THREE new homes have been approved for the Martleaves House site at Wyke Regis.

The permission includes the right to remove stables and a part-redundant barn, to build three detached homes on the site and a three-bay garage for the main house.

The site, off a sharp bend in South Road, is also known Swallows Rest, and has been the subject of a number of planning applications in recent years, some which have led to objections from near neighbours.

Comments sent to Dorset Council have included concern with the effect of any development on the views towards the Fleet, the protection of the Area of Local Landscape Importance and developing beyond the local Defined Development Boundary.

But council planning officers says the current scheme, now approved, “is not considered harmful to local amenity or to cause harm to the wider landscape...

“Overall, officers are satisfied that there are no material harmful effects that would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the social, economic and environmental benefits of the development... The proposed development is not within but is adjacent to a main town with a defined development boundary and in close proximity to and connectivity to the facilities and services on offer in the Weymouth area. In the light of the current housing land supply position the proposal would make a small but positive contribution to the supply of housing where there are no other obvious and adverse planning impacts to justify a refusal of planning permission.”

Weymouth Town Council had objected to the proposals saying that the site is outside of the development boundary and located in an area of local landscape importance.

Several letters of objection supported that view, some also expressing concerns about possible traffic congestion, the effect on the coastline, light pollution and that the proposed homes are bigger than a scheme for four house,  approved in February.

The site comprises of the main property, a former farmhouse now used as a guesthouse, self-catering cottages, and the surrounding fields used for horses and camping. A public footpath running alongside the site leads to the shores of the Fleet and the South West Coastal Path.