AN OUTLINE application for a new home on a paddock west of Garston Farm, Fleet has been refused by Dorset Council.

The corner site has been used as a paddock in the past and for growing vegetables, including the use of a poly tunnel.

The ‘in principle’ application asked for planners to agree the use of the site for a large L-shaped house with parking for four cars set back from the road, between Fleet Lodge on the opposite side of Fleet Road, Chickerell Road and the main farm buildings.

Chickerell town council, Chesil Bank parish councils and the Weymouth Civic Society had objected to the application because the site is outside the development boundary, close to the Heritage Coast and said that to build there would also be contrary to the Chickerell Neighbourhood Plan.

An appeal over a previous application had been refused by a Planning Inspector, who said the site was unsuitable for housing.

A Dorset Council planning officer report said that the site was to the south of the B3157 which clearly marked the limit of the development boundary where residential development would not normally be supported.

“The proposal would extend development into the undeveloped fields to the south of the Chickerell Road and would erode the clear demarcation between the established pattern of housing development on the north eastern side of Chickerell Road and the open countryside to the south west which forms part of the Heritage Coast and Dorset AONB,” said the report.