More than a hundred homes could be built on Duchy-owned parcels of land south of St Georges Road and either side of the Dorchester bypass and railway line.

One of the sites is next to Thomas Hardy's Max Gate home and runs downhill parallel with Syward Road down the rail line.

Known as Four Paddocks the land has long been identified for future housing with all of the development earmarked for social, affordable or intermediate rent. The plots are separated by both the bypass, which runs above houses in a section of the area, and the Weymouth to Waterloo rail line.

A planning application for the in-fill sites, now used for grazing, has been submitted by the Duchy with local builders C G Fry and Sons Ltd to carry out the project, if approved.

In total the sites cover almost five hectares with a further 'mitigation' site on the other side of St Georges Road which will not be built on.

The proposals are for 88 two or three-bed homes, eight one-bed units, and 12 four-bed homes.

The four sites will be adjacent to current housing developments in St Georges Road, St Georges Close, Syward Road and Close, Friars Close, Long Bridge Way, Eddison Avenue and Louds View.

Access to the sites will be via new road junctions – on St Georges Road and Syward Road with another access from Friars Close.

Documents with the application say that the properties will be a combination of coach house apartments, located above garages, and two, three and four bedroom terrace or detached houses, mostly two storey.

Acknowledging that the site will be relatively noisy it says that homes will be set back from the bypass as far as possible with measures taken to reduce noise levels in other ways – including screening with a 2metre high boundary fence to create an 'acoustic buffer' where noise levels are at their greatest. Some noise reduction is also planned inside properties where noise is likely to be highest.

Said the document: "Where coach houses are unavoidably placed close to the road, a non-habitable corridor space is used as a noise buffer for the habitable internal rooms, particularly bedrooms to ensure that their noise levels are kept as low as possible. Windows overlooking the A35 are minimised across the site, and where they are necessary to provide daylighting, these are inoperable, with ventilation provided by other means, to prevent excessive noise ingress."

The application acknowledges that the development will have some effect on the wider setting of Max Gate, operated by the National Trust, but concludes: "This change would not materially affect the experience of the house from the surrounding area, nor the experience within its grounds. On this basis it is concluded that the proposed development would not result in any harm to the significance of the house."

Public comments on the proposals, which run to hundreds of pages, remain open until September 20. The application can be seen in full by searching the Dorset Council website planning section using reference 2021/02623.