Planning application Outline application for residential development of up to 35 dwellings & associated infrastructure (Outline) WD/D/18/000116

Thornford Parish Council held a public meeting on Monday 12th March 2018 at Thornford Village Hall. The meeting was attended by 58 local residents. A vote taken at the end of the meeting resulted in 30 residents against the application and 17 for.Therefore we object to this application on the following grounds. . .The proposed site is located on the north-eastern edge of Thornford within a Greenfield site and would lie outside the defined development boundary of Thornford. Thereby creating a precedent for future extended pockets of development by extending the defined development boundary. The District Council currently has a 5 year housing land supply and therefore its policies are up to date for the purposes of the National Planning Policy Framework. Development outside the DDB is strictly controlled and restricted to that identified in Policy SUS2 of the adopted West Dorset Weymouth and Portland Local Plan. No overriding justification for making an exception to this policy has been made in the application and therefore in the light of the accepted housing land supply the proposal is contrary to Policy SUS2.

Issues raised were additional traffic volume through Thornford and the extra traffic flow from Yetminster development of around 80 additional house.

The lack of public bus transport and dependency on cars The supporting text to Policy SUS2 of the LP sets out that the ‘resulting dependency on cars would inevitably increase carbon emissions and disadvantage those who don’t have a car (usually the more vulnerable groups in our society), which is why it makes sense to try to focus development at the towns’. Consequently, lack of public transport weighs against the proposal, as does the heavy reliance on a private motor vehicle. There was concern expressed about the effect of developments on the sewerage drains within the village as there are already issues with sewerage seeping at some sites in the village. It was also noted that the Wessex Water sewerage site close to Thornford also takes effluent from Yetminster and the pipes currently used are no more than 6 inch diameter. It was noted that Highways consultation have taken note of the proposal to use the “Green Lane” “The Drove” despite it not being a public right of way. There was objection this due to the historic drove road and environmental issues with regard to native plant species, insects, birds and mammals Thornford Halt Railway Station is good 20 minute walk from the development site and with very limited parking facility and no rail connection to Sherborne . .Having regard to affordable housing in respect of local needs before any potential site is considered, it is essential to determine how many identifiable local people are in need of affordable housing and what they are able to afford. The overall average house price in Thornford is £262,083 The proposed development would not result in a benefit in environmental and landscape terms, to the contrary it would lead to the loss of valuable Greenfield space.