MORE than a dozen objections have been lodged to an application for 90 homes on the former Swanage Grammar School site off Northbrook Road.

The application, from Barratt David Wilson Homes in Southampton, includes the demolition of the former school buildings.

Objections include concerns over road safety with fears a lack of pavements and street lights in the area, overlooking of St Mary’s School and the extra demands on local facilities, including GPs and dentists.

Said one objector, Chris Roberts: “I object to this latest proposal in the strongest terms and despair that Swanage and the surrounding area is losing its beauty and space.”

Several letter writers claim that development work has already started on the site although consent has not been granted.

Dorset Echo:

The Purbeck Society has objected to the application saying it is proposing housing at too high a density and would prefer to see existing buildings on the site redeveloped into flats.

Swanage Cricket Club is among those to write to Dorset Council about the proposal. It says that although it does not object to the houses there are concerns about how the boundary between the development and Days Park will be dealt with and warns that parking close to the field could lead to cars being hit by a stray cricket ball unless ‘ball-stop’ fencing is fitted in the area.

The planning application has recently been updated by the company with the addition of its proposals for hard and soft landscaping on the site and a new layout for ‘affordable’ houses.

The company say the 2-hectare site, which was last used as a field study centre, would have 30 affordable homes, mostly two or three-bed, with 60 market homes comprising of 20 two-bed. 26 three-bed and 14 four-bed, or larger. Local materials are being proposed to reflect the character of the area.

Dorset Echo:

The majority of the homes proposed will be 2 storey with some at 2.5

The developers estimate that the site could accommodate 190 car parking spaces with a new, single road, access off Northbrook Road and a pedestrian access closer to the town.

St Mary’s school, which sits alongside the site, has asked for reassurance about overlooking from the new homes. It says that it had been planning a wildlife area next to the development plot.

The former Swanage Grammar School buildings were in use between 1929 and 1974 and has been vacant since 2002.

The site is approximately rectangular in shape, with Swanage Cricket Club on its eastern boundary and Day’s Park to the south. To the north is St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School and beyond that the existing grammar school.