FEARS of a parking overspill hang over the latest plans for a giant housing development on the eastern edge of Blandford.

More than 125 new homes could be added to the Badbury Heights development if a planning application from national house builder, Persimmon Homes, is given the thumbs up by district planning chiefs.

But heritage experts from the Georgian town have expressed concerns that less than one third of the dwellings will have garages.

“We are very, very concerned that there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of parking spaces, with only 33 garages to 126 houses.

“The plans show a communal forecourt area in front of the houses, which means people living there will be looking on to a car park.

“I always say you need one parking space per bedroom, and the plans do not cater for that,” said John Barnes, the chairman of Blandford Civic Society.

More than 400 houses will be built by Persimmon if the application is granted, with work on three phases of the development already underway.

Forty per cent of the houses will be designated as “affordable”, with 52 properties set aside to rent from social landlords or to buy on shared equity schemes.

Phase one of the four-phase development has already been completed with 72 homes built on land off Salisbury Road.

Work on 150 houses and 19 flats is still under way on phase two of the development, which also included plans for a community hall.

Phase 3a contains plans for 81 houses and 29 flats, with half of the properties acquired by a housing association Civic planners at Blandford Town Council will comment on the proposals at a public meeting today.