Proposals by Gleeson Strategic Land Limited for 30 homes on land at Catherine’s Well, Milton Abbas, have been dismissed at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate.

The application was refused by Dorset Council in August last year after being amended from an original plan for up to 58 homes in February that year. The site, outside but next to the village boundary, was considered but rejected in favour of three other sites in the Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan which was formally incorporated into the Dorset Local Plan on June 26.

Planning inspector S Harley found while benefits, including 40 per cent affordable housing, outweighed the less than substantial harm to heritage assets, the adverse impact of the proposal, which conflicted with the Neighbourhood Plan, would significantly outweigh the benefits even given the recent poor record of housing delivery in the North Dorset area.

The inspector said: “It does not reflect the historic character of properties nestled within the landscape within or adjacent to woodlands or the unique rural quality of the more recent developments.”

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