PLANS spearheaded by property developer Richard Carr to demolish a close of five homes and replace them with a block of flats have been labelled “aggressive” by protestors.

Almost 150 objections have been made to the Fortitudo Property scheme, which concerns The Green, off Branksome Hill Road in Bournemouth.

The block would contain 40 flats, with 12 three-bed units and 28 two-bed units, as well as 44 parking spaces.

Currently, there are five detached family homes at the site.

Each of the properties are believed to be worth around £700,000.

Nasreen Crawford, who lives in an adjacent home, called the scheme “development by stealth”.

“It’s changing the landscape and the footprint altogether,” she said.

“It is an aggressive approach to development.”

Paul Cantwell, who has been living in the area for 26 years, likened the plans to a “cruise ship” docking in the road.

“This is a conservation area,” he said.

“If it goes ahead, it could be the next Imax for Bournemouth.”

Ward councillor Andrew Morgan said residents must stand together to battle the plans.

“This particular developer is quite tenacious and we are going to have to be tenacious as well,” he said to the protestors.

“They refer to this as a ‘site’, but they’re family homes. It’s important that everyone sticks together.”

Plans have previously been submitted for two blocks of 20 flats.

The scheme was then revised to one block.

According to the application, the revisions were made to take into account the ‘root protection areas’ of trees on the site.

Planning consultant Richard Carr’s parents live in one of the properties at The Green.

Mr Carr said this was “not relevant”.

He described leaflet campaign by “a very well organised person, or persons” whipping up opposition to the scheme.

“My parents do happen to live in one of the houses. Whether it is my parents or Mr and Mrs Smith, the five people have entered into a contract on this application with Fortitudo at a fair value,” he said.

“This site has had planning permission for 54 flats in the past, it just wasn’t implemented.

“Unfortunately in this day and age you do tend to get a lot more people objecting to applications.”

He dismissed concerns over parking and traffic, saying Fortitudo had hired a “reputable highways engineer” to design the scheme, and pointed out that the existing homes are deemed to make a “negative contribution” to the local conservation area in Bournemouth council’s documents.

“At the end of the day there are five houses there. Only one is occupied by a family, the other four have one or two people,” he said.

“There is a shortage of housing in the country and particularly in Bournemouth and Poole.

“The estate agents we have talked to are very excited about this as they have a demand for these kind of properties as people look to downsize yet stay in the Talbot Woods area.”

The application has been ‘called in’ and will be discussed by the borough planning board at a future meeting.