A NEW application for flats on a site in Preston Road, Weymouth has been submitted – after a previous scheme was rejected earlier in the year.

The site, 56, currently has a bungalow on it.

The new application from Nylo Homes claims to have addressed the reasons for refusal at the June area planning committee and say the new scheme is “policy compliant in all regards.”

The first application for the site was to demolish the existing bungalow and build a three-storey block of eight flats. This has now been reduced to seven flats which the application says results in ‘reduced massing, bulk and scale.’ Six of the flats will be two-bed, the other one-bed.

The company says further work has also been done to deal with potential overlooking and the loss of some trees. It says the density of the proposal is similar to others in the road and will make efficient use of a brownfield site, although only a quarter of the 0.11 hectare site will be taken up by the development.

The June planning committee turned the scheme down despite council officers recommending that councillors approve it.

Objections to the new proposals have been received from neighbours – one claiming there is little difference from the previous scheme, that balconies will overlook the garden of the house next door and that extra traffic will add to poorer air quality in the road.

Weymouth town council has also lodged an objection. It says the scheme should fail on the grounds of highway safety, traffic generation, parking, visual appearance and materials, character of neighbouring street, scale, loss of daylight and sunlight, layout and density, overshadowing, loss of outlook, risk of flooding, noise and disturbance from construction, nature conservation and a failure to provide a reasonable housing mix.

“Residential developments should include a mix of type, size and affordability, taking in to account the current range of house types and sizes, and likely demand,” said the town council.

Several letter writer claim that other developments in the area, which have permission, have not proceeded to completion and there are several unoccupied flats in the area.

Illustration – How the proposed flats might look, courtesy Nylo Homes