A NEW outline application for 80 homes north of Common Mead Lane, Gillingham has been submitted by developers – claiming it could bring £1.2m in benefits to the area.
A similar application was rejected on a 5-4 vote by Dorset Council in August after being opposed by more than 120 local people, including the town council and two ward councillors. Dorset Council planning officers had recommended approving the application.
The 4 hectare site, alongside the BUPA Mellowes nursing home off Common Mead Lane, had been ear-marked for recreational use in the neighbourhood plan, although there has never been an application to bring that to fruition.
Objectors claimed at the time that the town had already met the 2,200 homes the area was judged to need.
Ward councillor Cllr Val Pothecary told fellow councillors on the area planning committee that the site was outside the settlement boundary and in conflict with several planning strategies; had no bus route into town and would add to the risk to pedestrians and cyclists using roads and lanes in the area, including adjoining Common Mead Lane which many local drivers used as a rat run to avoid other routes.
Gillingham town council raised objections about overdevelopment adding that building on the site would also be harmful to the setting of Queen’s Farm, associated with the former Royal Forest.
The latest ‘in principal’ application, dealing in detail only with the site access, comes from Fairfax Acquisitions Ltd and says it hopes to build 60 open market homes with 14 ‘affordable’ homes for rent and six ‘affordable’ homes for sale.
An agent for the company says the new application has amendments to take into account the comments made at the August meeting. These include using an adjoining field of a similar size to the application site for what is claimed to be a 10per cent ‘biodiversity net gain’, adding to grassland, retaining hedges and planting new hedges and trees and maintaining the site as a ‘wildlife corridor’.
Access to the site is proposed off Common Mead Lane, a Sustrans cycle route,
The developers say that, if approved, they will make payments of around £1.2million to help with local indoor sports and outdoor sports facilities, pay £6,200 for each qualifying home towards school places, £720 per home for health contributions, £38,900 to enhance public rights of way and additional contributions to library services and buses.
Public comments on the application, reference 2021/04019 on the Dorset Council website, remain open until November 12.
If the outline application is approved the full details of the scheme will go for planning consent at a later date.
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