REDEVELOPMENT of a Dorchester town centre former builders' merchant site has been enthusiastically welcomed by town councillors.

The Gibbs & Dandy site, next to the town's West railway station, is set to create a business centre with more than 90 jobs and provide 23 apartments.

Closed since 2020 the gateway site is currently boarded up and semi-derelict although a car hand-wash business is using the former yard area off Maumbury Road.

A previous application was turned down by Dorset Council – mainly on the size of the proposed buildings fronting the street.

Dorchester town councillors say the new, re-drawn, proposals are much better, fit in with the surroundings and will be a positive benefit for the county town.

The proposal suggests that jobs could be created by the conversion of former warehouses on Maumbury Road into a business centre to be known as The Yard. This includes a new building to fill in the existing gap between the former warehouses.

Several redevelopment areas are shown in the latest plans – the largest buildings of three and a half storeys, reduced in scale from a previous scheme and showing more design features, including balconies.

The housing details outlines 13 two-bed flats and 3 three-bed for open market sale and seven 2-bed flats for 'affordable' homes.

Cllr Molly Rennie, speaking at Monday evening's town council planning meeting, said: "This is to be welcomed, it's much better than we've seen before."

Cllr Andy Canning was also enthusiastic saying: "I like the design. It's good, an improvement, and I'm happy with it."

He said the height of the buildings, which some nearby residents were critical of, were not out of place compared to Poet's Way to the rear of the site.

Cllr Les Fry was also generally happy but asked for Dorset Council planners, who will make the final decision, to look at the daylight impacts on nearby buildings from two of the blocks.

The meeting heard that those concerns were likely to be addressed before a final decision was made along with a re-examination of how surface water from the site would be dealt with.

Planning committee chair Cllr Ralph Ricardo: "It's a very good application. Far better than the proposal we have seen before."