WORK has started on a couple's dream of creating holiday apartments near Blandford for the disabled.

Despite objections from some local residents that the development will cause traffic problems, councillors gave John and Ann Heath the go-ahead to convert agricultural buildings at Skinners Farm, Woolland, into four two-bedroomed holiday units and a two-bedroomed manager's home.

The couple were motivated to provide better facilities for the disabled after Ann was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.

John said: "Though it's not a particularly bad disability, she has often found it difficult whenever we go away. There are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who don't go on holiday because the facilities aren't up to scratch.

"The worktops will be low in the kitchen, there'll be a space under the sink for a wheelchair to get under and the same with the hob on the cooker. We'll include simple things like a shower you can wheel a chair straight into.

"We're in discussions with a local company which is keen to run courses in various crafts for the disabled - it'll provide the courses and we'll give those that attend somewhere to stay."

The project is expected to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and will include a hydrotherapy pool, games room and treatment room. And they plan to name it The Ellwood Centre, in memory of Ann's late mother.

Tourism chiefs at North Dorset District Council have branded the centre "an important development in North Dorset's tourism provision" and said it would fill a gap locally. And the centre has been praised by a range of organisations that support the disabled.

Councillors voted in favour of the application at a full council meeting on Friday.

First published: Sept 27