A SCHEME for nine homes off Lorton Lane, Weymouth, has been allowed on appeal.

It had been rejected by Dorset Council in June last year after campaigners argued that an important local landscape gap would be lost if the homes were agreed.

But a planning inspector has now decided that the homes between Redlands and Broadwey will be allowed and says that the development could enhance the gap.

Several residents and the Weymouth Civic Society made the case not to build on horse paddock at the junction of Dorchester Road and Lorton Lane.

The application for the homes, on land west of the Old Rectory, made by developer Malcolm Curtis of Koori Ltd, asked for nine detached and semi-detached two storey homes with garaging, parking spaces and road access to the site.

Weymouth Civic Society argued that the site is outside of the development boundary and in an area designated as an ‘Important Local Gap.’ They claim the site is important as part of the countryside separating the built up area of Redlands from the village of Broadwey.

The society also alleged that the proposed homes fronting Dorchester Road would be ‘overbearing’ given their height and the closeness to the road and within the Broadwey Conservation Area.

Other arguments for keeping the site as it is suggested that it is an important wildlife corridor.

Weymouth Town Council, which only has an advisory role, took the contrary view and supported the development. It said it was pleased to see the housing designs being in keeping with the area.

In a summary the planning inspector, Matthew Jones, says that with housing confined to the north part of the site, in line with Lorton Park, it would appear as ‘infill’ and would be seen as “as an honest, modern extension of the settlement.”

He also saw no difficulty with the houses fronting Dorchester Road which he said were consistent with the adjoining property to the north which, put together, would preserve the appearance of the Conservation Area and would not harm the setting of Lorton Farm.

He also concluded that the site would not be detrimental to the local gap as building was not being proposed on the southern section: “Going further, the concentration of housing at the north end of the site may well add a sense of completeness to Broadwey and, it follows, greater emphasis to the retained areas of the important open gap. As such, rather than coalescence, I find it more likely that the proposal would add a degree of consolidation to the sense of separation between Broadwey and Redlands.”