A former flax factory in Dorchester is to be converted with a new house added to create nine homes.

The building, off St George's Road, has been used as a store area for travelling fairground equipment.

Outline consent for the site was given a year ago with Dorset Council now approving the final details of the scheme.

Dorchester town councillors had objected to nine homes on the site, claiming it would be an overdevelopment and lead to a loss of privacy for neighbours – a view supported by a neighbour to the site in Fenway Close.

But Dorset Council's planning team decided converting the existing building to eight homes with an extra one as an extension on the western end of the building would not be an overdevelopment of the site and that overlooking will be avoided by the use of angled oriel windows on the southern boundary of the site.

Eight of the homes will be three-bed and one four-bed. Each will have a garden to the rear with additional planting along the rear boundary.

Wessex Water had raised an early objection to developing the site at the outline stage warning that there could be smells at the site from their sewage works just down the road, although council officers say the predominant winds would mostly blow any smells away and any odours should not be noticeable indoors.

The application comes from Ferndown-based Grennall Ltd which says that it will also create six new parking space to bring the number on site to 21, arranged around a central courtyard.

The building is currently listed as being used for storage and to park vintage fairground vehicles and caravans. It is on the southern side of the road just off the junction to Fenway Close, on the way to the town's household recycling centre.