Despite having widespread support, plans to build dozens of homes on the site of six disused chicken sheds in a north Dorset village have been recommended for refusal.

Lone Star submitted an outline application for a 45-home development in Okeford Fitzpaine but a North Dorset District Council planning officer has said the heritage harm of the scheme is not outweighed by its benefits.

As a result of the proposals to develop the Shillingstone Lane site being backed by the parish council, members of the council’s planning committee will consider them on Tuesday (March 26).

40 per cent of the 45 homes proposed for the site would be ‘affordable’ – a level backed by the district council – and a drop-off area for the nearby primary school has also been included in the scheme.

However, concerns have been raised about the impact of plans to widen the road to accommodate the development.

National planning policy requires councils to give ‘great weight’ to the conservation of ‘designated heritage assets’.

In her report to the committee, case officer Clare McCarthy says: “In this instance, great weight is afforded due to the significance of the conservation area and Downs Cottage.

“The setting of both these heritage assets would be harmed through the engineered form of the new access proposed which would cause a loss of character to Shillingstone Lane with its grassy banks and hedge-lined rural and winding heritage value.

“The great weight afforded to the significance of the heritage assets and the less-than-substantial harm to their setting is considered to outweigh the public benefits of increasing housing supply and the accompanying infrastructure contributions.”

While nine letters of objection have been lodged against the application, 22 people have given their support and a 40-signature petition backing the proposals has been handed to the council.

The chicken sheds used to form part of the Faccenda poultry operation in the village until its closure in 2007.