Plans for four 4-bed homes on a plot at Burnbake Road, Verwood have been turned down by Dorset Council.
The proposals were opposed by the ward councillor Cllr Spencer Flower, who is also the Dorset Council leader, neighbours and Verwood town council.
Planning officers decided that the plans for No 71, submitted by Dorset Developments J and R Limited, which would have also seen an extra eight parking spaces on the site, would have been an overdevelopment and out of keeping with surrounding properties.
Several residents living nearby had written to the council to object to the plans, many of them from Bugdens Lane. Several claimed the larger houses, which would front Bugdens Lane, would be out of character in an area dominated by bungalows and would also increase traffic problems.
Verwood town council said it had concerns about the number of access points onto Bugdens Lane; the loss of hedges; overdevelopment; the height of the homes in comparison to other properties nearby and the visual impact.
Verwood ward councillor and Dorset Council leader Cllr Spencer Flower told planning officers: “The current site layout, building size/design, are not in keeping with this location; plus the cramming on an unadopted lane in the town, does in my opinion, makes this application unacceptable in its current form.”
A planning officer report said that while the agent for the developer argued that “The context (for the site) is two storey at Oaklands, but with proposed orientated onto Bugdens Lane and access from Bugdens Lane – it is residents of Bugdens Lane that will feel the impact most.”
The report concluded: “The proposed development would be harmful to the character of Bugdens Lane, which is occupied by low pitched roof bungalows. The proposed development will be highly visible, prominent, and incongruous due to its layout and scale, which is indicative of a cramped and overdeveloped site. The height and spacing of the four two storey dwellings and their narrow plots will negatively contrast with and detract from the character of Bugdens Lane.”
