A SCHEME to knock down a former care home and build seven flats on the site is being opposed by planners.

Martin Homes wants to build on the site off Preston Road, Wey-mouth, and has already withdrawn a previous application because of concerns over the scale of the proposed building and the impact on trees.

Its latest proposal is a resubmission with the flats contained in a single irregular-shaped block in a bold contemporary design' with three pitched roofs, the central one over-sailing' ones at the front and back.

The entrance to all flats would be on the north side elevation with a footpath leading to the parking area at the front of the building and the amenity space to the rear of the site.

Members of tomorrow's Weymouth and Portland Borough Council planning and traffic committee will be told there have been six objections to the scheme.

Concerns raised range from the building's height and bulk being excessive and too dominant to trees being harmed, overlooking, loss of light and traffic and drainage problems.

Some of those concerns are mirrored by planning officers in a report which says the proposal would have "a seriously detrimental impact on the visual amenity and character of Preston Road".

Councillors will therefore be asked to refuse the scheme on the grounds that the area's visual amenities would be affected and because the development would have "a dominant and overbearing impact on neighbouring properties".

Another reason put forward for refusal is that the flats would affect trees which were considered to have a special amenity value to the locality.