Councillors have been recommended to approve an application for a controversial housing scheme that could see 120 homes developed near Dorchester.

A planning application for a large-scale development in an agricultural field south of Westleaze in Charminster will go before West Dorset District Council planning committee next week.

The application proposes the development of 120 homes and an access road into the site off Westleaze.

The junction of East Hill with Westleaze is also proposed to be redesigned to incorporate footways which lead north along East Hill to the junction with Vicarage Lane, where it connects with an existing footway on the north side of East Hill.

Highway works are also proposed to Westleaze and East Hill, including a pinch-point east of the site, a shared footway section to the west of the proposed access leading to East Hill.

The development would create an open road on the site leaving room for a potential future development in the field.

The recommendation is subject to the following agreement, that the development produces 35% of affordable housing units, a play area, two hectares of open space and pedestrian enhancements with the County Road network.

If the development is approved 42 affordable homes could be built in the area.

There are currently over 1570 applicants on the West Dorset Housing Register in affordable housing need.

Dorset Council Partnership’s Housing Enabling Team said: “The Council’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment 2014 (SHMA) suggests that in the region of 130 new affordable dwelling need to be developed each year. There is a high level of housing need across the district with the greatest demand being for smaller homes.”

Concerns have been raised over the impact of the build on the local landscape, highway safety and sustainability.

Charminster Parish Council, one of the proposal’s consultees, is strongly against the development and called the proposal ‘isolated, piecemeal and premature.’

The parish council say the proposal is premature as it comes ahead of the wider work on the local plan and seeks to secure development without having to contribute to the very major highway costs that would be inevitable if a northern-by-pass is developed to the extended area of Dorchester in the future.

Mark Simon, chairman of Charminster Parish Council supported the proposal’s push for affordable homes but said the development would produce unwanted traffic.

He said: “Charminster is already a bit of a rat race. There are fears this could create extra traffic on the already narrow roads.

He also mentioned that although affordable housing could benefit the wider community, affordable homes are already in development at Charminster Farm.

Residents also raised their concerns about the potential increase to traffic.

A concerned resident said: “I can’t understand why they would allow for such an increase in footfall and traffic in an area such as this because none of the roads are wide enough, we can’t. We can hardly fit buses on the roads.”

Another resident was concerned that if the proposal is approved it could lead to future developments on the land.

He said: “I would rather not have it. It is not so much this development I am worried about but what will come after it, which will come closer to my land.”

The application will go before West Dorset District Council planning committee on Thursday January 18 which begins at 10am. The proposal will be discussed in the afternoon session starting at 1pm.