AN extra reason has been added to the refusal of a scheme for 120 homes at Charminster, close to the Grade 1 listed Wolfeton House.

An appeal over the earlier refusal of planning permission is expected to be heard in March next year.

Senior West Dorset planning officer Jean Marshall asked the district planning committee on Thursday to add highway safety to the reasons for refusal.

She said the advice came after engaging a highways consultant who suggested that the new homes would cause a significant increase in pedestrians to and from the highway network to the west of the Westleaze site, an area which was lacking a suitable footpath.

District councillors agreed to add the objection.

At the initial meeting which rejected the homes application, against the advice of planning officers, historical experts, the Thomas Hardy Society, Nature England and many local residents all lined up against the proposals.

Wolfeton House once belonged to the Trenchard family whose name provided inspiration for the Michael Henchard in Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge novel.

Lord Julian Fellowes spoke out at the time claiming the development would ‘destroy a major element in Hardy’s story’.

The application is for a 6-hectare farm field south of Westleaze with a new access road to be created by cutting through a mature hedgerow, described by some as a ‘wildlife corridor.’

Agent for the developers, Alex Bullock, argued at the time that the scheme brought with it a guaranteed 35 per cent affordable housing and would help the district meet its shortfall on the target of having 5 years building land.

He said that fears about the views between the development and Wolfeton House could be solved by design solutions and landscaping put in place by applicants, Land Value Alliances.

“The benefits of this scheme outweigh the harm, not the other way around,” he said.