SIX detached homes and a new road access proposed for a site on the southern edge of Charlton Marshall has been refused.

Dorset Council say the plot is outside the village development boundary in open countryside where new building is not usually allowed.

The council was also critical of a lack of a surface water drainage plan which takes climate change into account.

The site is adjacent to the A350, where previous applications had also been turned down, primarily over the access proposals onto the main road.

Parish councillors said they were strongly against the proposals claiming the access onto the A350 was ‘dangerous’. The parish council was also unhappy that pedestrians would have to cross the busy road to get into the village.

The site owners say the 0.45 hectare site has, until now, been used as a paddock. It lies just to the southern edge of the existing limit of development behind Meadow Road and May Grove.

The planning application suggested providing enough room for 12 parking spaces for the two 3-bed and four 4-bed homes with changes to the mix of houses from an earlier application and alterations to the initial suggestions for the site access.

Three earlier proposals had been considered for the site - the first option included the entire site of 362 Bournemouth Road including the existing property which was to be demolished and the whole site redeveloped with up to 20 new dwellings.

The second and third options retained the existing dwelling and proposed only to develop the paddock which adjoins the residential property with up to 11 dwellings in both options. The latest application also retained the existing large, detached home, with fewer homes proposed than previously.