A MODERN block of retirement apartments proposed for a prominent Broadstone site is totally out of character, it is claimed.

McCarthy & Stone has submitted a planning application to build 36 apartments in the centre of Broadstone, on the corner of Dunyeats Road, with two retail units and a post office on the ground floor.

However residents are being urged to write to Borough of Poole with their views on the “appalling and monstrous” development by Broadstone councillors Mike Brooke and Vikki Slade.

Cllr Brooke, pictured, said: “They have not listened to anything councillors have said, they have not listened to anything Broadstone Neighbourhood Forum has said, they have not listened to anything the Chamber of Trade and Commerce has said, they have not listened to what the public has said.”

He added: “It is a large four-storey block of glass and mostly brick work, it has blocks of brown and blue and purple. It has absolutely no place in Broadstone whatsoever. It is totally out of character with the Victorian and Edwardian buildings in the Broadway.”

However the company says it has listened to local residents and aims to breathe new life into the “increasingly rundown site”. More than 120 people attended an exhibition and 75 per cent of the feedback was supportive, it says.

Shane Paull, regional managing director for McCarthy & Stone, said: “Listening to local residents we have made a number of changes to the plans such as increasing the amount of casual parking at the front of the building for the shop units, changing the colour of the development, increasing the width of the pavements, and the addition of delivery space.

“Despite no formal marketing, we have already received 18 formal expressions of interest in one of the proposed apartments, highlighting a real local need for this form of housing.”

He added: “Not only will our proposals provide much needed retirement living accommodation and regenerate an important high street site, the proposals will provide support for Broadstone’s local economy.”