adding its voice, claiming the area cannot cope with another 162 homes and needs to grow slowly. It points out that another 170 homes are already being built at Littledown.