‘Another nail in the coffin of Hardy Country’
Campaigners raise funds to fight plans for a housing estate on countryside immortalised by novelist
‘The Jurassic Coast is beautiful, so why would you want to build another 1,000 houses to potentially ruin that?’
DORSET council is facing a legal battle over plans to build a large housing estate on countryside immortalised by Thomas Hardy, after locals complained of its “devastating” impact on rural communities.
The proposals would result in almost 1,000 homes on Vearse Farm in Bridport, the largest ever development permitted on an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England. But residents now hope to overturn the council’s decision in the courts after raising more than £30,000 through crowdfunding to finance a judicial review.
The challenge is backed by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Thomas Hardy Society, whose members described the plans as a “nail in the coffin” of Hardy Country, an area named in honour of the author, who died in 1928. Outline planning permission was first approved by West Dorset district council, which has since amalgamated to Dorset Council, in Nov 2017 but proposals were finalised in April.
The development, which covers an equivalent of 63 football pitches, would see the population of Bridport increase by an estimated 25 per cent. But residents objected on the grounds that the scale of the housing estate was “inappropriate” and argued that surrounding countryside would be spoiled.
A campaign group called Advearse has been created that has set up a crowdfunding campaign to raise £34,000 in order to fund a solicitor and barrister to launch a judicial review. Barry Bates, chairman of the group, said: “If we do not take this action now, nothing further can ever be done to challenge a development of this devastating scale on this site.”
Overlooking the development site is Colmer’s Hill, a beloved landmark in Dorset that is said to be an inspiration for artists and novelists including Hardy, who mentioned it in his 1880 short story Fellow Townsmen.
Dr Tony Fincham, chairman of the Hardy Society, said: “This proposal is just the kind of overdevelopment which irretrievably destroys part of Hardy’s Wessex.
“So often West Dorset (council) doesn’t realise the value of its very special landscape in both literary and tourism term. This plan is just another nail in the coffin of Hardy Country.”
Elizabeth Sims, the widow of eminent violinist Neville Marriner, known as one of world’s greatest conductors, has also put her name to the cause.
The area has attracted several celebrities including Martin Clunes and Pauline Quirke, who is believed to have moved there while filming for Broadchurch. The ITV drama was filmed in and around Golden Cap, a cliff on the Unesco World Heritage Jurassic Coast, which is just a mile and a half from the development site.
While filming the drama Olivia Colman described the area, also used for the film Far From the Madding Crowd, starring Carey Mulligan, as “idyllic”.
“The Jurassic Coast is beautiful, so why would you want to build another 1,000 houses to potentially ruin that?” said Mr Bates.
Dorset Council is under pressure to build over 15,000 new homes in west Dorset – one of the worst areas in Britain for affordable housing – by 2036.
David Walsh, Dorset Council’s head of planning, said: “We are confident in the way the Vearse Farm application was considered. As this is a legal process, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this moment.”