HOMES FURY (From Thisisdorset)

HOMES FURY

10:14am Wednesday 21st June 2006

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ENOUGH is enough, say angry residents who are fed up with developers cramming as many homes as possible onto every available plot of land.

Protesters across the area fear the character of their neighbourhoods is being destroyed by over-development.

“If someone does not apply the brakes to this development feeding frenzy we will all pay the price, whether it be congestion, nuisance, crime, or overcrowded schools and utilities.”

Bournemouth resident Cheryl Legg

And today a Dorset MP will call for action on the "garden-grabbing" which is seeing green land being built on.

In one of several local protests, residents near Malmesbury Park School in Bournemouth have voiced fears the area will change beyond recognition due to a "feeding frenzy" by developers.

One of the latest applications involves knocking down an Edwardian detached house at Lowther Road and building a three-storey block of 12 appartments.

Another, also in Lowther Road, would lead to the demolition of two family-sized houses to make way for 12 flats.

Meanwhile, in Parkstone, residents in Walton Road are unhappy about plans to build three two-bedroom bungalows on an "in-fill" garden site.

Bournemouth resident Cheryl Legg, who along with other neighbours has started a campaign group called STOP Stop The Over Planning, said: "We all accept some development and conversions, but it is getting ridiculous.

"If someone does not apply the brakes to this development feeding frenzy we will all pay the price, whether it be congestion, nuisance, crime, or overcrowded schools and utilities."

She added: "The developers are not developing run-down sites and improving them. They are knocking down nice family homes for one or two bedroom flats with no gardens. Where are our kids going to live and play?"

Charminster is already the most densely populated area of Bournemouth, but Richmond Park Road alone has seen 26 houses turned into flats, with 12 conversions in the past year alone.

Now people living in nearby areas fear their roads will go the same way.

Cheryl added: "Residents are terrified of what they term as the Richmond Park syndrome', which has changed the character beyond recognition."

In Lacey Crescent, Parkstone on Tuesday, a dozen residents made their objections clear to the regional planning inspector Timothy Ball, before a decision is made on planning permission for an infill development.

Poole council's planning department had already refused permission on the grounds of cramping to amenities, access problems, privacy and loss of light.

Steve Smith, marketing director for Celebration Developments, said: "Parkstone is a prime example of an area that can be redeveloped because of the availability of plot sizes."

His company plans to build three bungalows and a communal driveway through the plot. But John Kennan, the objectors' spokesman, said: "If we had known this kind of thing could happen we would never have moved here."

Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood was due to speak in a Commons debate on Wednesday and call for an end to "garden-grabbing" .

He said: "Increasingly, developers, looking to make a quick profit, are taking advantage of a loophole in planning guidelines which classify residential gardens as brownfield sites. Adjoining back gardens are being purchased and built upon, with little regard to how the increased density of housing affects the character of the area or the pressure placed on the local infrastructure."

• Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said on Tuesday night that councils had the power to turn down inappropriate development but an obligation to bring forward land for new homes. She said communities needed a mix of housing.

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