THE third phase of a development in Sherborne has been given the green light.

The application was approved by the West Dorset District Council planning committee on Thursday.

It relates to land at Barton Farm and represents the third phase of residential development being constructed by Persimmon Homes.

Case officer Robert Lennis told the committee that the application has had a long history and that teams have worked long and hard to amend the original submission which, after received more than 30 letters of objection, went back out to consultation.

David Townsend has lived in the area for the past 37 years.

He said: "We are fully away that the council has a number of obligation for housing however, we feel there is a problem of overcrowding and overdevelopment.

"To me and to my wife, we feel this is a much denser proposal."

Cllr Stella Jones said: "In an ideal world we would have housing estates with large gardens and wide roads but for the past 20 years all housing developments have had smaller roads and smaller gardens because of the cost of the land."

Cllr Simon Christopher added: "I can’t say that I am entirely smitten with this proposal and the density of the houses. I am concerned that it is very high density."

Cllr Potter agreed and said the application had "crammed in more than one would hope for" but added that it does fit the design brief.

The application was approved.