A DEVELOPER has been inundated with calls from people keen to snap up one of its proposed first-time buyer and key worker homes.

Lomand Homes unveiled plans to build 109 homes on land off Edward Road, Dorchester, last month.

If permission is granted the flats will be made available to first-time buyers and key workers including hospital staff, teachers and police officers.

Eddie Fitzsimmons, director of Lomand, said today that more than 70 people had so far registered an interest in buying one of the homes.

It is hoped that 38 of the flats will be made available through a partnership with a housing association. But the rest will be available on the open market with a one-bedroom apartment starting at £72,000 based on a shared equity split, which means that the owner has to find 80 per cent of the full cost of the home.

Mr Fitzsimmons said: "We have had over 70 individuals register their interest in the new development at Edward Road.

"Of those, 98 per cent are from local people who currently reside in Dorchester or Weymouth.

"We have also received many letters of support for the project."

The site already has planning permission for 51 homes but Mr Fitzsimmons said he believed the latest scheme would be better for the community. "It would encourage key workers and first-time buyers to put down roots here," he said.

Mr Fitzsimmons said he believed that the plan for 109 first-time buyer and key worker dwellings would be looked on more favourably by planners than one for executive homes.

Details of the proposal are available on the Lomand Homes website at www. lomandhomes.co.uk

Visitors to the site will be able to look at apartment layouts and designs and register an interest in securing a property.

Deposits will be taken if planning permission is secured.

An exhibition of the designs is also planned at Domvs Estate Agents in High West Street, Dorchester.