OUTLINE planning consent has been issued for six 3-bed homes in a “gap site” off Chickerell Road, Chickerell.

The application, from Poole-based Highdean Limited, is for a garden area sandwiched between a site previously used for camping and caravanning and the brickworks.

It has been controversial because the site is labelled as being not for development in the Neighbourhood Plan and is outside the defined development boundary. It was also claimed to be one of the most important sites in Europe for the protected Great Crested Newt.

The initial ‘in principle’ application for the site adjacent to No 481 suggested seven homes, although the most recent documents submitted to Dorset Council for the 0.3 hectare site, refer to six new properties, arranged in three pairs of semi-detached homes.

Ward councillors John Worth and Jean Dunseith said the site, on the coastal side of the B3157, had been designated as an area not for development in the neighbourhood plan due to its proximity to the Jurassic coast and should not be built on.

Weymouth Civic Society also objected to the development saying: “The site lies outside the defined development boundary, on land designated as Land of Local Landscape Importance in the adopted Local Plan, and within the Heritage Coast. It forms a gap between developed areas, providing a route between sites of nature conservation interest and importance. Its development with a closely linked line of houses would further erode the open space in this area.”

The area, with the Crook Hill works on its western side, is said to be an important habitat for the protected Great Crested Newt, one of the reasons why the outline consent papers have been held up since May.

The proposals allow for a special site to be created around the homes, including ponds, which will give the newts extra territory to forage from the adjoining brickworks site and nearby water gardens.

Dorset councillors were told that the site and adjoining land has the biggest population of Great Crested Newts in Dorset, possibly in Europe, and is internationally recognised.

What would have been the plot of a seventh home for the site will be given up by the developers to create a wildlife corridor with the planting of a 60metre hedge.

A planning agent for the developers says some of the homes will front the road, with a terrace of the remaining properties to the north of the site; all being of a similar design and built of facing brick under a concrete tile roof, with uPVC windows and doors.

A new, shared access, will be developed in the centre of the site off the main road with each of the homes having two parking spaces to the rear of the properties, although the access is unlikely to be adopted by Dorset Council as it fails to meet the standards expected by Dorset Highways.

The in principle consent had been approved by councillors in May 2023 on a 4-3 vote but was held up for a legal agreement to be updated to secure the correct Great Crested Newt licensing agreement and an updated wildlife and nature plan, which the developers claim will result in a biodiversity gain.

The exact details of the layout of the site, landscaping and the final build details of the new homes will be subject to a future ‘reserved matters’ planning application.