A MAJOR developer has unveiled plans to build 109 keyworker and first time buyers' homes on land in the heart of Dorchester.

The one and two bedroom apartments are being lined up for land off Edward Road.

The land already has outline permission for 51 homes but developer Lomand Homes has submitted a fresh application for the flats, which will be made available to first time buyers and keyworkers including hospital staff, teachers and police officers.

Lomand Homes is currently in discussions with South Somerset Housing Association about forming a partnership.

The partnership would make 38 of the flats available on a shared ownership or rental basis to local people who cannot afford to buy or rent the accommodation they need on the open market.

South Somerset Housing Association will make its own arrangements for the sale and rental of these homes.

Non-housing association homes will start from £72,000 for a one bedroom apartment and £104,000 for two bedrooms based on a shared equity split, which means that the owner has to find 80 per cent of the full cost of the home.

Eddie Fitzsimmons, director of Lomand Homes, said that under the scheme Lomand Homes would retain 20 per cent of the value of the home.

Then if the buyer wanted to buy the remainder at any time in the future they could have their property revalued and pay the outstanding amount at the current market value.

He said that if the owner didn't want to buy the outstanding amount but wanted to sell the property they would get 80 per cent of the market value and Lomand Homes 20 per cent.

"We originally bought this development site with existing permission for 51 two and three bedroom houses.

"But we feel strongly that our revised proposal would be a better solution for the community as a whole.

"It would encourage key workers and first-time buyers to put down roots here."

He said he believed that the plan for 109 first time buyer and keyworker homes would be looked on more favourably by planners than one for executive homes.

"We could have had 50 homes at £200,000 but we have gone for 100 at £100,000, which will help the people who need it most but we will get the same return on capital."

Lomand's application includes artists' impressions of how it is envisaged that the development will look rather than being a final plan.

Geoff Atkinson, chief executive of South Somerset Homes, said: "We are pleased to be working in partnership with Lomand Homes to deliver 109 housing solutions for key workers in Dorchester.

"The 38 homes that South Somerset Homes hopes to offer to local people will help the many hard working families who have been priced out of the housing market through rapid house inflation."

If approved, the Prima development - from the Italian 'prima casa', first home - will consist of 38 one-bedroom flats and 71 two-bedroom apartments.

Lomand Homes hopes that, if the scheme is backed, work will start early next year with the first phase complete by summer.

An exhibition of the designs is planned at Domvs Estate Agents in High West Street, Dorchester. Parking for 75 vehicles is planned and there will be a secure bicycle parking area.

The proposal comes after a study showed parts of Dorset to be the most difficult in the UK for first-time buyers.