Persimmon homes and other development companies have a huge responsibility.

They are building our future and there is increasingly a fine line between building our future and destroying it.

I think it is imperative that we all consider the effects from large-scale development such as the one proposed for 500 plus homes in Chickerell.

It is easy to be put off by the sheer scale and format of these applications, but we the residents, live and work here and have a legitimate contribution to make.

I would urge people to have a look and make comments at Dorset Council application number WD/D/20/002569.

Much of the positive hype for this development appears to be around the delivery of facilities including a skate park for young people.

That is of course a good thing, but I would argue that in the round there is a lack of vision and forward thinking in this application. Valuable wildlife habitat and green space is being lost. That is not sustainable, it is irreplaceable and cannot be adequately mitigated.

Does each garden in this scheme have the space to grow at least one or two trees and support a vegetable patch?

What about an orchard? Where is the community growing space?

Coronavirus has given cause for many of us to re-evaluate our relationship with the natural environment both in terms of the origins of the virus as well as our human need for outdoor space during lock down.

Our own Dorset coastline is a tremendous and valuable resource to the whole world, and we have a duty to protect it.

Developers could be more creative about how and where they build. COVID-19 has escalated a change in working practice and there are a growing number of empty offices, large retail units and the associated support buildings that will need re-purposing.

Dorset Council itself has many surplus buildings and plots.

I could see little mention of mitigating for climate change in this plan - are these homes going to be built with the newest technology? We all need to reduce carbon emissions.

Will this be addressed in the building materials and management? Will local trades and suppliers be used to deliver the project?

This site if approved will swell the local population by several thousand – the size of a small village and apparently with all the infrastructure needs covered.

Who decides what a community needs?

The plan also appears to give priority to motor vehicles with scant attention to the transition to active travel that is needed.

E bikes and scooters also need charging points.

We should be doing better – this looks like a business as usual profit led endeavour–meeting the standards and ticking the boxes for plans and regulations without any meaningful attempt to address the very real and urgent issues that being in a climate and ecological emergency requires.

PENNY QUILTER

Weymouth