A GROUNDBREAKING low-cost housing scheme for Poundbury has been rejected by planners because it was on the wrong side of a council-drawn line.

A range of affordable homes had been put forward for a site near on Peverell Avenue East on Prince Charles's prestigious estate.

But West Dorset District Council's development control committee threw the proposal out because it falls outside the defined development boundary.

The homes were to be part of a block of 12 houses, nine apartments and four shops proposed by Dorchester-based Developer Cornhill Estates on land included in the third phase of development at Poundbury. Under the proposals five houses were set aside for a self-build, shared equity scheme where the shell of a house was to be sold for an estimated £75,000 for the purchaser to finish, at an average cost of around £50,000 in materials and labour.

The owners would have been able to buy the house outright after five years.

There were also to be three apartments for rent from the Duchy of Cornwall and three apartments to buy for no more than three-and-a-half times average earnings, which can only be sold for the same.

Speakers on both sides of the argument stood up in the public gallery and asked the committee to consider their position.

Businesswoman Claire Jenkins said: "It's getting increasingly hard to find staff who can afford to live in the local area."

Derek Beauchamp from the Civic Society said: "On almost the highest point in Poundbury these steeply pitched roofs have aroused more ire in the Civic Society than many other schemes."

Coun Stella Jones said: "We are fully behind social and low cost housing and these models are very innovative, but this is outside the boundary."

After the meeting the Duchy of Cornwall's Simon Conibear said: "I'm disappointed, obviously, but we take encouragement from the fact that planning members seem willing to explore new models of affordability."