PLANS for more than 100 homes on Duchy-owned land in Dorchester have been 'signed off' by Dorset Council.

The decision gives the green light for the four fields, south of St Georges Road and either side of the Dorchester bypass and railway line, to now be built on.

The development, which will include 35 per cent 'affordable' homes out of 107 planned, has been talked about for almost five years.

The project will be undertaken by C G Fry, one of the principle builders for the Duchy's Poundbury development and will provide jobs for at least two years.

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

The four plots are separated by both the bypass, which runs above houses in one section, and the Weymouth to Waterloo rail line. A fifth plot of land, on the other side of St George's Road will be maintained as protected mitigation wetland and not built on.

The four sites are alongside 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 area will be via new road junctions – on St Georges Road and Syward Road with another access from Friars Close, which some resident in the close and in adjoining Louds Piece, had objected to.

The homes will be a combination of coach house apartments, located above garages, and two, three and four bedroom terrace or detached houses, mostly two storey.

The planning application acknowledged that with the bypass and the railway nearby some of the homes would find it relatively noisy with measures taken to reduce the volume – 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 volumes likely to be highest.

The planning document said: "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."

Dorset councillors heard on Tuesday that most of the existing trees and hedgerows will be kept with additional landscaping used within the four areas.

Dorset Council's area planning committee agreed the development in July 2024 with planning officers responsible for seeking legal and other agreements and approving the final planning details, some of which have been amended – a process which has now come to an end with the agreements now signed off.

CHECK OUT THE APPLICATI0N VIA THIS LINK.