70 new homes being built in Upton

Work has begun on a controversial scheme to build 70 new homes in Upton following a row about affordable housing at the site.Developers Wyatt Homes have been granted planning permission for the development on land off Policeman’s Lane. The proposed development, to be known as Frenches Green, will comprise of one, two and three bedroom apartments plus family homes ranging from two to five bedroomsPlanning chiefs at Purbeck District Council had attempted to call time on the application after refusing the proposal due to a lack of affordable housing back in 2014. This led to an appeal and last year the Planning Inspectorate concluded the development should be allowed on that basis that 30 per cent of the homes would be affordable – 10 per cent less than the district council was asking for.Originally the developers said they could only include four affordable dwellings.This was later increased to 12 ahead of the appeal -giving the developers an estimated £2.6million profit.However planning inspector Robert Mellor concluded that “the development could viably support 21 affordable dwellings”.