Chapman Lily Planning are pleased to have secured outline planning permission to re-develop the former North Dorset District Council offices in Blandford to provide 40 affordable dwellings. Working with our client Aster Homes together with the urban design practice Thrive, we submitted an outline application to replace the offices that would no longer be required as part of the Dorset wide local government re-organisation.
The application site lies within the town’s conservation area, whilst the original building was the home of the Woodhouse family, the noted local family brewers.
The proposed layout has sought to retain a significant number of mature trees which have contributed to the site’s character. Despite some public nostalgia for the former offices, CLP were able to demonstrate that the buildings had insufficient historic value to merit their retention and as a result calls for the buildings to be listed, for the application to be called in for determination by the Secretary of State and finally for the site to be registered as an Asset of Community Value were successfully resisted.
John Hammond, Associate Director at Chapman Lily Planning who had previously worked at North Dorset for a number of years commented “for such a small council North Dorset was very successful in delivering affordable housing for its residents and this permission shows they were committed to this until the very end. A reserved matters application has been submitted and are looking forward to a successful determination to allow Aster to get on site as soon as possible.”
