Controversial Portland Verne Common housing development approved

The greenfield site, off Verne Common Road and Ventnor Road, will include five homes for affordable rent – although some councillors have questioned whether a housing association can be found to take them on.

Residents had objected about the loss of local open space, some of it used by children and dog walkers, with the rest as grazing for horses. Some claimed the new homes would create added pressure for already stretched local health services and add to traffic problems on the bendy road which leads to the Verne Prison.

To build here "makes a mockery of Dorset Council's ecological policies," one resident said.

Two councillors told the area planning committee they had no option but to vote for the application because Portland town council had not lodged any comment about the scheme. The final vote was 5-3 in favour.

Cllr Nick Ireland said the application put into doubt the relevance of the Portland Neighbourhood Plan, adopted earlier in the year. He said it offered no guidance on the site although the area is outside the defined development area in the wider local area plan.

“It seems to me that if you can build on this land with a brand new Neighbourhood Plan, what is the point in having a plan at all,” he said.

Portland Dorset councillor Paul Kimber said he opposed building on the site, although a previous permission had been granted in February, but was now being re-considered because of the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan.

• Read more: Major new homes plan proposed for Portland green field

He said the site was unique and needed to be protected and kept as it is for the benefit of the community. He also said he believed it was an overdevelopment of the prominent hillside location.

In a letter to the area planning committee local historian Stuart Morris said the area was an important part of the local landscape and had always been excluded from building under the previous Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

Residents say it is a unique patch of land and an important part of the landscape

He said that if the scheme was allowed it would make a mockery of Dorset Council’s ecological policies which included not cutting road verges to encourage wildlife and claimed the site was important for the local ecology. He asked that if development did go ahead a proper archaeological study should be undertaken as Roman remains had been found when the nearby houses were developed in the 1950s.

He claimed, as did Wyke councillor Kate Wheller, that many of the properties were likely to end up as second homes.

Cllr Wheller said without an improvement in medical facilities on the island she was not able to support any further housing for the island.

She said the site would be a beautiful place to have a home with its views but said it was unlikely that many local people would be able to afford to live there: “Many of these homes will end up as second homes,” she warned.

• Read more: Dorset Council 'did not inform' of new houses plan on Portland

Agent for the developers, Steve Hoskins, said the homes would be of high design standards, bringing people into the area which would support local businesses: “This is a carefully considered and sustainable proposal with clear community benefits,” he said.

Layout of the new scheme Pictures: Laming & Sons/RB Studio

The proposed homes are two, 4-bedroom units, fourteen 3-bed, four, 2-bed and five affordable 3-bed. The site will be accessed off Verne Common Road on the eastern boundary with three tiers of housing with the homes stepped down the slope. The scheme also allows for 59 parking spaces and 22 garage spaces.

The agreement is subject to the five homes being offered for affordable rent and a financial contribution of £15,600 for grassland compensation and management for the Local Nature Reserve together with a £59,250 contribution for affordable housing elsewhere.

Another Portland application, for four small homes on a site between Branscombe Close and Rip Croft was also approved by the committee, although Cllr Kimber again opposed the scheme as an overdevelopment.

• Read more: Planning approved for new homes at former Southwell school, Portland

A previous application had given consent for two homes on the site.

The new application is for three 2-bed homes and one 1-bed, the site layout having been redesigned since the original application to move the new properties slightly further away from neighbours.

Cllr Susan Cocking said she was concerned about the size of the properties, describing them as “bunny hutches” although Cllr Kate Wheller said she welcomed the proposal as smaller, more affordable, homes were needed in the area.