The Foundry Lea (Vearse Farm) reserved matters application was granted by the Dorset Council Planning Committee this afternoon.

This is needless to say a great disappointment given the multiple issues and concerns raised by ourselves and many Bridport residents over a long period of time. The councillors on the committee also raised concerns but the council officers made it clear that the councillors had in effect little choice other than to accept the reserved matters application as it stood without any changes.

We will say more in due course about what transpired at the committee meeting and the serious concerns that were raised and how these were denied or circumvented. We will be issuing a press release and hope that the local media and newspapers will publish it.

We can now expect work to start on this development in the near future as the developers want to build/have started 318 houses by June 2025 (phase 1) to avoid having to meet the new 2025 building standards. The Miles Cross roundabout will commence early 2023 and take 6 months to complete.

Whilst there are positives from Foundry Lea such as the affordable housing there are many negatives for Bridport that will only start to be fully realised in the years to come.