A REVISED scheme for homes on at town centre scrap site in Weymouth has been refused by Dorset Council.

The application, for four homes at the Upway Street site follows an earlier rejection of six homes and parking on the same plot.

The site is to the rear of homes in Upway Street, King Street and Commercial Street, on the seaward side of the bus depot. It was once a coal depot and more recently run by Weymouth Reclamation as a scrap yard.

Planning officers said that although the re-worked scheme partly addressed some of the original concerns and the area would benefit from the removal of the scrapyard it was still too cramped with inadequate private outdoor space and would not sit well in the Conservation Area.

Weymouth town council and the town’s Civic Society had both objected to the revised proposal.

Agents claimed the new scheme had fully addresses previous concerns and that the principle of homes on the site had already been accepted by the council.

The application offered a mix of one and two-bed homes which it was said would improve the character and appearance of the conservation area and be a better neighbour for residents than the ‘unsightly’ scrap yard.

Previously proposed parking spaces have been removed from the new scheme to allow for landscaped gardens and for the new, linked homes, to be placed in the centre of the plot rather than up against the eastern boundary.

A report on the new application concluded that although it had some merits said: “There is a balance to be had between making the best use of land on a brownfield site, assisting housing land supply and getting an acceptable design that works for potential occupiers. This is a revised scheme following refusal of 6 houses which were more contemporary and had balconies and high use of glazing. This scheme is more low key and has reduced to just four houses, all modest in size and therefore in the lower cost range, although they are private market housing so not affordable in the planning sense,” said a council report.