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Protests at scheme to double
size of village
HOTLY opposed plans to expand an east Dorset
village by more than 50 per cent and another by 700 homes are to go before
a public inquiry next month.
People living in West Parley and Corfe Mullen have loudly opposed plans
put forward by the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) to build the homes
to try to tackle the county's housing problems.
Residents in West Parley say 900 homes in green belt land on the edge of
the village would swamp the existing 1,600 houses and turn it into little
more than a suburb of Bournemouth.
Representatives from the parish council will travel to Exeter in April to put forward their case
in front of the SWRA, along with their counterparts from Corfe Mullen,
where 700 homes are planned.
Richard Heaslip, chairman of the West Parley Residents Association said:
"It will be a case of people power winning out, or not, whatever
happens we will be making a big thing of it."
The proposed developments are part of the draft regional spatial
strategy, which has identified the need for 5,400 new homes to be built in
East Dorset by 2011, with a further 800 homes being put forward for
Wimborne.
The plans caused an outcry when they were revealed last year and have
also failed to win the support of the district council, with the exception
of 200 homes to replace allotments at Cuthbury Gardens
in Wimborne.
Residents of West Parley turned out in force to a meeting held in the
village at the end of February when the results of a survey sent to all
households revealed a massive 98 per cent of villagers who responded were
against the plan.
MP Chris Chope has pledged his support to residents and, speaking after
the meeting, said: "It is our job as elected politicians to see that
the will of the people prevails, not the will of the bureaucrats."
The examination in public of the draft regional spatial strategy being
held by the SWRA will start in Exeter
on April 17, looking at proposed developments across the region.
7:00pm Sunday 18th March 2007
By Morwenna Blake
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