Curtis Fields housing development, Weymouth, is approved

Dorset Council has agreed the details of phase 4 of the scheme – including landscaping, roads and the type and mix of the 68 homes, up by four from the original ‘in principle’ consent.

Dorset Council say the development has just under 30 per cent of the homes classed as ‘affordable’.

A biodiversity management plan for the site will be considered later with a developer’s financial contribution expected to be used to mitigate the effect of the new homes on the local environment.

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Betterment Properties was given outline permission for the whole development in 2016. The detailed consent for this, latest phases is for land to the eastern boundary of the overall site – a popular route for dog walkers between Cockles Lane and Markham Avenue.

A total of 12 different housing types make up the phase including terraces and bungalows with a few ‘feature’ buildings dotted around the site. The buildings will be in brick, stone or render under brown or dark red tiled roofs or slate-coloured fibre cement tiles.

No through road is proposed in the phase with a figure of eight layout to allow for maximum movement and access.

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More than thirty objections were lodged during the consultation including concerns about lack of jobs, school places and health services for the people who will live there; additional traffic; insufficient parking; concerns about drainage and sewage and the loss of recreational space and overlooking.

The site is a popular walking route between Markham Avenue and Cockles Lane Picture: Google Maps

A planning report says that a number of changes have been made during the consultation process to take some of those comments into account, including the redesign of bungalows at the northern edge of the site , reducing the number from nine to seven; changes to the design of two homes to reflect the street scene on nearby Markham Avenue and reducing the land height in places to lessen overlooking.

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The developer has also said cabling will be installed for car electric charger points underground and a 3-metre shared cycle footpath has now been included following a request from Weymouth town council.

Twenty affordable homes will be scattered throughout the site and are of the same house types as the rest of the development.

The application details, which runs to more than 50 documents, can be seen on the Dorset Council planning website.

Among the drawings is a site earmarked as a possible extension to St Augustine’s School, setting aside a plot roughly the same size as the existing school site.