ZERO ‘affordable’ homes will be built on a former primary school site, despite the land being council-owned.

West Lulworth parish councillor Sarah Jackson urged members of the Dorset Council eastern area planning committee to reject the nine-home scheme due to the lack of provision.

However, councillors “ignored” her pleas at the meeting on Wednesday, granting planning permission to Willton Homes to redevelop the site. The school closed in 2016 when a replacement was opened further down School Lane.

A year later plans to build eight homes on the site were submitted but then rejected by Purbeck District Council due to concerns about the scale of the development and its impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

In response, new plans were drawn-up for a smaller scale development but one which provided an extra home compared to the previous scheme.

The parish council objected to the scheme raising concerns about the risk of flooding and the lack of any affordable housing provision, prompting the application be considered by councillors Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday on its behalf, Cllr Jackson said that a site that is owned by Dorset Council should provide better benefits to the public. “It’s very disappointing to see this site lost to market housing,” she said. We requested that the council put affordable housing on that site but unfortunately, as usual, we were ignored and the site was sold.”

Dorset County Council agreed to sell the land following the closure of the school but was still its owner when the application was submitted. However, Alan Davies, Purbeck development manager for the council, told councillors that the ownership of the land was not an issue that they could consider.

Cllr Alex Brenton said she “regretted” the decision of the not to sell the land to a housing association for affordable housing and expressed concerns about the size of the homes.Fellow committee member Cllr Cherry Brooks said she had approached the county council when the site was put on the marked but was told it was “too late” for new plans to be considered.

Despite this, planning permission for the development was granted with councillors saying the latest application was an “improvement” over the plans refused by Purbeck District Council.