A CONSERVATION body claims Dorset writer Thomas Hardy would ‘turn in his grave’ at the thought of a proposed development at Lower Bockhampton.

Kingston Maurward College has submitted a planning application to build up to 70 homes at land at Lower Bockhampton, a hamlet near Dorchester that currently has just 28 houses.

The move has prompted outrage amongst the local community and their fight against the proposals has now been backed by the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body.

The society says it objects strongly to the application in the hamlet where Hardy went to school and just down the road from where he was born at Higher Bockhampton in 1840.

The Open Spaces Society has written to West Dorset District Council to set out its views, claiming the development would have a devastating effect on the village and its surroundings while the proposed areas for development is within a conservation area and on registered parkland.

It raises concerns over the impact on people’s enjoyment of public paths in the area and the visual impact of the development, which would be seen from various routes including the historic path alongside the River Frome.

The society also says the houses would generate significant additional traffic on the narrow lanes around Lower Bockhampton, which are not only used by vehicles but also walkers, riders and cyclists and claims they would be ‘severely endangered’ by the increase in traffic flow.

General secretary of the Open Spaces Society Kate Ashbrook said: “Thomas Hardy would turn in his grave at the prospect of this massive development in his native hamlet. “The peace and quiet of this lovely area would be ruined. “Walkers, riders and cyclists would all suffer. “This is of course a popular tourist destination because of its association with Hardy and it would be an outrage if the council were to allow such alien and overpowering development in this very special place.”

Local campaigners who are fighting the plans were in South Street in Dorchester this morning.

Kingston Maurward has claimed it has an ‘obligation to its students’ to provide them with the best facilities possible and that the capital released from the sale of the land will allow the college to embark on a programme of redevelopment.

It also says the scheme will have a ‘positive impact on meeting local housing needs’.